"I’ve climbed every tower and drowned in the river / But I am an outline of your / Ever-expanding blood...."
The runaway indie rock / busker punk bravado of "Outline of Your Blood", by Portland, Oregon birthed experimental indie rock amalgam The Taxpayers, feels so retro as to feel timeless and so timeless as to feel utterly now at the very front of modern fight music during devolving times. The swelling organs and folk driven rhythms and punky electric guitar swell had me feeling those potent 'before' times and for whatever reason Elvis Costello & The Attractions and the Pixies floated in my brain. On a previous The Taxpayers review I wrote (and it might feel more to the point) this:
[The sound here like a furious amalgam of artists like Jeff Rosenstock, Sparks, Los Campesinos!, Harley Poe, Japandroids, to name a few off of the top of my head, seems to lean heavily into confessional poetic blood letting, into politico punk, into what might have been called slam poetry decades ago. I reference all those bands that encompass busker punk, new wave, emo punk, art punk, indie rock in an attempt to put The Taxpayers in a figurative vinyl crate but it is hard because they are so unique.]
I still feel those feelings and maybe it is silly grasping at sonic genre descriptor straws anyway. There is something so embracing, so communal about The Taxpayers sound. The stuff of sing-a-longs and feeling part of the human existence no matter who you are and I love that. This is the thing, I have always been against artists that say that Trumpsters or anyone (even your potentially neo-nazi) is not welcome at a show. I say bring them into the sonic fray. It is remarkable how being with, partying with people who are different than you, over time, can sometimes click off those bad programmed light switches in your brain.
To celebrate the release, the band is unveiling a new video for their track “Outline Of Your Blood,” which features fan-submitted footage, showcasing the band’s community of fans, pets, and families.
Additionally, The Taxpayers are hitting the road in June for an East Coast summer tour with labelmates Pigeon Pit. The tour follows the band’s headline shows in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Detroit later this month.
The Taxpayers Tour Dates:
March 27 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Underground
March 28 - Chicago, IL @ WC Social Club
March 29 - Detroit, MI @ The Loving Touch
April 5 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex (Growing Up Is Dumb Fest)
June 25 - Asbury Park, NY @ House Of Independents w/ Pinkwash, Shy Godwin *
June 26 - Hartford, CT @ Webster Underground w/ Perennial *
June 27 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live w/ Paper Bee *
June 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Meadows w. HIRS Collective *
June 29 - Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat w/ Sloot *
* with Pigeon Pit
same to me.
I have an empty canteen.
And I’m running away
From a pursuing disease.
I hit a dead end.
It’s a lonely path when nobody
seems to be your friend.
I’m alone, but I am looking for you.
And I’m keeping my head high, like
you wanted me to.
I’ve searched for your face all
over this place,
Climbed every mountain and
drowned in the river,
And I am an outline of your blood.
All these thieves
Got eyes in places that you
wouldn’t believe.
I think they’re on to me.
So I’m ducking away from the
pursuing police.
I hit a dead end.
It’s a heartbreaking world when
nobody wants to be your friend.
I’m alone, but I’m looking for you.
And I’m watching my back, like you
wanted me to.
I’ve prayed for your home, but I
feel so alone.
I’ve climbed every tower and
drowned in the river,
But I am an outline of your
Ever-expanding blood.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/album/circle-breaker
https://www.instagram.com/the_taxpayers/
https://www.facebook.com/thetaxpayers/
https://www.thetaxpayersband.com/
After a multi-year hiatus, long-running experimental punk band The Taxpayers are back and ready to make their mark once again. Formed in Portland, Oregon in 2007, The Taxpayers have been known for their genre-bending, DIY punk sound and their ability to push musical boundaries. Following a series of critically acclaimed albums, including 2012’s concept album God, Forgive These Bastards and their last full-length release Big Delusion Factory (2016), the band is thrilled to announce the release of their highly anticipated new album, Circle Breaker. out on March 21 via the boundary-defying Ernest Jenning Record Co (pre-order).
The Taxpayers have been busy during their time away, selling out shows across the U.S. and headlining festivals in Australia. Their upcoming album Circle Breaker marks a bold new chapter in their musical evolution.
The album’s lead single “Circle Protector,” draws on deeply personal experiences, including a tragic event that profoundly impacted Rob Taxpayer. Reflecting on the moment, Rob shares:
“The day before ‘Circle Protector’ was written, I ran into my friends Katie and Will, who were loading an amp into the back of a car about a block from my house. They were heading to a house show in the next neighborhood over. ‘You should come,’ they said. But me and Elise had free tickets to see the stage adaptation of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill and babysitters for our six-month-old (our first date night in months). So we hopped back on our bikes and told them to have fun. ‘Maybe we’ll stop by after the musical.’
“I found out the next day that there had been a shooting at that house show. Some random guys had wandered in thinking it was a house party, tried to hit on a few people who weren’t interested, and opened fire on their way out. An old friend had been killed, a victim of a stray bullet.
“I learned about this as I held my sleeping baby in my arms, grappling with the fact that my friend had been murdered a handful of blocks from where my baby slept. That night, I lit a bundle of old dried lemongrass and walked a protective circle around my home.”
The song “Circle Protector” encapsulates the emotional weight of this experience while embodying the band's continued exploration of complex themes and evolving sound.
The track “Evil Everywhere” is another deeply personal reflection on the state of the world today. Rob continues:
“With all the compounding murders and suicides and just general death that the band had been experiencing leading up to this album, I often find myself thinking about the word ‘evil’ and what it means. Is it an action, a choice, some unconquerable element of existence, a seed, just another thing that happens? Do we learn from the past or intentionally drown it out in order to just fucking get by? What direction leads away from it? What prevails in its face? The songs on this album ended up being, in some sense, an attempt to grapple with those questions.”
The band’s album Circle Breaker moves from the quasi-religious vocal harmonies of “Circle Protector” to the electro-funk of the furious “Evil Everywhere.” There’s chaotic punk (“I Am One Thousand,” “Nightmarish Population”), stripped back heartbreak (“Nobody is a Lost Cause”, “Empty Shed”), and genre spanning epics (“At War With the Dogcatchers”, “Everything Will Be Different”). Perhaps most surprising of all, at least for a mildly nihilistic punk band, are the songs of love and hope (“Naked Trees”, “Future Island”, “Outline of Your Blood.”)
“These are songs about circles, and they're the most personal songs we've ever shared,” says Rob. “The amount of death and birth we experienced prior to and during the making of this album - the violent deaths of friends and family members, the births of our children…it's been a journey for us.”
That journey is illustrated by the simple, provocative album art: a tree stump with new growth, created collaboratively by band members Nasrene Taxpayer, Rob Taxpayer, and artist Shauna Corinne Murray.
“Just as we began working on this album, our guitar player Andrew had a family member gunned down and murdered at a park near his home,” says Rob. “The next day, the city came and cut down the cherry tree in front of his house. A week or two later, Andrew texted me a picture: the gnarled stump of the cherry tree had sprouted new growth. A new tree being born from the old.”
When taken as a whole, the results of Circle Breaker are staggering; at once furious, heartbreaking, contemplative, joyous, and moving.
The Taxpayers have announced a series of midwest shows in support of Circle Breaker this spring in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Detroit, along with summer shows on the east and west coast.
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