New Video and Big News!
Chicago Punk Rock & Roll Band Walks Away from Disinclined Major Record Label
Dear friends, fans, peers, industry folks, and Roy Orbison:
Double high-fives in the air to all from AM Taxi. We’re thrilled to announce some really exciting news: we left our record label! We no longer “work” with Virgin/EMI. Things weren’t going the way we wanted, which is to say by the end, things weren’t going anywhere at all. We got sick of waiting, so we split. Adios. Adieu. Sayonara. We want to be more in touch with the people that are buying our records, and we want to be able to give away free music & videos.
Big changes went down at Virgin/EMI; people got fired, hired, replaced, and relocated. This caused things at the label to come to a stand still just as we started gaining some real momentum. After extensive touring and the release of our debut record, everything really began to come together. We wanted to keep working, but we couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone at the label. It quickly became obvious that they were too afraid of losing their job to make a move and support us. We also knew there were some people over there who just didn‘t get it. They didn’t care, and they certainly weren’t helping us or making things any easier. This went on for over two months before we finally said “fuck it” and let our lawyer go to town. Fortunately, we walked away owning all our masters, videos, and art.
All of this is to be expected in this fun business and believe me, it was expected from day one: we thought the record title said it all (We Don‘t Stand a Chance). You just gotta move on, and that’s what we’re doing. We tour the US all this month with the legendary Saw Doctors from Ireland. Some stops include Slim's in San Francisco; the House of Blues Boston; The Vic Theatre in Chicago and two nights at New York City’s Irving Plaza. We’ll also be frequently putting out free music and videos starting with this appropriate cover: here’s our version of the Sex Pistols' classic ,“EMI” recorded by Andy Gerber at Million Yen. The video was directed by Nathan Cox. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV4-jPg5V8I
We don’t know what lies ahead, but we do know that there are some really incredible people all over this country that have been kind, open and generous to us. We will continue to play music as long as they continue to listen.
Thanks for coming this far with us. See you on the road this month!
XOXO.
AM TAXI
