Black Cab is a Melbourne based drone and electronica group. The band has released six studio albums.

Biography

1999-2008: ''Altamont Diary'' & ''Jesus East''

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

-based Australian band Black Cab's principal songwriters are guitarist James Lee and vocalist Andrew Coates, who originally performed together in early 1990s industrial rock group Foil. After an initial collaboration in 1999 produced a limited edition 3 track EP entitled ''Illinois Chapter'', Coates moved to San Francisco and began writing what would become the band's first full length album '' Altamont Diary'' (2004), a concept album loosely based on the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

Altamont Free Concert The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Livermore, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and some ant ...

. The album was recorded gradually over a two-year period and was produced and mixed by Melbourne producer Woody Annison. At that time James Lee was playing in Melbourne bands

Registered Nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

and The Fergs. The debut album also featured a number of local Melbourne musicians including Richard Andrew on drums (

Underground Lovers Underground Lovers (sometimes stylised as undergroundLOVERS), are an Australian indie rock and electronic music band. The founding mainstays are Glenn Bennie (guitar, vocals) and Vincent Giarrusso (vocals, guitar, keyboard) who had formed the g ...

), Andrew McCubbin and Glenn Sharpe on sitar, as well as Adam Cunha from San Francisco mod rock group Helium Angel. The album '' Altamont Diary'' was released in mid-2004. Joining Black Cab for related live shows were Anthony Paine on bass (

High Pass Filter A high-pass filter (HPF) is an electronic filter that passes signals with a frequency higher than a certain cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency. The amount of attenuation for each frequency de ...

), Steve Law (

Zen Paradox Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text=:ja:禅, 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a East Asian Buddhism, school of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Ch ...

) and Alex Jarvis (Automatic). Ashley Naylor (

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) also guested at a number of shows during 2005 and 2006. The live band contributed recordings for what would become the bands' second album ''Jesus East'' which was released in Australia in 2006 on Interstate 40 Music/

Pharmacy Records Pharmacy Records is an independent record label based in Melbourne, Australia, and run by Richard Andrew of Registered Nurse. Pharmacy Records is distributed through MGM Distribution in Australia and through Narwhal Records in the UK. Notable ...

and in Europe in early 2007 courtesy of Hamburg based indie label Stickman Records. Guest vocals on the track 13 Days were performed by Japanese LA-based vocalist and performance artist Sayaka Yabuki. The album also featured studio recordings from sitar master Radhey Gupta and tabla percussionist Hermant Kumar. The legendary road manager of the

on their fateful 1969 US tour,

Sam Cutler Sam Cutler (born Brendan Lawrence Lyons in early 1943) was the tour manager for The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, and other acts. Early life and career Cutler is an Honours Graduate in Contemporary History (Open University) and a qualified tea ...

recorded a spoken word for the track "Valiant" where he recalls his time managing and living with the Grateful Dead in the early 1970s. The band toured the Netherlands, Germany and Austria in May 2007 and a limited edition tour EP, ''Surrender'', was released to coincide with the tour and featured remixes of tracks from "Jesus East" by Woody Annison and

Steve Law ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, as well as a number of live recordings from shows in 2006. Many tracks from the ''Jesus East'' and ''Altamont Diary'' LPs were used in the 2013 feature-length documentary on the life of Australian surfer

Wayne Lynch Wayne may refer to: People with the given name and surname * Wayne (given name) * Wayne (surname) Geographical Places with name ''Wayne'' may take their name from a person with that surname; the most famous such person was Gen. "Mad" Anthon ...

directed by Craig Griffin, 'Uncharted Waters'.

2009-2016: ''Call Signs'' & ''Games of the XXI Olympiad''

The bands' third album ''

Call Signs In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

'' was released in Australia in July 2009 through Sydney label Laughing Outlaw Records. The album was inspired by

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

culture and 1970s life under the communist regime and

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security apparatus. The album was produced by Woody Annison and featured lyrics and lead vocals by

Died Pretty Died Pretty, sometimes The Died Pretty, is an Australian alternative rock band founded by mainstays Ron Peno (lead singer) and Brett Myers (lead guitarist and backing vocalist) in Sydney in 1983. The band was briefly called Final Solution. The ...

vocalist

Ron Peno Ronald "Ron" Stephen Peno (born mid 1950s), who also performed as Ronnie Pop, is an Australian rock singer, he fronted Died Pretty, from 1984 to 2002, he was a member of early punk band the Hellcats (1976–77), and followed with the 31st (in B ...

on the track "Ghost Anthems". The track "Black Angel" was inspired by the life of 1970s singer-songwriter

Judee Sill Judith Lynne Sill (October 7, 1944 – November 23, 1979) was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums on Asylum and partially completed a third album before dying of a d ...

