The Bridewell Taxis - Take Off

Take Off

The band's next break came in Autumn when the Inspiral Carpets invited them onto their Find Out Why national tour as support act (29 August to 4 September). One night on the tour (3 September) would see a strange hybrid band take the stage at Burberry's Birmingham when a local, third on the bill act failed to show. Inspiral's roadie at the time was Noel Gallagher and he performed a few impromptu jams and Beatles covers on guitar together with Inspiral Craig on drums, Bridewell Mick on vocals, Bridewell Sean on guitar and Bridewell sound engineer and manager Alaric Neville on bass, all to a handful of disinterested punters.

The urgent need for a release to go with the tour had led to the band's manager, along with a businessmen-fan Dave Bell, to fund their first EP, Just Good Friends, released on their own Stolen Records in the Autumn of 1989. It reached number 18 on the UK Indie Chart. On 1 October the band were on the bill at the final Futurama festival in Bradford run by legendary Leeds promoter John Keenan, along with the best of the crop of bands that would make waves in 1990.

The Taxis started 1990 as full time musicians with their second single, "Give In" c/w "Whole Damn Nation" which featured a dance remix of the later track. This served to get their name and music out into the growing cross-over dance scene. Many of the indie concerts of this era would feature a DJ dance set that started after the band finished, bringing the warehouse rave vibe into regular venues for the first time. The band were now headlining their own gigs in the north of England and became regulars at such venues as the Warehouse in Leeds, The Boardwalk in Manchester and The Leadmill in Sheffield. Another big support slot this time with The Stone Roses put them in the public's eye along with some positive live reviews in the national music press.

On 19 April they became the first non-Manchester band to play the Factory Records night in Paris at the La Locomotive Club within the Moulin Rouge. The band booked coaches for Leeds and Manchester fans to join them in France for the weekend. The gig was successful but the aftermath less so. A semi-clothed Mick was chased through the streets over an extortionate brothel bar bill and was later seen three floors up on a narrow ledge of the hotel looking like he was about to jump to his death, he was coaxed back inside but passed out in his room. He hung his coat on a light fitting and in the middle of the night the hotel fire alarms went off with everyone evacuated to the street below as acrid smoke from a burning sports top filled the building. Mick's room door was forced open and he was resuscitated. A song for the Cage album came out of the near death experience that night, "Paris".

Third single "Honesty" proved a crowd favourite and highlighted songwriter Mick Roberts growing realist style. It took the form of dialogue between him and his long suffering partner; her trying to persuade him to give up crime and him explaining "Honesty looks good on you, its not for fools like me, I've felt its hands around my neck and I couldn't start to breath". This was no empty song writing exercise as some members of the band had been arrested for selling pills and speed after a gig at The Moles Club, Bath. It was a time when the more gentile southern youth considered any scally with a northern accent as having access to top drugs unavailable to them, an invitation the Taxis found hard to pass by. Prison was only avoided in Bath when the remaining bag of disco biscuits (MDMA) was found to contain vitamin pills. Later Mick narrowly avoided a prison sentence again after being convicted of stealing carpets from the Hilton hotel in Leeds. The video for Honesty featured a scene with Mick and drummer Glenn Scullion shoplifting clothes and then bumping into a real policeman, clearly on purpose. The video was banned by MTV and the Chart Show although "Honesty" would still make the Indie Top 10.

The band were booked to play the Mean Fiddler Stage at Reading Festival on 26 August and compere John Peel, who had already been playing their singles, made a point of catching the set, offering a Peel Session as a result. The session was broadcast on 18 September.

Fourth single "Spirit" came out on 5 November, allied to a LFO remix. It would be both the highpoint of the band's career and the start of their troubles. On the eve of the first day's recording session Mick disappeared following a domestic crisis. The rest of the band carried on recording backing tracks while roadies and friends searched the city. He was found at the end of a two day drinking binge and the vocal on the recording was coaxed out of the still drunk singer a line at a time, although he couldn't remember the chorus so the track was released without one.

"Spirit" was the band's biggest selling release, generating a lot of airplay, press coverage and compilation releases. The accompanying 22-date national tour filled most of November and included such major university venues as Leeds, Sheffield, Warwick and Kent, along with The Haçienda club in Manchester which would be filmed for a video release. After a short break, December saw the band on a four date tour of Scotland. They were now being courted by a number of major record labels; CBS, BMG, EMI, London Records and Chrysalis.