The Táxi is a Portuguese rock band from Porto by dismemberment of the group Pesquisa.
How they Started
Taxi were born in Porto in 1979, still as Pesquisa, in a formation that included João Grande (voice), Henrique Oliveira (guitar), Rodrigo Freitas (drums) and Rui Taborda (bass).
Absorbing the musical influence of Post-Punk, New Wave and Ska by the Police, they composed and interpreted original themes sung in English, a situation that would change when in February 1981, in one of their concerts, they were “discovered” by two elements of the Polygram label during a concert at Colégio Alemão do Porto, who immediately invited them to record an album.
For the recording of this album, they are required to sing the original songs sung in English to Portuguese.
The 80s
The album “Taxi” included songs such as “Chiclete”, “Tv-Wc”, “Taxi”, “Vida de Cão” and “Lei da Selva”, among others. It was the “first Gold Record of Portuguese Rock”, because “Ar de Rock” by Rui Veloso, despite being edited before, had not yet achieved this award.
The presentation of the album took place in Cascais, in May 1981, during the first part of the show by the British The Clash.
In 1982, after a year full of concerts, the album “Cairo” was released, whose cover, innovative for the time, was a circular tin can. This new work included themes such as “Cairo”, “O Fio da Navalha” and “1, 2, Esqº. Dtº.”. It reached the Silver award (more than 15,000 units sold) three days after its release, being awarded, days later, the Gold Record. It was considered by the Público newspaper as one of the best records of Portuguese music ever.
A year later, “Salutz” was released, an album that included the theme “Sing Sing Club”, also released in Maxi-Single format. This album does not achieve the success of its predecessors. The presentation of this new work takes place in Lisbon, at the Restelo stadium, during the first part of the Rod Stewart concert.
In 1984, the single “Sozinho / In The Twinkling Of An Eye” was released, which was recorded in Hamburg, Germany. Two years later, Taxi returned to the studio to record “The Night”, an album entirely sung in English.
They abandoned the concerts (around 1986) and the label released the compilation «The Very Best of Taxi» in the meantime.
2000’s
Keeping their usual line-up, Taxi returned to the stage in 2007 and gave concerts in two festivals (Coimbra and Porto). The following year they met again to participate in the Roma Mega Rock Festival and in two concerts at Queima das Fitas in Porto and Braga.
In 2005, a new compilation “O Céu Pode Esperar” was published, which, in addition to its usual hits, included a live version of the theme “O Fio da Navalha” (this theme was recorded at the concert that the band gave in 2003 at Braga), a new version of the theme “Sozinho” and the new song “O Céu Pode Esperar”.
2006
In 2006, they agreed to return to the stage by participating in the show commemorating the 25th anniversary of Júlio Isidro’s program Febre de Sábado de Manhã. That same year they give concerts at Casa da Música do Porto, at the Porto Soundz Festival (Porto) and at the Vilar de Mouros Festival. It was in this year that Taxi announced that they were composing new original songs with the aim of publishing a new work.
Combining studio work with concerts, Taxi performed in 2009 at Arenas Sagres (Lisbon and Faro) and at the Alfanena Youth Festival. In December 2009, maintaining their usual line-up, Taxi publicly announced, during their participation in an RTP1 program (“A Minha Geração”, presented by Catarina Furtado), the release of their new record for May 2009. album “Amanhã” is presented at Coliseu do Porto on 5 June 2009). They also give a mini concert as part of the RFM radio initiative “Rock in Office”.
2012
João Grande (vocals) and Rui Taborda (guitar, bass and keyboards) form “Os Porto” and release an album of originals, “Persícula Cingulata”, where themes such as “Forever”, “De hand in hand”, “Onda of my sea”, among others.
2017
Taxi are back in the studio and on the road, now only with João Grande and Rui Taborda from the original lineup, and release the debut single “Reality Show”, which reaches more than 100,000 views on Facebook in just one week, as well as the song “Última Session” with a new album of originals being prepared.
With the new lineup, Taxi, in addition to the founders João Grande (vocals) and Rui Taborda (bass), also have Ricardo Cavalera (guitar), Nelson Funky (guitar) and Hugo Pereira (drums), however the other two founding members of the band (Henrique Oliveira and Rodrigo Freitas), have filed a lawsuit against the use of the name “Taxi”.
2020
After a long legal battle, in June 2020 João Grande and Rui Taborda become the sole holders of the TAXI name, leaving behind conflicts that forced them to use the acronym T4X1.
2022
TAXi prepare a new album now with a new lineup:
João Grande(Voice) Rui Taborda(Bass) Jorge Loura(Guitar) Nelson Funky(Guitar) Hugo Drums(Drums)