. The album also contained numerous found sounds of 1970s

spy transmissions and

call signs In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

. The album was shortlisted for the 2009

Australian Music Prize The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was made by Australian Music Pri ...

. In 2010 the band released the single "Sexy Polizei" featuring backing vocals from Melbourne songstress

Monique Brumby Monique Brumby (born 16 September 1974, in Devonport) is an Australian Indie pop/rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. Her debut single, " Fool for You", peaked into the top 40 in the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) ...

and produced by Melbourne producer Simon Polinski. A year later they released the single "Combat Boots", also produced by Simon Polinski. In July 2011 the band stripped down to a three-piece (James Lee, Andrew Coates and Steve Law) to focus on more electronic-driven music. Steve Law left in 2013 and was replaced by Sand Pebbles drummer, Wes Holland on live and electronic drums. The band's fourth album, '' Games of the XXI Olympiad,'' was released in November 2014. Recorded with multiple producers, including former

Death In Vegas Death in Vegas are an English electronic music group, for which Richard Fearless serves as frontman. The band was formed in 1994 by Fearless and Steve Hellier and signed to Concrete Records under the name of Dead Elvis. Owing to an Irish record ...

member Tim Holmes, Simon Polinski, and Woody Annison for final mixes and production, the album moved the band's sound firmly towards electronica and was loosely based on the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

in Montreal. Remixes of "Victorious" by Mikey Young and "Sexy Polizei" by Scott Fraser And Timothy J Fairplay were released in 2015, and band released a single, "Uniforms" in 2016 featuring additional keyboards and programming from Mikey Young of

Eddy Current Suppression Ring Eddy Current Suppression Ring (sometimes seen as ECSR) are an Australian rock band formed in 2003. By 2004 their line-up was Daniel Young Danny Current on drums, his brother Michael Young Eddy Current on lead guitar and keyboards, Brendan Hun ...

and Total Control.

2017-2019: ''明 (Akira)''

In January 2017 the band performed an alternative soundtrack to the 1988 manga classic Akira live at Melbourne's Astor Theatre with taiko master Toshi Sakamoto. This performance formed the basis for a full-length soundtrack album, " 明 (Akira)", released in August 2017. The album was described as being inspired by Japanese sci-fi anime. The band released "Empire States" in February 2017 featuring the 12-minute single, "Empire States" and "Senses Wild", with a remix of Empire States by Richard Norris of

The Grid The Grid is an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Cle ...

. Evan Tweedie (ex-

Husky Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

and

Dub FX Benjamin Stanford (born 11 June 1983), better known by his stage name Dub FX (stylized as ''Dub Fx'' or ''DubFx''), is an Australian musician and worldwide street performer. Born in St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia,Moses, Allan (2010)Dubbing in ...

) played with the band on bass in 2018 and 2019 having tracked bass on various new recordings during the course of 2017 and 2018.

2019-present: ''Rotsler's Rules''

Black Cab released their sixth full length album ''Rotsler's Rules'' on vinyl and digital in May 2022 through

Remote Control Records Remote Control Records was established in 2001 by Steve Cross and Harvey Saward. It provides publicity, label management, distribution and marketing services to international and local artists and labels. Remote Control's roster of internatio ...

. The album was recorded with Graeme Pogson (GL, Bamboos), mixed by Woody Annison and mastered by Andrei Eremin with the album's title a tribute to William "Bill" Rotsler who developed "Rotsler's Rules for Costuming" for

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

events. The album's second single 'Rotsler's Rules' made Berlin based Radio Eins' top 100 tracks of 2021.

Discography

Albums

Live albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Australian Music Prize

The

(the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The commenced in 2005. , - , 2009 , ''Call Signs'' , Australian Music Prize , , -

Music Victoria Awards

The

Music Victoria Awards The Music Victoria Awards (previously known as The Age EG Awards and The Age Music Victoria Awards) are an annual awards night celebrating music from the Australian state of Victoria. They commenced in 2006 and are awarded in Melbourne Music W ...

are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006. ! , - ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, "Rotsler’s Rules" , Best Victorian Song , , , -

References

External links

Official Site

Band Camp site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Cab (Band) Australian indie rock groups Australian electronic musicians