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Wet Taxis

Wet Taxis The 'Wet Taxis were an Australian experimental noise outfit that later transformed into a 1960's Texas Punk inspired rock band. The band was founded by brothers Simon and Tim Knuckey who then collaborated with Gary Bradbury. Initially they did back room recording on cassette, Gary / distorted rhythms, tape loops, dementedness, vocal interjection, Simon/vocals, guitar, effects Tim, bass, effects. Wet Taxis were first the Sydney Quads, named after a newspaper headline. then it was Wet Taxis, named by Simon Knuckey after a work by Salvador Dali. They were also collaborating with Tom Ellard at the time/Severed Head/Terse tapes. Then came the terse records sampler, a 7" EP with the tracks, Donny and Marie, Polio Baby, Riso Riso, Max and Peter Marmite Jar. Four minutes, Five Seconds of teenage madness ! They released a cassette on Terse tapes. Then Louis/ vocals, Simon/lead, Peter Watt/ rhythm, Tim/Bass+Vocal, Nick Fisher/drums, Peter left and was replaced by Penny Ikinger.

Knuckey Brothers Simon Knuckey and Tim Knuckey were born in Dunedin, New Zealand and moved to Adelaide in Australia. In 1976 after seeing the Sex Pistols on TV in Dunedin Simon Knuckey bought an electric guitar. The brothers mucked around with Punk music (Tim Knuckey, bass and vocals), they moved to Sydney late in 1978. Simon Knuckey was obsessed with guitars and amps (he had a 59 les paul jnr. A 61 sg les paul custom with rare inlaid ebony tail piece – then moved into custom made guitars + amps i.e. red vinyl marshall plexiglass 100 w head, and there after fender amps – Tim Knuckey played a borrowed piece of Japanese crap). Later on the Knuckey brothers bought an ibanez artist fretless bass for $300 – which used to belong to Splitenz bass player). Simon Knuckey went through a succession of gear changes including, bell and howell film projector amps (about 10w), a lego motor to "bow" the strings, distortion boxes and other weird shit. He was even known to stroke the water filled wine glasses and make them sing. Big silver ghetto blasters were another acquisition. They first started recording in the back room of their mother's house in Chippendale. They met Garry "Gasbogs" Bradbury at the Grand Hotel, Railway square (Sydney), a grotty, old tiled Sydney pub, where the punks converged on weekends and bands played.

When the Grand hotel stopped, the Civic Hotel, an art deco pub in central Sydney, became the Punk Mecca. They played in the back bar one Saturday afternoon, we must have offended the barman, as he said, "turn down, or I'll have to take you out the back and bash you !". Simon Knuckey was now becoming a rock guitar wizard and recording with Tom/Severed Heads. Gary wandered off to do his thang. The Knuckey brothers met Louis Tillett at the Grand Hotel and were also jamming with him. Louis Tillett played keys, together they explored some more traditional rock, blues and psychedelia. Simon Knuckey was inspired by Hendrix. The Nuggets albums, then, Pebbles, etc provided some exciting material. Wet Taxis had a Wednesday night residency at the Brittania Hotel, Chippendale. Louis/ vocals, Simon/lead, Peter Watt/ rhythm, Tim/Bass+Vocal, Nick Fisher/drums, they packed it out every week, Peter quit and was replaced by Penny Ikinger. Art Unit was a factory venue in Alexandria. They held exhibitions and events. Tom Ellard had some recording equipment there and recorded the band, some recordings finding their way onto our LP "From the Archives". They were on the bill for the Sedition festival. It was at the iconic Trade Union Club. It was recorded by JJJ radio station.