by Joshua Miller, of the Advance Titan

The Beatles made themselves legends at Abbey Road, Radiohead called a 15th Century mansion a recording studio in the ‘90s and for the past eight years, rock band http://profile.myspace.com/Philpot has created its sound next to Flowers and Gifts By Burris and Ward, in Dugger, Ind.

Like its own rock ‘n’ roll proving grounds, a garage built on to the flower shop that lead singer Kentz Ward’s family owns, Philpot has created its unique philosophy on music - gutsy determination gets you noticed. The band plans to shake things up when it plays the Reptile Palace Friday night at 9 p.m.

“If they really want to have a good time and hear some good rock ‘n’ roll, that’s what we’re about, music you can enjoy and feel.” Ward said.

When Philpot plays at the Reptile Palace, the Fox Valley will get to hear Kentz Ward’s growling vocals, see guitarists Caleb Smith and Josh Kennedy layering the walls of riffs and feel the driving rhythm created by bassist Tyler Evans and drummer Arthur Ready.

The band is passionate about getting its name out and gaining new fans each performance. Ward and Kennedy started the band in 2000 and found the rest of the members from Ward’s hometown of Dugger and surrounding southwest Indiana towns that they knew through each other or who were respected musicians in the area.

“We’ve basically grown up together,” Ward said.

When Philpot played together in Dugger, population 955, Ward said it was one of the only bands that wasn’t a cover band in the area.

“There wasn’t really a music scene here,” Ward said. “A lot of the bands played other people’s music, so they were cover bands. But there weren’t many.”

As a result, the band took action and started sharing its music. Philpot started playing shows in Dugger and around the area, and more people started showing up.

“We built more and more of a following and started showcasing our music in the area to young people. It created a type of a buzz,” Ward said. “We were basically just traveling and presenting new material to our audience and fans, and I think that’s what’s helped us in the past and continues to into the future.”

The band has recorded several albums, and has written close to 200 songs that were mostly written in the flower shop garage. Its latest album is 2007s “Hate Writes Better than Love.”

Two moments stand out in the band’s long road from the members rural upbringing. One came after an 800-mile road trip to New York in 2004, the longest trip Philpot had ever taken at that point. With all the band members still high school-aged teens at the time, making the journey from Indiana to New York was a big step.

After playing the scheduled gigs in Manhattan, the band and its manager weren’t satisfied. The manager called a more upscale club that was owned by members of Velvet Revolver to see if they could play.

“They were like, ‘Yeah, we’ll give these guys a shot.’ So we went in there and played very well, and there were a lot of celebrities in there,” Ward said. “The place was packed, and they really liked our music.”

The band created buzz for its 3 a.m. set, making the cover of the New York Press, an alternative newspaper in New York, and convincing the band to play New York many times afterward.

The second big moment happened by luck two years later with a record contract. While playing a show at the bar/roadhouse called Ooodle Inn in Switz City, Ind., the band noticed a Los Angeles record label agent sitting amongst the crowd.

“That was pretty cool because the bar we were playing at was an Indiana-type bar, and I think he had flown in from far away, I think Los Angeles, just to hear us play,” Ward said. “He really liked our music so he offered us a record contract that night.”

Ward and Philpot accepted the contract and had a label on Toucan Cove, an indie label of Universal Records.

Popularity of the band has grown around the U.S. and the world. Philpot has been featured on major television networks in Indiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Florida. Its music has also been featured on music channels like MTV and sporting mediums like NFL.com and ESPN.

Last year the band sent an MP3 of its latest song, “Girls Don’t Know,” to the UK, and BBC Bristol played it. The year also saw performances with Snoop Dogg, Kings of Leon, The Sick Puppies, Days of the New and Seven Mary Three. Philpot’s MySpace page has also gotten more than 500,000 plays.

The ever persistent band chips away at its music until it’s as best it can be.

“We’ll play the song sometimes three or four, five or six, maybe 10 times depending on how much time we have to practice that day,” Ward said. “If we don’t get it that day, we’ll take it on through the next practice until the song’s finally done.”

Gaining popularity has its drawbacks, such as increased touring, but sometimes they can become routine.

“We have enough time to get up, take a shower, throw your clothes on, eat, jump in the vehicle, drive to the gig, play, tear down, drive back, go to bed and do it all over again,” Ward said. “It’s a routine you tend to pick up. The same is with maintaining the instruments.”

The key to this for Ward is to stay healthy he said, “especially when we go on a seven or eight day run where we play about every day.”

“It’s a nice rush of adrenaline whenever you are having a good night,” Ward said. “We rarely have bad nights. There’s some clubs that aren’t as fun or as passionate about music, but we always have fun doing it. Every gig we’ve played has been worth it.”

Philpot is planning for a new album and more shows. The band will drive this path full speed with the mindset that it can achieve anything and will ultimately persist through both good and bad.

“I believe there are no boundaries,”Ward said. You just have to try hard enough, and practicing is one of the main things. I always say if you can make it through the worst times, you’ll live to see the best and it’ll get better. When things go bad and you can fight through it, that’s what makes you more of a powerhouse when it comes to being a great band.”