Melbourne band Black Cab is singer and programmer Andrew Coates and guitarist James Lee and features live and recorded performances from a number of well known Australian musicians including drummer Richard Andrew (Registered Nurse, Underground Lovers, Crow), bassist Anthony Paine (High Pass Filter), programmer Steve Law (Zen Paradox), and guitarist Alex Jarvis (Amplifier Machine, Alex Jarvis Band). Black Cab's sound is a blend of rock and electronics with shades of Europe and America in the '70's.
Black Cab's first album, 'Altamont Diary' was released in Australia in late 2004, in the UK in Sept. 2005 and across Europe via Stickman Records in March 2006. 'Altamont Diary' received rave reviews around the world for it's weird take on the fateful free concert at Altamont Speedway in late 1969.
Black Cab's second album, 'Jesus East', was released in Australia in September 2006 and was nominated in the top 25 Australian albums for the 2006 Australian Music Prize. The band toured Germany, Austria, Holland and Belgium in May 2007 to support the European release of 'Jesus East' through Stickman Records.
Black Cab's third album, 'Call Signs' was released in Australian in July 2009 through Sydney label Laughing Outlaw. After an extended lay-off the new album features a strong return to keyboards and found sounds loosely inspired by 1970’s East Germany – surveillance, fear, anxiety and the ever present state security apparatus. The new album was produced by Woody Annison (Children Collide, 'Altamont Diary') and features a guest lead vocal from Died Pretty’s Ron Peno on the track 'Ghost Anthems'. The first double track single was ‘Rescue’/’Black Angel’. Black Angel is a tribute to the tragic genius ‘70’s singer songwriter Judee Sill. Further remixes will shortly be available as free downloads and bonus digital tracks.
The band are back in the studio in late January 2010.
Press for Jesus East...
"**** The dark side of hippie-dom, updated and energised Two years ago this Melbourne duo - Andrew Coates and James Lee - delivered a dark-horse diamond with Altamont Diary, their compelling, sinister concept album inspired by The Stones’ dread day of ’69. Their second sticks to no strict storyline but advances their mix of psyched-out 60s guitars/sitars and late 70s Teutonic rhythms to heart-stopping effect. It’s accumulatively epic: it begins as a fine Spacemen 3/Neu pastiche, but by the roaring climax its pulse-rockets are firing way beyond genre. As a finale Sam Cutler, M.C. at Altamont and Stones/Grateful Dead manager, drawls a languidly poetic memoir over “Valiant”, while guitars mentally creep. Utterly riveting."
- CR, Uncut Magazine, April 2007
"**** Three years ago, singer producer Andrew Coates and guitarist James Lee took a trip to the dark hell of psychedelic rock with their startling Altamont Diary, inspired by the dreadful events oat the Stones’ 1969 bloodbath. The wait for this follow up has been well worth it – steamrolling Beatles-style raga rock with Germanic drone dirges, BC create an ominous mystical netherworld complete with seductively layered advice for the next generation of stoned immaculate groovers, A brave, funny and invigorating adventure."
- Daily Mirror UK April 2007
"**** This Australian duo are all evved up with somewhere to do on the second album: Seventies Germany, with Neu! as guides. The satanic Sixties psych of their debut, Altamont Diary, gets a full tank of krautrock fuel here. It's not a new route, but by the time Altamont veteran Sam Cutler's voiceover closes the album, they've given it a fresh glow."
- Saturday Independent Music Supplement, April 2007
"**** Sounding like Primal Scream in the throes of some dark psychedelic seizure, Altamont Diary, the 2005 debut from Black Cab, was a sonic montage evocation-cum-tribute to the 1969 festival. This follow-up has no such unifying concept but comprises a comparable blend of psychedelic elements, with backward guitars, heat-haze sitar and organ drones, rolling drum tattoos and slithering lead guitar figures congealing into chugging Neu!-beat grooves behind spacey vocal chants and murmurs of lines like "I'm in a future I don't understand" and "My heart is on fire". There's a heartfelf tribute to Syd Barrett in "Underground Star", and Grateful Dead road manager Sam Cutler reminiscing on "Valiant" and "The Path" about "those magic moments, indescribably beautiful. Recommended for Spaceman 3 fans."
