Author: taggartrocks

abbaye 12th anniversary party 1/17/15

/ taggartrocks / Leave a comment

for the 9th year (8th consecutive) our friends at the abbaye asked us to take part in their anniversary celebration by performing live band karaoke. this year’s list contained 234 songs which people were encouraged to choose from to come up and sing with us as their backing band. We played for four and a half hours with one twenty minute break and once again everyone did a wonderful job singing. we even fulfilled two requests which weren’t on the list but were easy enough for us to work up and perform on the spot. two of the highlights of the night were performances by the abbaye’s two owners. marc was the only person to come up and play an instrument and performed the who’s “baba o’riley” on drums with steve and pete singing. meghan, as is tradition, choose a song in the weeks before the party which we learned but kept off the list just for her to sing. this year her selection was “start choppin'” by dinosaur jr. and it brought the house down. we started the night off with our two newest original songs and then we let the crowd take over. the karaoke started with the most newly released song on the list and eventually came to a close with an amazing rendition of “suspicious minds” that had everyone in the bar singing along. below are the lists of everything that was performed in both sets:

even
tell me twice
goshen ’97 (strand of oaks)
buddy holly (weezer)
just what i needed (cars)
baba o’riley (who)
basket case (green day)
our lips are sealed (go-go’s)
tired of sex (weezer)
seether (veruca salt)
all day and all of the night (kinks)
cut your hair (pavement)
100% (sonic youth)
echos myron (guided by voices)
fell in love with a girl (white stripes)
(you gotta) fight for your right (to party!) (beastie boys)
wagon wheel (old crow medicine show)
queen bitch (david bowie)
gigantic (pixies)
dumb (nirvana)
under pressure (david bowie & queen)
i’m allowed (buffalo tom)
attitude (misfits)
web in front (archers of loaf)
last caress (misfits)

free fallin’ (tom petty)
eight days a week (beatles)
anarchy in the uk (sex pistols)
debaser (pixies)
dreaming (blondie)
that’s how i escaped my certain fate (mission of burma)
girlfriend in a coma (smiths)
radio radio (elvis costello and the attractions)
your little hoodrat friend (hold steady)
start choppin’ (dinosaur jr.)
motor away (guided by voices)
lounge act (nirvana)
range life (pavement)
our lips are sealed (go-go’s)
jumping jack flash (rolling stones)
should I stay or should I go (clash)
song 2 (blur)
last caress (misfits)
drain you (nirvana)
bad moon rising (creedence clearwater revival)
creep (radiohead)
she don’t use jelly (flaming lips)
get off of my cloud (rolling stones)
here comes your man (pixies)
psycho killer (talking heads)
suspicious minds (elvis presley)

halloween party, the estate at monroe, williamstown, nj 11/1/14

/ taggartrocks / Leave a comment

for the third year in a row we performed two sets of covers at the charles d. folker memorial foundation masquerade party fundraiser, this year as a front man super group featuring bruce springsteen, kurt cobain, tom petty and axel rose. as in the past years we were also joined on a few songs by our friend lisa as nico. sprinkled throughout the sets were new songs that we specifically learned to represent each of our costumes: “growin’ up”, “smells like teen spirit”, “yer so bad”, “patience”, and “femme fatale”. it was another successful year raising money towards scholarships in the name of charles folker.

penn treaty park, philadelphia, pa, 7/5/14

/ taggartrocks / Leave a comment

the weather was perfect for this outdoor performance at penn treaty park  before the fireworks over the river. We tried to play a little something for everybody. Cover songs are followed by the original artists’ name in parenthesis.

good intentions
no matter what (badfinger)
when will i be loved (everly brothers)
even
chasing heather crazy (guided by voices)
just like heaven (cure)
humpty
whole wide world (wreckless eric)
tell me twice
she loves you (beatles)
butterfly
back from somewhere (husker du)
spotlight
suspicious minds (elvis presley)
surrender (cheap trick)
under pressure (david bowie & queen)

newpic

bourbon & branch, philadelphia, pa, 5/17/14

/ taggartrocks / Leave a comment

for our first show at the new venue bourbon & branch opening for the blurry nights record release show we played an hour long set that included two brand new songs (“even” and “tell me twice”), reached back to 1998 (“lemonade”) and touched on all of our albums in between.

good intentions
even
spotlight
infinite space
starting now
tell me twice
skin i’m in
lemonade
humpty
weekend politics
yeah, it’s beautiful here too (superchunk)
pictures
100% (sonic youth)
butterfly
stock
highway to hell (ac/dc)

