It must be a tough row for bands musically influenced by the The Clash and The Replacements not have their music sound like those legendary groups. This creates problems for bands that let these influences stick out like power lines in open fields.<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s AM Taxi is one of those bands, and maybe that\u2019s one reason its debut is called We Don’t Stand a Chance: It serves as a sly nod to critics who bemoan the lack of originality in today\u2019s music. But I\u2019m not going to do that here. These guys write some catchy-ass songs, and I don\u2019t care where the genesis came from. I just want to sing along.<\/p>\n
Following 13 seconds of reverb on the opening \u201cDead Street,\u201d We Don’t Stand A Chance rollicks through the next 45 minutes at breakneck speed, sporting rowdy choruses and sharp lyrics. Frontman Adam Krier rasps amiably as the power chords and thumping drums coast merrily along. \u201cCharissa\u201d touts its Clash roots with grinding guitars and gang-backing vocals, belied by touching lyrics, while \u201cThe Mistake\u201d pumps a Mats\u2019 beat and killer hook against Krier\u2019s halting words (\u201cI am the ambulance that never comes\/ I am the anecdote you spill\u201d).<\/p>\n
There are musical double takes \u2014 \u201cReckless Ways\u201d is Weezer, \u201cMaydays & Rosaries\u201d is The Police, \u201cFed Up\u201d is Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Eat World is EVERYWHERE \u2014 but the imitations aren\u2019t obvious, and the melding of influences creates a genre all its own.<\/p>\n
Are there bumps? Sure. \u201cChampagne Toast\u201d ends the album on an odd, low-tempo note, while \u201cShake, Rattle & Stall\u201d is a tired melody you\u2019ve heard a million times before. No matter. AM Taxi celebrates its heroes, but doesn’t ape them. Joe Strummer would be flattered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It must be a tough row for bands musically influenced by the The Clash and The Replacements not have their music sound like those legendary groups. This creates problems for bands that let these influences stick out like power lines in open fields. Chicago\u2019s AM Taxi is one of those bands, and maybe that\u2019s one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[459,460],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-am-taxi","tag-we-dont-stand-a-chance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}