TAXI- 'LIKE A DOG' LP/CD PRESS

SOHO STRUT (TAXI- Like A Dog LP, Dead Beat)
‘Taxi’ are a lunatic punk’n’roll act from Italy who detonate with a noise that seems to come straight outta 77. The Damned, The Ramones, The Ruts etc…They get that vintage punk guitar sound perfectly and rampage through 11 tunes, mostly done in English, with aplomb and great gusto. This is fun rock’n’roll and those motherfucking jamms have been serious kicked. The guitar sound is like a dirty rutting rhino, trashing its way through songs that have enough melody to make ‘Taxi’ more that just another bunch of grunting goons, they have fucking good tunes too.

‘Dog’s Eyes’ kicks off the album in punk style with dogs barking. ‘Cheater’ is hilarious with orgasmic groans as a backing vocal. The choppy guitar chords on ‘Rabies Is A Killer’, trashy class. ‘Deep Red’ has more mean motherfucking guitar action with plenty of great riffs and a wondrous ‘whoouurrg’. ‘Eat Me’ pumps along with ‘eat me’ spluttering everywhere, suck baby. ‘Je Tombe En Bas’ fucks like a good un, a right tune. ‘Show Me Your Gun’ is a great mid paced rocker with another killer chorus. ‘Taxi’ have produced a fucked up punk album with great vintage punk sounds and killer tunes, nice.Jonny Magus

ROCK N ROLL PURGATORY (TAXI- Like A Dog LP, Dead Beat)
Punk rock from Italy that is probably closest in style to The Vibrators. The songs are mostly in English and are really damn catchy. Many songs have that great grinding mid-tempo guitar sound that has the simple urgency of late 70’s punk rock, while the songs also contain enough attitude to bring them above the level of a mere homage to the past. Very well done and worth picking up before you slip into the middle-age doldrums and forget what it’s like to be alive. – BL

NO BRAINS FANZINE (TAXI- Like A Dog LP, Dead Beat)
Taxi are 4 Italian guys inspired by Killed By Death / Bloodstains records - well the good bands from these comps. "Like A Dog" is really great album - 11 catchy punk songs, recorded and produced totally in the same vain as old punk bands. It's done very well and I really enjoy Taxi punk. Honestly if some people didn't know this was a new band they would probably say it's one of the best 77 punk bands. They can write really catchy songs and good riffs. There are lot of killers here (each song!). My favorites are: "Eat me", "Je Tombe En Bas", "Slot Machine" and "Rabies Is A Killer".

MAXIMUM ROCK N ROLL (TAXI- Like A Dog LP, Dead Beat)
... Too bad there's not info with this record, because I wanna suck all of their dicks!!! The motherfuckers are pretty fuckin rockin'...not doubt about it...!!!!! The sleeve says this little get was recorded in April/May 2002 in Roma, so waybe that's where they're from...I dunno!!!! But whatever rock these dudes crawled out from under really doesn't matter to me much at the moment...this record is so fucking SONIC that I'm on the second liten!!!!! They remind me of a heavy Flying Spiders (a fab old Dutch pop/punk band from the late 70's on EMO) with a bit of hard butt sex thrown in for the youth, just for the spice...!!! Half the record is done in broken English, and the other half is done in some other fuckin' language...!!! But who listens to the words, when you got such good hooks....Teengenerate made a career of it!!!!! I personally haven't heard punk played or written like this in YEARS!!! Total style, hooks...comes off natural and sexy...!!! Christ, why don't we have bands like this next door??? All we got here in the states is the likes of the Stitches and NOFX and other similar dog shit...TAXI is my new prison bitch...starting now!!! (Shane White)

www.odysseyzine.com (Taxi "Like A Dog" CD, Dead Beat Records)
This album sounds like it was recorded in 1979. Looks like it too. Just look at that classic cover! It's as if they took all of the great higher-fidelity records from punk's first few years and said: "this is what we will do." Like the Dead Boys, Dictators or Fear, they do it well. You don't listen to this stuff. You stand tall and take a musical beating, as Taxi unleashes a dozen razor-sharp, stylish and aggressive punk rock pounders. When I say stylish, I don't mean that these guys aren't the real deal. It's amazing. You've gotta hear it. Degenerate sounds that would make Lee Ving would be proud!!

