Taxiride | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Genres | Alternative rock,[1]power pop,pub rock |
| Years active | 1996–2008, 2015–present |
| Labels | Warner, Sire, Mandarin Music |
| Members | Taxiride ft. Tim Watson, Tim Wild, Sean McLeod, Andy McIvor & Ripley Smith: Tim Watson Tim Wild Sean McLeod Andy McIvor Ripley Smith Taxiride ft. Jason Singh:Jason Singh |
| Past members | Dan Hall Jimmy Christo Taylor Sheridan |
| Website | taxiride-ttsar taxiride-ft-jasonsingh |
Taxiride is an Australianrock band. Formed in Melbourne by singer/songwritersTim Watson, Tim Wild,[2][3][4][5] who were soon joined byJason Singh, and Dan Hall. Taxiride would record two consecutive number one platinum-selling albums. The band have had nine top 40 singles include top five hitsGet Set (written by Tim Wild),Everywhere You Go (written by Tim Watson & Tim Wild) and the most played song on Australian radio in 2002,Creepin' Up Slowly (written byDow Brain, Brad Young & Taxiride).[6]
Prior to formation, the members of Taxiride—Hall, Singh, Watson and Wild—had been playing incover bands aroundMelbourne. The quartet recorded anEP, which ataxi-driving friend of theirs helped promote. They took their name from the experience had by passengers first hearing their music on a taxi ride. After their music was heard by an executive fromrecord labelWarner, the band signed a contract and released their debut album,Imaginate, in 1999. This was followed by 2002'sGarage Mahal. Both albums were certified platinum by theAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). 2005'sAxiomatic did not follow in the success of its predecessors.
Taxiride's musical style has changed significantly over the course of their career—from a hybridpop/pub rock sound merged with classic harmony referencing bands likeCrosby, Stills, Nash & Young to a heavier sound on later works. Throughout their history, the band has had multiple lead singers and songwriters on the majority of their songs.[7][8] The band continued performing live until 2008.
In 2015 the four original members reformed and performed on the Australian festival circuit as well as public shows. After a trademark dispute and settlement in 2024 between Jason Singh and other original members Tim Wild, Tim Watson plus longtime members Sean McLeod and Andy McIvor, there are now two versions of Taxiride who tour Australia.
Prior to forming Taxiride,Tim Watson,Tim Wild,Jason Singh, andDan Hall had each played incoverbands acrossMelbourne. Watson and Wild began writing together for what would become Taxiride in late 1995 inCamberwell, Melbourne. The pair had worked together in a previous band for about 5 years before they were joined by Jimmy Christo in 1996 and Jason Singh in 1997.[9][3] Christo left the group in 1997. The trio then invited Hall, whom Wild first encounteredbusking, to join the group, and he accepted. Originally their name was to be TAXE, but they quickly changed that after finding out another band had the same name.[10] The band ultimately named themselves Taxiride because they had given some of their early work to a friend of theirs, ataxi driver, who had tested these songs on passengers.[11] The group produced ademo at Melbourne's Secret Sound Studios, and used it to land a contract withWarner Music Group in Australia.[12] Meanwhile, a friend of the group passed their work onto aSire Records executive in the U.S., who signed them despite the group being unknown.[11]
In 1998, Taxiride relocated toOcean Way Recording studios inLos Angeles to work with producerJack Joseph Puig on its debut album.[13]Imaginate, released on 1 June 1999 in the U.S. and 18 October in Australia, reached number one on theARIA Albums Chart,[14] with debutsingle "Get Set" reaching number eight on theARIA Singles Chart,[15] number 41 on theNew Zealand Singles Chart,[16] and number 36 on theHot Modern Rock Tracks chart in America.[17] "Get Set" won the1999ARIA Award for "Breakthrough Artist - Single" and was nominated for "Best Pop Release", whileImaginate was nominated for "Breakthrough Artist - Album" and "Highest Selling Album" in2000.[18]Imaginate was certified double platinum, indicating an excess of 140,000 sales.[19]
Taxiride wrote the majority of the album in a studio, and the final product generally used songs that band members had worked on individually.[20]Imaginate earned a mediocre reception from critics. Steve Kurutz ofAllmusic gave it three stars, calling the album a "slick...bid for pop radio".[21] The use of asitar on "Get Set" was praised, as was theBeatles influence and Puig's production.[21] To promote the album, Taxiride toured Australia, America, Japan, and Europe, with the album selling well in all areas. Despite the album's success, Hall left the band to work independently and with his other pet project, Airway Lanes.[22] Hall said he was unhappy with "the pop direction the band was taking".[23]
