Taxi Violence

Taxi Violence
Taxi Violence live at RAMfest 2014. Pictured from left to right: Rian Zietsman, George van der Spuy, Loedi van Renen and Jason Ling.
Background information
Origin	Cape Town, South Africa
Genres	Rock
Years active	2004–present
Website	www.taxiviolence.com
Members	George van der Spuy Rian Zietsman Louis Nel Jason Ling Loedi van Renen

Taxi Violence is a South African rock band from Cape Town. The group consists of George van der Spy (vocals), Jason Ling (bass), Louis Nel (drums), Rian Zietsman (guitar) and Loedi van Renen (guitar/bass). They have released five studio albums: Untie Yourself (2006), The Turn (2009), Unplugged: Long Way From Home (2011), Soul Shake (2013), and Tenfold (2014). They are influenced by bands such as: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam.

Taxi Violence formed in 2004 when Rian Zietsman, Loedi van Renen and Louis Nel invited George van der Spuy to join a jam. The group liked van der Spuy's performance and the vocals he provided which led to the formation of the band. Van der Spuy's father worked at the Wynberg Military Base and arranged a bunker for the band to rehearse and write.

The band's first release was a self-titled EP in 2004 and by the following year they had already built up a big following.

Why the name 'Taxi Violence'

In 2004 the band had been booked for their first show, but were yet to come up with a band name. After having written pages of suggested names, Louis drove past a billboard of a local news paper which read "TAXI VIOLENCE rocks the Western Cape". At the next rehearsal it was agreed that rocking the Western Cape was what the band had set out to do so they settled on the name TAXI VIOLENCE.

The band rehearsed at the Wynberg Military Base writing tracks for their Self-titled EP. The EP contained the songs "Nothing Left to Lose" , "Waking up" and "Rock out". The latter two tracks would later be re recorded and added to the first full-length album Untie Yourself.