Third Generation Nation (TAXI "Like A Dog" CD)
(Dead Beat Rec. / Dead-Beat-Records.com)
D-I-E Überraschung des Quartals! Taxi, Uraltcombo aus Italien haben sich nach zig Jahren dazu entschlossen, endlich mal einen Longplayer aufzunehmen. Und was ist das für ein Power-Brett geworden!!! Punk Rock, der jeden "Killed By Death"-Liebhaber im Dreieck springen lässt. So sollte Punk Rock klingen! Ohne irgendwelche Zusätze. Trocken, geradeaus und immer auf die Zwölf. Dafür mache ich ein Fanzine was den Namen "3RD Generation Nation" traegt. In der letzten Ausgabe haben mich the DISKORDS geplaettet, diesmal sind es Taxi mit diesen sagenhaften 11 Tracks. Mehr gibt es eigentlich nicht mehr zu sagen. Oder es mit einem ´80er Spruch noch zu verdeutlichen: "Pog, Du Sau!!!" (Ralf Real Shock)

UNCLE DAN'S HOUSE OF SMUT (Taxi: Like A Dog, Dead Beat 2003)
You may have never heard of Taxi before but after a listen to their new album, Like A Dog, you'll be clamouring for more. This Italian band has their brand of punk rock and roll down to an artform. They are one compelling and mean machine--this album is the proof.

Taxi's sound is unique in that it could potentially appeal to different segments of the punk/rock and roll audience. While there are elements of the band's sound clearly in the KBD-styled realm of punk, there's also something about this music that should help it appeal to fans of such "action rock" bands as the Hellacopters or Bad Machine. There is definitely a lot of rock brewing under the surface of Like A Dog's punk.

There really isn't a standout track on Like A Dog but it isn't due to a lack of quality. This material is all well put together. The best way to describe this batch of tunes would be to say it's extremely consistent. By consistent, I mean just that--the energy stays so high throughout this album, no one could mistake anything here as being boring. The amazing this is it would all probably sound just as at home in a big arena as it would in a smoke-filled club. No small feat, at all.

If you dig any of the aforementioned bands or styles, there's almost certainly something on Like A Dog for you. Taxi may be an unknown band to you, at the moment. If so, you are encouraged to take a chance on them--this stuff is worth it.

Dotdash.com (Taxi - Like A Dog LP/CD, Dead Beat)
Straight outta Italy, these hard rockin’ punkers rip through 11 awesome
tunes that chug along with the intensity of PVC, THE PACK, and well, like a
fucking locomotive running out of control. Songs like “Cheater” are so red
hot n heavy that you can’t help but move along, to the hot, sleazy, and
swaggerin’ rock n roll tunes. There are very few bands coming outta
Euro-land these days that actually know how to punk it up and deliver, but
TAXI is one of them. (JAW)

NOW WAVE (Taxi - Like A Dog LP/CD, Dead Beat)
Let me start out by saying their record fucking rules. Finally Italy has produced a great punk band (well the Chronics are cool too.). Taxi play in a '77 style, but don't call them retro. This record stands head and shoulders above most of the punk revivalist bands. This record is catchy, it rocks, and it's actually sexy. How can a record be sexy, it's just a piece of vinyl? well it's in the fucking attitude. It's just fucking cool.

Unlike most of the wimpy, striped shirt punk rockers of today, Taxi is all about doing drugs and getting laid. The foundation of rock n roll is sex and drugs is good to see a band see the important connection between pussy, drugs, and guitars. Taxi are like the band that come play a show in your town, crash at your house and proceed to do all your drugs, drink all your beer and not only fuck your girlfriend but your little sister too (maybe even your mom).

I hear a little hard rock influence in this kinda like early GnR meets Dead Boys.but worry not, there's absolutely no WANKING everything about this record is just right. The playing is solid and confident, something that is so rare in this era of sloppy punk . The production is strong, not overproduced and definitely not underproduced. Another cool thing about this band is that they look like motherfuckers you wouldn't wanna meet in a dark alley. This could be record of the year...wonder if they want a second guitarist. (Troy Canady)

Smashin' Transistor (Taxi - Like A Dog LP/CD, Dead Beat Records)
This is punk rock in it's most standard sense. The rhythm guitar has got that catchpenny electric razor buzz and the lead chimes in with a Chuck Berry walking on broken glass melody. I've read mentions of the Vibrators and the Clone Defects in describing Taxi's sound. I totally understand the Vibrators comparison but I don't hear where the Clone Defects thing comes from. The Defects saunter into strange and interesting territories, return with bizzare trinkets which they find ways to use in their music. They twist it, bend it, sometimes even set it on fire to melt it, to make it work. I don't hear that happening on "Like A Dog." All of Taxi's songs are mid tempo and don't stray at all from the "Retro punk" line. (Dale Marrill)

