Beat Box: TAXI VIOLENCE ON A HIGH

Couple of years ago I was having a conversation with a former mate from high school about the South African Rock scene and Rock bands that are sharing their music with the global rock enthusiasts. During our dialogue the mate kept on mentioning taxi violence and me being me, I was getting irritated with this person uttering taxi violence every ten seconds or so. Then I stopped and asked what’s with this taxi violence? And the mate replied, “it’s a local rock band boet, and believe it they are red hot”. I looked a little bit confused and I thought my former high school mate was on drugs... being inquisitive pushed me to research a bit and ask around if such a rock band really existed, and to my surprise Taxi Violence existed.

Taxi Violence Burst into the South African rock scene with a fresh, witty and noisy sound. The band came into existence in the spring of 2004 when best friends Rian Zietsman, Loedi Van Renen and Louis Nel invited George Van Der Spuy to a listening session at a military base.

Since its formation, Taxi Violence has showed rock music listeners with some fantastic and sizzling music that has seen the band claim a piece of the pie of a genre that is hotly contested. Over the past decade the South African Rock scene has gifted the Republic with great bands such as Prime Circle, Seethe, Cassette, FokofPolisiekar and The Parlotones to name a few. 

 

Taxi Violence has travelled a long daunting journey to prove themselves as one of South Africa’s best rock bands. Following the success of the bands first two albums ‘Untie Yourself’ and ‘The Turn’ the band released its third album ‘Long Way From Home’ in 2011, with which the band received nominations for MK Video Awards in Best Rock Category and they also got nominated for Best Rock and Group of the year at this year’s South African Music Awards. The departure of bass player Loedi Van Renen in 2008 didn’t stop the group from shining and in turn the band welcomed new talent in the form of Jason Ling.

Adding to the number of nominations received, performing on international arenas and sharing the stage with global acts such as Australian band Powderfinger and Billy Talent from Canada, and bagging two awards at the Wirral International Film Festival in England for ‘The Turn’ music video. To send a little warning to those who doubt the band, judge them at your own peril.

Ashley Mokwena

facebook: Taxi Violence

twitter: @taxi_violence