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Official music video + a press release: NYC band ‘Black Taxi’ to headline Purgatory at the Masquerade w/ Atlanta bands ‘Pls Pls’ & ‘Delmoire’
Press Release For Black Taxi: Brooklyn quartet BLACK TAXI has been generating quite the buzz lately in the indie-rock world. From their seven performances at this year’s SXSW to the release of their critically acclaimed second album, We Don’t Know Any Better in January, it seems that the band is turning heads and garnering fans everywhere they go. Following up on these successes, the band has announced a run of spring tour dates that will see them traveling down the East Coast and appearances at several festivals this spring, including WMNF‘s Tropical Heatwave Festival in Tampa, FL (full tour dates below). Additionally, the band has released a brand-new remix of their song “Friend”, off their latest album, by esteemed NYC producer Fake Money; it is available for free download via their Facebook page here: http://emailunlock.com/blacktaximusic/friend-fake-money-remix
Frontman Ezra Huleatt has teamed up with the organization Musicians On Call(http://www.musiciansoncall.org) which brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities in New York and other cities around the country. Each week they bring a volunteer musician room-to-room to play for patients in children’s facilities, oncology units, nursing homes, and other sites which allows patients, families and staff a few minutes to forget about the complexities and troubles of their illnesses and focus on something else. “I’ve been hearing about Musicians On Call for the last few years via friends who have participated in it, and I finally decided to get involved,” says Huleatt. “Healthcare and healing are things that I am passionate about and music bridges those two in a way that not all medicine can. Having worked in hospitals in Haiti and in NYC, I have seen first hand the bizarre power music has to bring life into an otherwise staid hospital room, rejuvenating patients. Music is one of those unknowns – a crazy, rugged, beautiful language that needs to be shared, particularly with those who are suffering.”
The band, and Huleatt in particular, have also signed on to collaborate on the independent film Frajíl, which tells the story of an unjustly imprisioned Haitian youth named Frajíl who was accused of killing his boss and was sentenced to life in prison despite lack of evidence or legal representation. The song “Head on a Pike” (from their debut album Things Of That Nature) will be used in the soundtrack to help tell his story. “Dan Ramirez—the filmmaker and driving force behind the Frajíl story—knew of our band through our manager, and we finally connected after he came back from a brutal trip delivering aid, post-earthquake,” explains Huleatt. “Dan initiated our collaboration because ‘Head on a Pike’ perfectly depicted the state of affairs for an unfortunate youth, Frajíl, who has been imprisoned unjustly for many years. ‘Head on a Pike’ speaks of love and truth in an Orwellian world where life is expendable, and the risks immense for any practitioners. A passion that understands death can come at any minute, but nonetheless screams its rebellion.”
Black Taxi’s 2012 full-length We Don’t Know Any Better received critical acclaim from the likes of Pop Matters, AOL Spinner,and The AV Club among many other places. The album was produced by Aaron Nevezie (The Black Keys, Dangermouse).BLACK TAXI is Ezra Huleatt (vocals/keys/trumpet), Bill Mayo (guitar/vocals), Krisana Soponpong (bass), and Jason Holmes(drums/vocals).