Sleazegrinder (Taxi - Like A Dog LP/CD, Dead Beat)
Taxi deliver some smoking, punk-fried rock and roll action here. This is the first Italian rock n roll band I’ve heard in ages that can actually sing with a passable American accent, and if I hadn’t checked, I would have thought they were from California, or down the street, or somethin’. Anyway, despite not breaking any new ground on 'Like a Dog' (like there’s any left to break), Taxi have every angle covered- scorching Johnny Thunders licks, a stomping rhythm section, snotty vocals, a few Stooges piano plinks, punker chick backing vocals, and enough power to push ‘em into Hella-Turbo territory when the mood hits. Oh yeah, and they effortlessly switch from English to Italian (or French, or whatever) like the tres continental motherfuckers that they are. When not speaking in foreign tongues- foreign to me, I mean- then they are rightfully extolling the virtues of rock and roll bad assery, and if they had this on the jukebox down at Charlie’s, I’d put on 'Deep Red' right before I broke a mug over some fucker’s head. The more I listen to this one, the more I like it, which is pretty much the most you can ask out of rock and roll. If you dig hard driving, tuneful punk rock n’ roll- and the occasional bar fight- Taxi will take you exactly where you wanna go.

NOW WAVE (Taxi - Like A Dog LP/CD, Dead Beat Records)
Musical trends come and go, but classic PUNK ROCK never goes out of style. And that's why Taxi rules. Like A Dog is the latest from these Italian punk luminaries. It comes to us courtesy of Dead Beat Records, who released that amazing Gee Strings album last year. You gotta love a label that's committed to combing the entire globe in search of the finest punk acts on the planet. I know the vintage punk thing has been done to death, but Like A Dog is a fucking awesome album. It's neither retro nor modern. It's timeless! These crazy Roman rogues rip it up with rabid ferocity, delivering 11 tracks of bottom-heavy '77 punk nastiness that's reminiscent of bands like The Vibrators, Eater, PVC, and The Kids. This is good shit, man: raw, fun, pretension-free
tuneage that reminds us what punk rock is really about. The songs ooze cool and rock like fuck. Hot, catchy pogo anthems like "Dog's Eyes","Cheater", and "I'm Dead" are as good anything you'll hear on any of those Bloodstains compilations. This band gets it right: you can tell they don't take themselves too seriously, and the buzzsaw energy they bring to the table more than makes up for their 'lack of originality'All in all, a killer LP! (Joshua Blake Rutledge, opinionated asshole)

DEEP FRY BONANZA (Taxi - Like a Dog, Dead Beat Records)
The latest installment comes to us from longtime DFB favorite Dead Beat Records, the label responsible for bringing us ripping tunes by bands like Smogtown and the Generators. As you might expect if you're familiar with those groups, Taxi mine the ’77 punk vein, but unlike most bands who just want to pretend they're the Sex Pistols at local gigs twice a month, Taxi actually has a pretty original approach.

Whereas most bands of this genre seem endlessly fascinated with Johnny-Thunders-by-way-of-Steve-Jones guitar heroics, Taxi approach their punk from a decidedly power pop perspective. Much like power pop pioneers such as the Boys and the Rezillos (as well as modern popsters like the Exploding Hearts and the Put-Ons), Taxi put great lead vocal melodies at the front of most of their songs. Though the vocals are decidedly low in the mix and the band isn’t afraid to lay down some riffage when appropriate, the vox are always the focal point. If you’re paying attention you’re almost certainly singing along.

Take a song like 'Slot Machine', for instance. The song’s riff could not be simpler, exactly the kind of three chord progression that has powered rock and roll bands since the genre was invented. The tempo is almost artificially slow, but instead of sounding plodding the music gives the track an air of pent-up energy, like Taxi is always just on the cusp of exploding. However, the closest you’ll get to that is the singer’s yelpy 'whoas' that give you the perfect opportunity to cock your head backward and thrust your fist in the air.

While Taxi aren’t really on the level of truly great power-pop/punk bands like the Briefs, the Exploding Hearts and the Put-Ons, Like a Dog is a slice of pop that no ’77-obsessed punker will have any difficulty enjoying. In an time so damn crowded with great punk rock it's not difficult to find a handful of bands that do Taxi's sound better than Taxi do, but if this type of thing is your musical obsession this one needs to be on your list. (Daniel Lupton)