Swansea band Taxi Rank’s facebook bio claims they have “Too many guitars in a 5 piece rock band”. We can confirm that the exact number of guitarists they have is four (including their bassist) but if the towering 100ft high riffs on latest single ‘Animal’ are anything to go by then that number is categorically not too many. In fact it’s very fucking ideal! Other bands please take note.
Not only are those guitars in abundance but they’re fuzzed up with distortion and scuzzy as hell as even the song’s lyrics attempt to warn us unready listeners “plug your ears like a stethoscope/ it’s gonna be loud” before launching into a massive, earbusting melody. The song then lurches from grungy guitar breakdown to a light, funky respite of a bridge, before embarking on a complete shitstorm of a cavalcade of drums as the group declare with vociferously deafening self-belief “we can build our own fucking empire!”
In a world of solo artists and two-piece bands like Royal Blood claiming less is more, Taxi Rank prove that, sometimes, more, more, more fierce rock’n’roll power is what we’re really sat here craving.
‘Animal’ was released on 2nd June 2022. You can find a convenient Spotify link to tap and play just down below this here blurb:
Edge of Arcady 