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WEEKLY MOJO: Black Taxi at The Mohawk
One of my favorite New York bands is heading towards the Promise Land as we speak, and you’ve got to know about them! (I initially meant ‘Promise Land’ to refer to Austin, but for the record, yes, it could just have easily been referring to The Mohawk.) Black Taxi will be rocking ye olde Mohawk this Friday, February 3 (doors at 9pm), and I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing them since SX ’11, so you can bet your sweet ass I’ll be there dancing mine off. Writing this is sneaky business, though, because trying to categorize and describe Black Taxi’s sound for those of you who haven’t gotten a taste of the tunes is daunting. Guitarist, Bill Mayo, perhaps explained it best when I asked the band what their music would be a good soundtrack for: “Black Taxi isn’t the soundtrack[;] it’s the movie.” The rhetoric matches the drapes, my friends. This band covers the wide terrain between pop, dance, rock, and party punk but traverses across sounds, well, frankly, in a way that’s not really like anything else. Let’s just say the only way you won’t enjoy the hell out of this show is if you hate fun.
Queue up: “Hand,” “Shoeshine,” “Up Here for Thinking, Down There for Dancing,” and “Pretty Mama” for a first sweet, sweet taste.
Black Taxi just so happens to be on tour with a new record, We Don’t Know Any Better, and it’s a live show that notoriously does not disappoint. I was fortunate enough to share the stage with these guys at in infamously ridiculous South By Co-Op show and I was blown away not merely by the musicianship, but by how much I felt a part of the performance and what a blast the band seemed to be having. Bassist, Krisana Soponpong, confirmed my suspicions when I asked what sets Black Taxi apart from their New York contemporaries: “[W]hat sets us apart from other NYC [bands] is that we’re having a good time and we show it… I have been told that we don’t have the typical NYC cynicism and that’s fine with me.” There is a triumph in this attitude and you’re going to feel it in your dancin’ pants. If you come out on Friday (i.e., if you’re wise), you’ll no doubt witness frontman, Ezra Huleatt, probably monkeying his way to the top of the highest speaker in the room, alternating between a trumpet and megaphone, and you’ll understand exactly what I mean. The music will kick off at 10pm Friday, and it’s only $6 ($8 minors) so I’ll see you there rock and rollers. Come cut a rug with me!