- UK Independent, March 2007
"Altamont Diary had the smell of napalm & bad acid, Jesus East; opium & joss
sticks..."
- Stephen Walker, Radio RRR Sept. 2006
"Melbourne band Black Cab's 2004 debut, Altamont Diary, was a scorching concept flashback to the 'Stones infamous 1969 raceway concert. It's a tough act to follow, making this even more impressive. They move into the '70's with a swirling hangover of more-raunchy guitars, cocky vocals and psychedelia. The tablas and sitars suggest Black Cab are looking east while still lacing their rock with tasteful effects and electronics."
- Paris Pompor, Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 29th Sept.
"Black Cab rip you straight out of your everyday existence from the moment the pulsating bass of Hearts On Fire introduces Jesus East, immediately dropping you wide-eyed and wound up in a place altogether more fantastic and vital. With gusts of viscous guitar, throbbing bass, thunderstorm rhythms and ominously droning vocals, Jesus East presents the kind of musical adventure that should induce you to throw out most of your current record collection as impotent by comparison."
- Martin Jones, InPress Magazine Sept. 2006
"Black Cab once again proves themselves to be masters of the album format, with hard driving rhythms, a kaleidoscope of vocal samples, disembodied sitars and assorted electronica. A great follow-up to the acclaimed 'concept' album Altamont Diary."
- Brian Stradbrook, Luna Kafe Sept. 2006
"Those who have been awaiting the return of psych and shoegaze to the popular musical discourse will be delighted by the big, My Bloody Valentine meets Can tracks created by Black Cab (check out the motorik drumming of opener Hearts On Fire and Underground Star) mixed with more classically psychedelic moments, like the eastern influenced Another Sun and the closer, The Path. Guest contributions from Australian underground rock luminaries including the likes of Even's Ash Naylor and Underground Lovers/Registered Nurse drummer Rich Andrew, all of whom create a full, rich wall of textures and sonics across most of the tracks. However the albums great strength - the way it creates a sustained atmosphere - also means that Jesus East demands the listener to commit to listening rather than bunging it on for a casual skip..."
- Andrew Street, Drum Media Sept. 2006
"...from the opening seconds of Hearts On Fire - a ripping bassline, Richard Andrew's pin-point accurate drums, strands of guitar that fall of the rhythm section like burning embers, splashes of space noise and Andrew Coates' haunting vocals channeling the emotional conviction of Ian Curtis, all combining to create an aesthetic that walks the line between psychedelic and psychotic. ... With Jesus East Black Cab have created another composite, multi-layered artist statement of such depth and quality that matches and builds on Altamont Diary."
- Patrick Emery, Beat Magazine Sept. 2006
International press for Altamont Diary...
"Australian duo Black Cab has created a riveting, album-length memorial to the fatal folly of the Rolling Stones' free concert at Altamont Speedway"
- David Fricke, Rolling Stone US April 2005
**** "dazed concept album about the Stones' fateful concert in December '69, it's the kind of psychedelic noir that Primal Scream or Spacemen 3 always strived to achieve... From their fresh, exhilarating perspective, the Summer of Love expires again."
- Chris Roberts, UNCUT Magazine UK July 2005
"an engrossing and unnerving trip, full of pulsating electro sound effects, distant crowd noises and musical nods to Primal Scream and New Order at their rampaging best. Nightmares start here."
- UK Daily Mirror June 24th 2005
"a stoned, dark menace hovers over such giveaways as Summer Of Love, Good Drugs, A Killing, as layers of guitars wail psychedelically and sampled, disembodied voices wander in and out of proceedings. All very Primal Scream, and none the worse for that, the best is reserved for last with a rib-rattling 10-minute plus finale simply called 1970."
