As an epicenter for underground and DIY music, numerous bands name Philadelphia dwelling. Again within the ’90s and early 2000s, the hardcore scene flourished, populated by teams like Blacklisted, Paint It Black, and Ink & Dagger, who reunited with a string of hometown reveals final 12 months. That paved the way in which for pop-punk giants the Marvel Years within the mid-2000s and fourth-wave emo bands like Fashionable Baseball within the early 2010s, redefining the scene for a brand new technology. Within the present day, Soul Glo, Candy Capsule, and others on Julia’s Struggle — based by TAGABOW’s Doug Dulgarian — are including recent vitality to the native scene. With the subject on our minds, we needed to know what our readers suppose are the most effective Philly bands, previous and current. Discover the highest fan picks ranked under.
Learn extra: 10 most criminally underrated Circa Survive songs
5. The Menzingers
The Menzingers originated in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 2006, however relocated to Philly after they outgrew their hometown present circuit a few years later, across the similar time the housing market crashed. Because of this, the band lived collectively all through their early days, writing, touring, and rising relentlessly. They’ve since embedded themselves within the Philly music scene, linking up with esteemed native producer Will Yip at Studio 4 — most famously for 2017’s After the Occasion. “The songs undergo a tremendous change with Will,” Greg Barnett mentioned in 2019. “Some in apparent methods and a few in not so apparent methods. I like the way in which he has develop into a member of our band. We are able to throw an concept at him, and he could make it a actuality.”
4. Model Pussy
Few punk bands have grown like Model Pussy lately. 2016’s Romantic captured their managed chaos nicely, however 2019’s Persistence, helmed by Yip, was their breakout second, performing as a punch to the intestine. “We’re a dwell band, however the purpose for this file was additionally to be one thing that you may hearken to as a solitary expertise,” Marisa “Missy” Dabice instructed AP in 2024, proper earlier than releasing its follow-up, I Acquired Heaven. “However the dwell present is such a chance to specific our collective creativity and have interaction within the collective rage that we now have in a bigger music neighborhood. Persons are in search of launch.” See that for your self under, the place they play a packed hometown present at Union Switch in 2021, simply days after their van and kit had been stolen in Ohio.
3. The Beginning Line
Regardless of forming close by in Churchville, Pennsylvania across the late ’90s, the Beginning Line preserve deep roots in Philly. They had been main gamers within the early 2000s pop-punk and emo scenes, heightened by their signing to Drive-Via Information. Nevertheless, final 12 months’s glorious reunion album, Everlasting Youth, cemented them as true veterans. Of the scene, vocalist Kenny Vasoli says, “There’s one thing about it that simply feels very real and doesn’t undergo fools calmly. It’s identified for its brutal honesty, which I’ve come to essentially respect. I believe folks get a nasty rap for being unfriendly right here, but it surely’s not that. We’re simply aggressive — even in our friendliness, we’re aggressive.”
2. Circa Survive
Upon Circa Survive’s formation in 2004, Anthony Inexperienced was surrounded by hype, having departed Saosin simply as they had been taking off with 2003’s Translating the Identify. Nevertheless, one thing higher was calling him, and that intuition resulted in one among his most beloved tasks. Putting an intense stability between prog rock, post-hardcore, and experimentalism, Circa Survive turned an integral a part of the Philly scene, packing out their hometown reveals (and ending their 2022 Blue Sky Noise anniversary tour with back-to-back nights at Union Switch). Following an indefinite hiatus, they’ll return to their hometown for 3 nights at The Fillmore in September.
1. The Marvel Years
Overwhelmingly, our readers pointed to the Marvel Years as the best band from Philly — and it’s not laborious to see why. Regardless of forming simply outdoors of town, they’re nonetheless tied to its native scene, steadily referencing it all through their catalog. Some notable tracks embody “It’s By no means Sunny in South Philadelphia,” “Got here Out Swinging,” and “The Paris of Nowhere,” the latter being an ode to his life within the metropolis. In the meantime, early staples shout out areas like Melrose Diner, Logan Circle, and Washington Sq. Park. It is a band that take satisfaction in the place they’re from, in essentially the most heartfelt means doable.