Following Hall's departure, the band recruited drummer Sean McLeod and bass guitarist Andy McIvor who had been recording and performing with the band since 1997 and 1998 respectively.[24][25][26] Taxiride began work on their second album,Garage Mahal which was released on 5 August 2002, producing three singles: "Creepin' Up Slowly", "How I Got This Way", and "Afterglow". All three songs charted in Australia; "Creepin' Up Slowly" was the most successful at number six, also reaching number 19 in New Zealand.[15][16] In 2002,Garage Mahal and "Creepin' Up Slowly" were certified platinum by ARIA.[27][28]
Much ofGarage Mahal was written on the road, while touring, and as such had a different sound from the band's prior work.[29] Most of the writing was done in two places;Mount Macedon inVictoria, and Palindrome Studio inVenice Beach,California, the home of producerFred Maher.Mixing was done by David Way andMike Shipley.[30] Despite the change in sound, the band were still seen as purely a pop band—Australian Musician magazine claimed this was because they spent too much time overseas.[22] Gary Glauber ofPopMatters praised the album, noting it had not lost the quality of its predecessor, although it was a good deal heavier. Glauber reported on the overall high quality of songs, noting that "almost any of these songs could work as a single", and calling the lyrics of "Creepin' Up Slowly" "perpetually catchy".[31]Bernard Zuel ofThe Sydney Morning Herald said that the band did not hold back in their aim for American radio, calling the lyrics overly generic, and arguing the band only focused on their mainstream image.[32]
Watson left Taxiride in 2004,[33] and the band began work on a new album. They decided to release independently after splitting up with Warner Music,[34] and recorded at Wild's Melbourne home for a total of 12 months. During that time, the band collaborated with vocalistChris Bailey (The Saints lead singer) and Hall, who took time out from working with Airway Lanes.[22] Taxiride's third album,Axiomatic, was released on 5 September 2005, shortly after the first single, "Oh Yeah". It would be the only song to chart from the album, reaching number 40 in Australia.[15] To support the album, the band toured India as part ofVH1's Rock Rumble.[35]
Following the release ofAxiomatic, Wild and Singh began to write new songs, accompanied by Hall.[36] The band's first acoustic album,Electrophobia, was released on 16 September 2006 on Australian record labelLiberation. It features songs from the band's first three albums, all recorded in a standalone session in a Melbourne church on 26 May 2006. The production was arranged byRob John (producer forLed Zeppelin andThe Tea Party).[37]
In 2015, the original lineup reformed.[38] In July 2017, Dan Hall elected to take a break from the group to focus on other musical projects, including South Side Rebel and Interlocker. Following the Covid-19 pandemic the band reformed with Tim Watson, Tim Wild, Sean McLeod, Andy McIvor and guitarist Ripley Smith. The Taxiride trademark was applied for by founding members Tim Watson and Tim Wild and contested by Jason Singh. The matter was settled in 2024 with Watson, Wild and Singh owning the Taxiride name.[39] There are now two versions of Taxiride touring Australia, Taxiride featuring Tim Watson, Tim Wild, Sean McLeod, Andy McIvor & Ripley Smith, and another version Taxiride featuring Jason Singh.
Taxiride is primarily apop rock band, also drawing influences frompub rock.[22]Allmusic'sEd Nimmervoll said that the band distanced themselves from theboy band generation, comparing them toCrosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.[11] Steve Kurutz, in reviewingImaginate, related the album to the pop work ofThe Beatles,The Beach Boys, andThe Everly Brothers, labelling the album as a bid for pop radio.[21]
TheInternational Herald Tribune's Mike Zwerin noted the band's style of having "four lead singers, four potential front men"—Imaginate's strength was in their collective sound, argued Zwerin.[40] OnGarage Mahal, Taxiride had three active singer-songwriters, with their strong opinions on musical content clashing frequently. Singh told Dan Grunebaum ofMetropolis Tokyo that the arguments came about "because we were very passionate about what goes down onto tape", and so they were resolved by recognising the overall goal of the band's work.[41]
Studio albums
TheARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres ofAustralian music. They commenced in 1987.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Get Set" | Breakthrough Artist - Single | Won | [42] |
| Best Pop Release | Nominated | |||
| 2000 | Imaginate | Breakthrough Artist - Album | Nominated | [43] |
| Highest Selling Album | Nominated |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
| People | |
