Local music venue House of TARG recently celebrated one year of being in business.
The venue, a combination of a pinball arcade, restaurant, and bar, received a lot of positive feedback from the community in its first year, according to owner Kevin Birger.
Birger reflected on the past year of House of TARG and discussed some of the challenges the venue faced before it officially opened.
“It’s not the most tried, tested, and true idea to take perogies, punk rock, and pinball and put it all together,” he said.
“We had a lot of flak from people around us saying, ‘that’s not going to fly.’”
Birger said some people suggested TARG should have been more “traditional.”
“To have proven that incorrect and to have overtaken our own expectations is quite humbling,” he said.
“We thought we would have to go outside with placards and say ‘come on down,’ but it’s the exact opposite,” Birger added. “We have lineups, which is pretty amazing.”
Chris Landry, a carpenter and musician who helped build House of TARG, said he has played two shows at the venue since it opened.
“There’s no bullshit like there is at a lot of other places,” Landry said. “The owners don’t charge bands to play there—they treat them really well. They keep the cover down so it’s more accessible for fans to come in.”
Landry also said there has been high demand among musicians to play at TARG.
“Bands want to play at House of TARG. There’s American bands coming in and bands from all over Canada,” he said.
Landry said the owners of the venue have a long history in the music scene, which helped build on their success.
He said one of the owners used to own a jam space for musicians.
“They already had that community and support. People knew about them—people knew that they were interested in doing cool shows and that they were supportive of the artists coming through,” he said.
As for the future of TARG, Landry said he hopes the venue continues to be successful.
“I hope the crowds keep coming out and the bands keep wanting to play there,” he said.
Birger said the plan for TARG’s second year is to keep the doors open to the public.
As far as future plans go, things are a little different.
“We want to buy a submarine. We want to buy a small island with a grotto to park the submarine, and ideally, that island would have a volcano,” he said.
“That is the plan. It sounds ridiculous, but everyone thought perogies and pinball was ridiculous.”
