It is without a doubt that I can say that Paris’ Taxi Driver is one of my favorite French Oi! bands. Their, not so typical, sound immediately struck my attention and I am beyond stoked to hear their brand new album, nearly fifteen years after the band’s debut “Tout Est Effacé Par Le Temps”! Time to have a little chat with Jano and Fred of the legendary Taxi Driver!

 

Hi, first of all thank you very much for doing this interview! How are you guys doing?
We feel all right, thanks!. It's a great pleasure for us to do this interview.

 

I want to dig into the past of Taxi Driver first before I go into the present. Taxi Driver was originally formed in 1986, can you give a brief history of the early days?
Jano (Bass): Alex (first drummer) introduced me to Fred (guitar+vocal). We were all three based in the same area (Paris XI-XX). In Fred's flat we did a small rehearsal and we were all impressed by the technical level of each other so we decided to continue seriously. 
 
Four years later, in 1990, you guys quit Taxi Driver. What was the reason to stop playing with the band?
Jano: I don't remember all the details, but at that time a lot of my time was dedicated to my studies. So I was not really able to allocate enough time to the band. Maybe that's why the other members got discouraged and that we split.
 
When the band disbanded there was an album recorded, at the time unreleased. How did you fell at that point that these fantastic songs you had written might never be released?
Jano: In 2000, when Riton from Dead Kids Records proposed us to produce a record, even though we had not played together for 10 years, we were so frustrated to have no serious recordings from the band that we could not resist to accept his offer. And we were happily surprised to see that energy was still here and that with a minimal conditioning (only three rehearsals!) we were able to record 11 titles in only five days by our own means at Alex’s.
 
Luckily enough they got released, as the “Tout Est Effacé Par Le Temps” album, in 2001 on, as you mentioned, Dead Kids Records (CD) and more recently a reissue (2013) on Bords De Seine (LP and CD), where you happy when your work finally got out there after all those years?
Jano: Sure, it was a great satisfaction. I think we're all very proud of it.

I bought the original CD back then, though I never heard of you guys (but it was from France so it must be good!), and it blew me away! Your often labeled as an Oi! Band, but to me it sounds so different from other French bands at the time. What is your own opinion on this and what influenced you guys musically?
Jano: I share your opinion, we surely are not a typical Oi french band. One day, one American guy said on the internet that we could “really play progressive Oi". I don’t know if he was right but we really liked his remark. I think we were greatly influenced by English and American bands much more than French bands (except Tolbiac’s Toads of course!). To mention only four of them, we were found of the 4 skins, The Ruts, Agnostic Front and Rose Tatoo. We made some covers of the Who too.
 
In 2013 Taxi Driver reformed, first I’d like to know did members ever played in other bands prior to the formation of Taxi Driver in 1986 and after the band disband in 1990 to 2013? Where you musically active before and after the first four years of Taxi Driver?
Jano: Before Taxi Driver, Sylvain (second drummer) used to play in Nevrose, one of the first hard core band in France. Alex, the first drummer, played and is still playing with X-Syndicate. Fred played with Sylvain in Barfly after we split. Fred used to play the bass in Tolbiac Toads. I played with several bands (Groggy Holly, Salauds de pauvres, Tres Pesos). Fred and I played in Eletric Shockers, may be one day we will finalize our recordings. 
 
And what inspired you to reform the band after an absence of nearly 23 years?

Jano: Actually, we recorded the first album in 2000, ten years after we split. But we met only for recording at that time. After this excellent experiment, we lived our lives apart. Then few years after Alex raised the idea to make a new album, and so regularly Fred came from Belgium where he lives to my house to record new songs. Then we had a proposal to play on the famous French Boquého Oi! festival (http://www.brittany-events.com/les-groupes/). So we decided to get ready for live performance as well as finishing the album in parallel. This implied to reform the band and to have regular rehearsals.
 
At the moment you are in the middle of recording your second album, I am really stoked to hear this! Can you tell a bit about the writing and recording process of the new album?
Jano: Fred wrote most of the songs. We recorded them at my home and a very good old friend of the band is currently mixing them. Riton is also doing a lot for the cover and other stuff related to the production. It is what we could call a family affair.

Will it have that significant Taxi Driver sound? What can the fans expect of your sophomore album? Who is going to release it?
Jano: I think the sound spirit is still the same but we also added some new kinds of instruments on some songs and we took much more time to record it than for the first album. I really don't know how the fans will like it. It is always hard to have a realistic opinion when you give yourself fully in a project. We have not decided yet who is going to release it, we are discussing. 
 
France has always brought some of the best Oi! and punk bands to the world, then and now. What is your thought on this? Any favorites?

Fred: It’s good to have punk or Oi! bands or any subculture still going on with a different mix of generations it’s a good thing to watch.
 
Do you think a lot has changed over the past 30 years? Being in a band, the scene, the culture, etc...

Fred: internet changes everything. Before that time it was Jurassic punk it was difficult to reach other countries with our music we were isolated so now we’re doing this interview which is something unexpectable to us so we are more than happy to have this opportunity thank you so very much!! 

 
Okay that is it, thanks a lot for your time! If there’s anything you’d like to add to the interview, feel free to do so!

We're currently discussing about a US tour in the comming years. Hope to see you there! Cheers!