 

sean koepenick – razorcake

/ taggartrocks / Leave a comment

snow day (take it easy) – what more could anyone ask of the big, fat jolly dude than some new xmas-themed vinyl? well, these two bands have just answered your wish list. taggart hits you up with three covers and one original for their side. “wishmas” is cool and will make it into a wintry playlist mix with ease. but it’s on their cover of the kinks “father christmas” where they really nail it. ray davies would be proud and I doubt bad religion’s recent take kicks as much ass. the successful failures come at from another angle: three originals and one cover. although their ramones cover is heartfelt, i think i’m feeling “christmas morning (yellow canary)” a bit more. either way this is best enjoyed loud, then go back and search out other releases by both bands as well. (razorcake)

abbaye 11th anniversary party 1/18/14

/ taggartrocks / 1 Comment

this was our 8th year (7th consecutive) performing live band karaoke for our friends at the abbaye. this year we had to really cram in rehearsals due to our december being taken up with the release of our christmas record but we still managed to get the song list up to a record 225 songs. the place was packed full of people celebrating the abbaye’s anniversary by choosing songs and coming up and singing with us. we opened up with one of our own songs and then let the crowd take over. ward’s wife deena became only the second person ever to request to perform one of our original songs and did a great job on “good intentions“. we continued the tradition of having abbaye owner meghan choose a song for us to learn and save off the list for her to sing. this year her pick was “always love” by nada surf which she followed with “anarchy in the u.k.” to bring our first set to a rousing close. becker and ward performed gbv’s “14 cheerleader coldfront” and “kicker of elves” as a duo and we were requested to play “take the skinheads bowling” and sing it ourselves but other then those and “butterfly” all the songs were sung by the abbaye crowd. below is the list of everything that was performed in both sets for what was another amazing year:

butterfly
hot freaks (guided by voices)
gold star for robot boy (guided by voices)
no matter what (badfinger)
(love is like a) heat wave (martha reeves & the vandellas)
good intentions
seether (veruca salt)
baba o’riley (who)
be my baby (ronettes)
all day and all of the night (kinks)
paranoid (black sabbath)
highway to hell (ac/dc)
under pressure (david bowie & queen)
attitude (misfits)
sabotage (beastie boys)
mary jane’s last dance (tom petty & the heartbreakers)
queen bitch (david bowie)
psycho killer (talking heads)
career opportunities (clash)
(you gotta) fight for your right (to party!) (beastie boys)
always love (nada surf)
anarchy in the uk (sex pistols)

sliver (nirvana)
web in front (archers of loaf)
have you ever seen the rain (creedence clearwater revival)
can’t buy me love (beatles)
creep (radiohead)
molly’s lips (nirvana)
twist and shout (beatles)
our lips are sealed (go-go’s)
should I stay or should I go (clash)
blitzkrieg bop (ramones)
then he kissed me (crystals)
echos myron (guided by voices)
divide and conquer (husker du)
suspicious minds (elvis presley)
jumping jack flash (rolling stones)
14 cheerleader coldfront (guided by voices)
kicker of elves (guided by voices)
song 2 (blur)
low (cracker)
(love is like a) heat wave (martha reeves & the vandellas)
glad girls (guided by voices)
back from somewhere (husker du)
highway to hell (ac/dc)
here comes your man (pixies)
girlfriend in a coma (smiths)
roots radicals (rancid)
basket case (green day)
debaser (pixies)
just what i needed (cars)
last caress (misfits)
a salty salute (guided by voices)
misty mountain hop (led zeppelin)
take the skinheads bowling (camper van beethoven)
be my baby (ronettes)
miss world (hole)

matthew berlyant – the big takeover

/ taggartrocks / Leave a comment

snow day (take it easy) – now here is a unique release. there are many holiday records released each year and there are a wide variety of split releases that have come out over the years featuring one band on side a and another on side b. i do not know, however, of another split holiday release, at least on a 12”.

ultimately, though, i am reviewing this (a bit later than I hoped to) a little less than a week after christmas (it came out on december 10th) not because of the record’s novelty, but because it is a great record featuring two great bands.

taggart occupy side a and are a long-running philadelphia/new jersey band whose sound could be described as a throwback to a time when indie rock meant a specific style of music ala bands such as superchunk and archers of loaf, not the catch-all phrase it encompasses these days; except, of course, that they were around during that era, having recorded as early as 1997. more over, their songs have hooks, are memorable, and they rock with no pretension whatsoever. though there is only one original on their side (the future christmas classic “wishmas”), this is also reflected in their choice of cover material, at least for the most part. though their side is bookended by snippets of foghat‘s “slow ride” with lyrics re-written as “snow day” (hence the title of this record), things get much more interesting as they tackle the descendents classic “christmas vacation” and the kinks‘ also fantastic “father christmas.”

the successful failures, the band of fdr label head mick chorba, occupy side b and their brand of new jersey power pop (think of bands ranging from the smithereens to labelmates bastards of melody) is a perfect match for taggart. if one listens to this album in mp3 form or on cd where side 2 just follows side 1, it flows really well. anyhow, there is only one cover (a great version of the ramones‘ “merry christmas (i don’t want to fight tonight)” on their side and 3 equally enjoyable originals. though “good night to the last night” (appropriate as i am writing this on december 31st) is really a new years’ eve song, the two other originals deal with holiday merriment, gift giving and wishing and what not. of these, i really like “christmas morning (yellow canary)” but there is not a dud in the bunch.

something else that should be mentioned here is that the artwork is absolutely mesmerizing. in an age where less and less emphasis is placed on the visual aspect of records, it is a treat to see matt hanemann‘s artwork, especially on the 12”.

in summary, i have a feeling i’ll be listening to this one year-round as this is not just a holiday novelty record. (the big takeover)