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TAXIRIDE
celebrate 20 years of
‘GARAGE MAHAL’
with anniversary shows

+ Vinyl reissue

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Two decades on, Melbourne rock veterans Taxiride are taking a look back at their massive second album, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the majestic Garage Mahal. Emerging from the leafy suburbs of Melbourne in 1997, Taxiride experienced a rapid rise to the top, debuting at #1 on the ARIA charts with their debut album, Imaginate, in 1999. But even with a top ten single, a brush with success in the US, Taxiride weren’t going to simply rest upon their already-impressive laurels for album number two. Rather, they were intent on recapturing that success and expanding upon it.

Recording with Fred Maher (Lou Reed, Lloyd Cole, Matthew Sweet) in Los Angeles, Taxiride set about crafting a record that would highlight their love of stadium-level choruses, pop-rock harmonies, intimate and heartfelt instrumentation, and an element of authenticity that was lacking from the music world at the time. The result was Garage Mahal, an album that continued Taxiride’s domination as one of the country’s biggest rock bands. Lead single Creepin’ Up Slowly became their biggest hit, reaching #6 on the local charts, becoming the most-played track on local radio that year, eventually going Platinum, and peaking within the NZ top 20 internationally. Follow-up singles How I Got This Way and Afterglow also continued this success, giving the group a total of seven top 40 singles, and proving Taxiride were here to stay.

“It’s a little scary to think it’s been 20 years,” recalls guitarist and vocalist Tim Watson.“This anniversary has brought back memories of everything that went on during the recording. We were meant to record with a different producer but our plane literally got turned around on 9/11. A few weeks later we returned to the States to begin tracking, they were crazy times!”

Ultimately, Garage Mahal would become one of 2002’s biggest albums, being certified Platinum and even resulting in a run of international tour dates for the group in Japan and the US. Though two more albums would follow in 2005 and 2006, Taxiride would ultimately call it quits in 2008, reuniting in 2015, older, wiser, and more mature as musicians and friends. “With the benefit of hindsight it’s possible that the band would have continued on our original course but the reality is the music industry takes its toll on young bands,” Watson explains.“While cooler heads might have kept us together it’s possible that we wouldn’t have been crazy enough to start this in the first place.”

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Now, 20 years on from the release of Garage Mahal, Taxiride are giving the album the anniversary treatment it deserves. To celebrate, the band will be hitting the road for a trio of shows in November and December, and they’ll also be giving the album the vinyl treatment it always needed but never received. “This is the first time Taxiride have had anything released on vinyl,” says Watson.“It feels great; like it links our album to all the great vinyl we grew up listening to.” The band’s debut vinyl release is taking place as part of Ausmusic Month, with Warner Music Australia also issuing a special edition T-shirt for Ausmusic T-Shirt Day, with $5 from every shirt going to Support Act.

Visiting Melbourne, Hepburn Springs, and Belgrave throughout the final months of the year, these shows (the band’s only shows of the year) will see Taxiride – now comprised of founding members Tim Watson and Tim Wild on guitar and vocals, drummer Sean McLeod, bassist Andrew McIvor, and Taylor Sheridan – ensuring the legacy of both the band and the songs of Garage Mahal stay alive and fresh after all these years with a set consisting of faithful renditions of their hits plus favourite album tracks.

“Our focus for these shows is the musicality; arranging the songs so the harmonies really stand out but also making sure the instrumentation really highlights the songs,” Watson explains. “I guess we’re heading into heritage territory so we really want to give the songs the respect they deserve.”

Pre-Order: Garage Mahal On Vinyl

Buy tickets to shows: HERE

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Follow TAXIRIDE
YouTube – Instagram – Facebook – Spotify

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AMNPLIFY – DB