I Hail Taxis

Stephen Hill began recording cassettes of his own songs under the name I Hail Taxis from about 1994. He recorded about a dozen of these, many of them sadly lost, before I joined him on his "Purple Trousers" tape in 1997. By the end of 1998 we had released 3 more tapes, an EP, had grown to a 5-piece band, performed one shambolic gig, appeared on TV (on Channel 4's Under the Moon performing "Tartan Army", IHT's alternative song for Scotland's World Cup team), changed the name to "The Sluice Room Review" and split up. Steve had no musical influences and wrote songs purely for his own amusement. His audience was me and a few other friends to whom he'd hand out his self-dubbed tapes on his own Bring! Records. Later tapes were released on cassette-only labels Bacchanalian Revel and Low Voltage, and the "Subscribe!" EP on the even more obscure Umbababayee. But I don't believe they sold well, even by cassette label standards. Unencumbered by ambition, musical training or an audience, Steve was free to sing whatever was on his mind. And going by the songs, what was on his mind was: day time television, science fiction, UFOs (this was an era when crop circles were seriously debated), archaeology, the OJ Simpson trial, Scotland, surreal humour (how else to categorise "Rod Stewart and Emu"?) and, of course, girls. Steve was never very comfortable when the band started to grow or we talked of gigging or self-promotion. He was happiest scribbling his silly songs in his notebook and recording them in one take in his living room. Towards the end of '98 he disappeared and the band was no more. I heard a rumour that he'd moved abroad but I never got confirmation of this, and neither I nor any of our mutual friends have heard from him since. Wherever he is, at least we still have his music. The world of I Hail Taxis is one many will recognise; that of a twice-daily Neighbours watcher and dreamer who refuses to grow up. So put on your purple trousers, get the Etch-a-Sketch from the car, and get ready to do the freezing cold jig whilst listening to the World of I Hail Taxis! From the website.