Taxa came to my attention rather randomly. I was scrolling through whatever sort of music forum and saw a band describing themselves as being influenced by Unwound, which immediately caught my attention. Upon listening I agreed that they did indeed share similarities with the infamous Olympia trio (as well as their fellow Canadians in Shotmaker, but that’s for a different tribute, ok?). I reached out in a cold-call sort of way to see if they wanted someone to release their music and they agreed and the rest is history. And it really was. Taxa sat silent for quite awhile, barely leaving their Vancouver home base. The members often played together in other start up bands, but would eventually come back to Taxa, as infrequent as that has been.
To date I still haven’t seen Taxa live, though I’ve seen one of their other side bands. They remain a bit of a mystery, but I assure you, they’re alive and well.
My history with Unwound remains similarly touch and go. For several years I would have friends tell me that I should check them out because I’d probably like them. I said I would, and then get sidetracked. It even got to a point where one friend mentioned they were going to Philly to see them and would be happy to take me along and I declined. A couple years later I was in that same friend’s car and “Corpse Pose” came on his stereo. Taken in by the odd rhythm I excitedly asked, ‘who’s this?’ Almost in anger he shot back, ‘this is Unwound! I told you you should listen to this!’ I was instantly in awe. And, of course, it was too late. By the time I got into them they had broken up the year before. So I tracked down as many of their albums as I could and “Repetition” still remains my favorite.
Taxa harness that sound for themselves and in a similar way they remain as elusive as Unwound once was to me. I eventually saw Unwound, maybe I’ll see Taxa on a stage one day as well? Ad maybe I’ll even be treated to their faithful rendition of “Corpse Pose”, probably one of the best Unwound songs out there.
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