Taxi Violence are on the verge of releasing a new album. Lead vocalist George van der Spuy answers some questions about the recording process, what fans should expect of the album, and the band’s future.
Good day, George. How are things?
Keeping as busy as possible, keeps me out of trouble for the most part ... but trouble has a way of finding me, for some reason.
Taxi Violence is in the process of finishing up the new album. You guys kept a studio diary on Facebook, which indicates the recording process was a fairly laid-back affair, with no set hours and loads of beer. How did you experience the process?
Things were pretty laid-back, but still very focused, even with the beer around. It was a pleasure working with Brendyn “Rusti” Rossouw again – he’s a legend! We left a lot more in his hands this time around from a producer perspective, more than ever before. We all feel very comfortable working with him and trust his judgement, but we’ll still give our two cents at the end of the day.
How did your approach in making this album differ from your previous efforts?
We drew a lot from our experience making the unplugged album and used that when we moved towards writing songs for the new album. This time, though, we wanted to do it “party rock” style and go back to our roots. We also did the album in two parts, recording five songs earlier in 2012, where we took the approach of writing the songs acoustic, with the idea that if it sounds good acoustic, it would most likely also work with distortion and a good rhythm beat behind it. The second half was recorded in early 2013. With the second batch we took the approach of writing riffs at home and bringing them to rehearsal and jam them out, but with some sort of structure that could be tweaked, while also doing rough recordings to hear it back straight away, to see if all the elements fit. So all in all I think we got a good balance of songs that have substance and are still music for the waist down (as we say).
An excerpt from the press release reads: “After releasing a more stripped down album in 2011, the band made the decision to return to what they do best … good old fashioned rock ‘n roll.” What are the elements of the Taxi Violence “sound” that you wanted to return to?
Something that captures your imagination but still makes your head bob and your feet kick up some dust . We wanted to keep it uncomplicated but with raw emotion. We had to hold ourselves back from making things too “clever” – there’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple. The song-writing on Untie Yourself was just that – and that’s where we were born, the difference being that the songs are more rounded now.
The first single off the album, “Paint the streets”, was released at the end of last year and immediately did well on campus radio stations. Did you expect the music to be received in such a positive way from the get-go?
We didn’t expect it, we kind of just put the single out there to see what kind of response we would get while still maintaining some kind of momentum as we worked on other material. It was as a nice surprise, though, and put the rest of the project in a positive space. Although the bigger stations didn’t play it, it’s still a great indication that we were on the right track, so that helped immensely.
You guys have a few side projects going on – you’re involved with Goodnight Wembley and Rian and Louis are with Beast. How are you dividing your time between these projects and Taxi Violence?
To be completely honest, the side projects have been taking up a lot of the members’ time, but we still manage to find time for both. The side projects took up so much time as they are pretty new and audiences need to be built and the word and “brands” need to get out there. Taxi has established itself, as we’ve been around forever,but the longer you are around, it seems, the harder you need to work to keep people interested. People sit up when they hear of something new and they’re curious to find out what it’s about. The trick is to keep people there, which I think Taxi has done, and that’s why we’re still around and haven’t faded out like so many “pop-up bands” we’ve seen come and go through the years. Basically, when any of us commits to a project, we intend to make it last. The other side of the coin is, of course, that it’s given Jason the opportunity to really shine and he’s come to the table with loads of ideas and riffs that have turned into kickin’ songs on the new album. He is the glue that keeps us together.
I’ve been to a bunch of Taxi shows and it’s clear why many believe you to be one of the best live acts in South Africa. How big a part do you think the energy of your shows plays in the extent to which your fan base keeps growing and stays loyal?
It plays a major part, I would say. It’s one thing to play a song and another to perform it and be convincing. We’re pretty consistent in our performances though – we hardly have “off” nights (due to no more unlimited bar tabs, hehe). We feel it’s our duty to our fans to give to 110% ... otherwise we feel like we’ve cheated them out of their money. We are privileged to have such loyal fans!
How does one go about translating this energy of the live shows to a studio album?
We used to test out new material on live audiences to gauge what songs work live and then try and tweak them to work in the studio . It’s a fine art to get the right balance between something that you want to listen to, dance to, mosh to, stage dive to, have sex to, sing along to – and after all that still makes you think. Guess that’s the ultimate goal in a sense, to encompass all those things for us and the listener/participant in a song or album.
You guys have played loads of shows over the past few years. Any places you enjoy performing at most? And conversely, any places you won’t be returning to soon?
We always enjoy Potchefstroom, Grahamstown, Pretoria and anywhere else we get a warm welcome and a beer with a smile. The people ultimately make the shows, not the places. If we get a good energy from the crowd, we give back that energy and so everybody has a good time.
What does Taxi Violence’s broader future look like?
Taxi will keep on truckin’. With us you know what you get, but we’ll always try and keep it fresh. Who knows what the future holds – maybe we’ll jump the pond or maybe we’ll just keep truckin’, because we simply love doing what we do and that’s OK with us.
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