- Peter Kane, Q Magazine November 2005
" a blend of guitar drones, sitar, wah-wah, electronic washes, maracas, half-heard conversations, announcements and windswept ambiences resembles Primal Scream in the throes of some dark psychedelic seizure..."
- UK Independent December 9th 2005
8/10 " beats, tripped-out psychedelia, electronica and samples from the event. Its tense and drives towards the inevitable doomed ending during the chaotic bad-acid head rush of A Killing. The 10-minute sprawling mini-epic 1970 closes proceedings with the bleak unbelievable truth that the dazed, confused and naïve spirit of free love died that day too."
- Stuart Wright, Guitar Magazine UK, December 2005
The rock equivalent of the journey up the river in 'Apocalypse Now', a quite extraordinary concept record, equally thrilling and frightening
- Patrick Wilkins, Americana-uk.com, December 2005
" swirling echo, raw as sushi chord slashing from guitarist James Lee, portentous big beats, and enough ideas to fill at least the last five Rolling Stones albums.
- Rocksound UK, Dec. 2005
Australian duo with a concept album about the fateful Rolling Stones concert at Altamont in 1969, and it seethes with a simmering undertow of violence. Just stay off the brown acid
- Music Monthly supplement, The Observer UK, November 20 2005
**** " a driving, hypnotic, guitar-led symphony that owes as much to Primal Scream as The Grateful Dead (whose New Speedway Boogie is covered here). Blended with snatches of dialogue from the Gimme Shelter documentary itself are prime-era U2 basslines, cinematic Air-like synths and an inventive use of layered guitars and effects and, on the 10 minute plus centerpiece, 1970, some epic, demon-haunted guitar playing...
- Owen Bailey, Guitarist UK, Sept. 2005
"Wonderful, idiosyncratic and remarkably ambitious... the set succeeds in capturing an exceptional range of moods, building to a heightened sense of dread with Angels Arrive and Hey People, and the explosive finale of the 10 minute epic, 1970
- Jeff Glorfeld, Melbourne Age EG, July 2nd 2004
"Another kick ass release, the sort of psychedelic noir that Primal Scream always promised but were either too stoned or not stoned enough to deliver."
- Stephen 'The Ghost' Walker, 3RRR FM Melbourne
**** "A superb blend of electronica and rock...dramatic without being pretentious, intelligent but not humorless."
- Chris Womersley, Melbourne Sunday Age Sept. 12th 2004
"a ludicrously impressive achievement that a band especially an Australian one so removed by time and geography from the Summer of Love could create such an eerie soundtrack to such an explosive time."
- Anton fasterlouder.com.au
"Melbourne duo imagining their own trip in the dark mother of all festivals. Like taking a mind drive into history. You can practically feel the hum of the event, its cosmic wave coming through you just over the hill. "
Got a show this fri night with Charles Jenkins and the Zhivagos at the East Brunswick Club - a 7" vinyl single launch. Love 2 see ya if u hang around the neighbourhood after the airwaves... - love from matty
Hey guys if you know of any vocalists who may suit our style or you just wanna check out the radness we're playing at the East Brunswick this coming Tuesday. Send them our way it would be much appreciated. Entry's $5 concesion or $8 full fare. Rock on down! Cheers Schelite
CONGRATULATIONS BLACK CAB ! Your Song "Black Angel" entered The FRIEND VOTE Indie Top 100 at No.10 on Monday. Maybe your MySpace Friends can help you climb higher for next Monday's Chart. VOTE for BLACK CAB at http://www.myspace.com/indietop100 Don't forget to join us for the Chart Rundown at http://www.twitter.com/indietop100 every Monday at 16.00 UK TIME. All the best, Friend Vote.
Hey guys come to our Toff on thurs 20th August! It's an amazing line up.... Us, The Spheres, Cuba is Japan and Sailors and Swine! Would be great to finally meet and have a beer together. How's the launch going? ciao x Lisa C.
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