Mambo Taxi were an English, London-based

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

band, linked with riot grrrl, who formed in 1991 and split up in 1995.Mason, Stewart
Mambo Taxi Biography
,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, retrieved 2011-02-01

History

Mambo Taxi were inspired by the UK garage rock scene and US punk. They formed after Lenie was invited to join Anjali, Ella, Andrea and Delia - who were all living together (bar Delia) in a squat in Islington - to form a band. They became part of a vibrant music scene in the early 1990s which centered around three indie labels in London at the time, namely Clawfist,

Too Pure Too Pure was a London-based independent record label formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox. The label gained prominence after the release of PJ Harvey's debut album '' Dry'' in 1992, and subsequently found further success in the lat ...

and Wiiija. Their sound was a mixture of garage, punk, and pop and they had links to British riot grrrl bands such as

Huggy Bear Huggy may refer to: * Huggy (Pillow Pal) *Huggy Boy * Huggy Face *Huggy Leaver *Huggy Ragnarsson *Huggy Wuggy, an antagonist in the horror video game ''Poppy Playtime ''Poppy Playtime'' is an episodic horror video game developed and publishe ...

. Drummer Anjali Bhatia left in 1992 in order to form the

Voodoo Queens The Voodoo Queens were a North London-based indie punk/riot grrrl band, who reached number one in the Indie Charts in 1993. History The band was composed of Anjali Bhatia (guitar, vocals), Ella Guru (guitar, backing vocals), Stefania 'Steffi ...

and guitarist

Ella Guru Ella Guru (born May 24, 1966) is an American painter and musician living in Hastings, East Sussex, England. She was a member of Mambo Taxi and the Voodoo Queens. In 1999, she became one of the founding members of the Stuckist art movement. E ...

joined her in 1993. The other members of the 1992 line-up appearing on the first single - a double 'A' side of "Prom Queen" written by Anjali and "Insecure" written by Lenie - were: Lenie (lead vocal/bass), Delia (guitar/vocals) and Andrea (organ/vocals).Stallard, Sam, "Cab Happy", NME, late 1992 Karin Rapp (drums/vocals) joined the band from the second single onwards. After the departure of Anjali and Ella the band went on to record one album ''In Love With'', featuring songs composed by all band members, but with lyrics mostly written by Lenie, covering topics as diverse as sexual abuse ("Velvet Youth" written by Lenie), religion ("Evangelical" written by Andrea) and women's issues such as single motherhood ("Push that Pram" written by Lenie), depression and self-harm ("Happy Claire" written by Karin Rapp); all other tracks were written by Lenie including the 'hit' single "Poems on the Underground" and the non-album single "Do you Always Dress Like That..." Mambo Taxi videos were early works b
Nicholas Abrahams
The band's name was taken from the film ''

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' ( es, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The film brought Almodóvar to ...

'' by

Pedro Almodovar Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

and was a reference to the taxi used by the film's heroine.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 855

, in an interview with NME's Sam Stallard in 1992, described it as "tacky" but "with all sorts of different things in it that sort of clash, but everything’s useful as well as fun." thus describing the band. Lenie is from Belgium; Delia, Andrea and Anjali are British, Karin comes from Germany and Ella from Ohio.

Post break-up

Following the band's dissolution, Lenie formed Jolt with former

Senseless Things Senseless Things were an English pop punk band, formed in 1986 in London. The band released four studio albums and achieved two UK Top 20 hit singles before splitting up in 1995. Senseless Things reformed in 2017 to play several gigs including S ...

frontman

Mark Keds Mark Myers (28 October 1970 – 11 January 2021), better known as Mark Keds, was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, from Twickenham, London, best known for leading the bands Senseless Things and Deadcuts. ''Kerrang!'' hailed him as a " ...

, they formed their own label 'Scared of Girls' and were signed by Warner Chappell. They released an EP ''Punk Jungle Rules'' and several singles. She briefly played in Square Mile Group and has been writing music ever since whilst bringing up a family. She has contributed songs to plays and

the Libertines The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, has also included John Hassall ...

song, " Can't Stand Me Now", which features lyrics taken from a song written by Lenie and Mark Keds recorded in Brittania Row Studios called "Walking in LA". Delia went on to be in the Phantom Pregnancies along with members of Huggy Bear and

Wat Tyler Wat Tyler (c. 1320/4 January 1341 – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and to demand economic and social reforms. Wh ...

, and has proved to be the most prolific of ex-Mambo Taxi members, later appearing in the line-up of Baby Birkin, the Family Way and the A-Lines, as well as Manic Coughh, the Schla La Las, the Action Time, the Werewandas, and others. Delia and Karin were also in short-lived band Punjab Rovers, a collaboration with

Cornershop Cornershop are a British indie rock band best known for their single "Brimful of Asha", originally released in 1997 and, in a remixed version, topping the UK chart in 1998. The band was formed in 1991 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh (singe ...

which produced one 7" single. Delia and Andrea are currently in Ye Nuns (previously The Nuns), a

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. ...

which plays songs by

The Monks The Monks, referred to by the name monks on record sleeves, were an American garage rock band formed in Gelnhausen, West Germany in 1964. Assembled by five American GIs stationed in the country, the group grew tired of the traditional format ...

, alongside Debbie Smith, formerly of

Echobelly Echobelly are a British rock band, debuting in 1994 with their album '' Everyone's Got One''. They were often compared to Blondie and The Smiths; Morrissey becoming a fan of the group. The most prominent part of Echobelly's success formula wa ...

and

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...

, Charley Stone, formerly of

Salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

/ Gay Dad, and Debbie from thee Headcoatees.

Discography

Singles

*"Prom Queen" / "Insecure" (Clawfist, HUNKA 13, 1993) *"Poems On The Underground" / "A&E" (Clawfist, HUNKA 19, 1993) *"Do You Always Dress Like That In Front Of Other Peoples Boyfriends?" / "I Want To Marry A Serial Killer" (Clawfist, HUNKA 20, 1993) *"Tom" (Echostate, Echo 5-6, 1995) - split single with Breed

Album

''In Love With…'' (Clawfist, HUNKALP7, 1994) Track listing:
Pink Side *"Tom" *"Kiss Kiss Kiss" *"Belgian Blues" *"2 Nice Boys" *"Happy Claire" *"(Push That) Pram (Under The Train)" *"Evangelical" Green Side *"Screaming In Public" *"Poems On The Underground" *"Reasons To Live" *"Insecure" *"My Room" *"Velvet Youth"

Compilations

*''V/A – Seek Refuge From Your Intolerable Situation, Say No To Male Violence ''(Garden Of Delights, 1994) Features the track "Foolish Little Girl" *''V/A – Gay Pride (You Don’t Know What You’re Missing)'' (Rugger Bugger, 1994) Features the track "Brett From Suede (It's About Time You Got Laid) By A Man"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mambo Taxi Riot grrrl bands Garage punk groups English indie rock groups Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in England British garage rock groups Underground punk scene in the United Kingdom