Taxpayer

By Miriam Lamey

Photo by Patrick Piasecki

Taxpayer is a rock band that's difficult to ignore. Over the course of a few releases, the band has quickly risen to the upper echelons of the Boston music scene, packing venues like The Paradise Rock Club, and toured the country. The band even had one of their songs played on a recent episode of MTV's The Hills. The secret to their success seems to be a core of just plain good songwriting. The band sports a fairly slick stylistic sound - not far off from well-read post-punkers like Interpol, eschewing that dark monotone edge for smoother, more readily accessible melodies from Coldplay's school of alt-rock. But the most notable aspect of Taxpayer isn't their deft channeling of popular influences or even their pop-accessible approach to post-punk - it's about the great songwriting that underlies it all, and the band has just released four more of them on their new split release with Somerville-based Dear Leader.

Fans of Taxpayer's popular 2005 release Bones and Lungs won't be disappointed with the new EP - also released on Boston's Lunch Records. "We figured it would be good timing to put something out this summer," Marsh explains, "in order to sort of whet palates for a full-length album," says singer Jared Marsh.

The band doesn't completely reinventing itself with these four songs, but the record shows considerable progress towards refining the band's already time-tested sound. "One of the things that we tried to do with these four songs is not be as stagnant," says bassist Tim Peters of the new material. "I think our last record was great and it rocks but after listening to it a thousand times and playing it a thousand times ... it wasn't very spontaneous." Anyone who has ever toured in a pop band can relate to the monotony of overplaying songs, even if they're rock solid. As a result, Taxpayer's new material is less traditionally structured. While the new songs still bask in infectious hooks and glorious sing-alongs (see the end of "Moving Parts"), the band has a slightly new agenda. "This time around, there are parts of songs that only happen once, either something that Jay is singing or just a part of a song that happens just once in the song," says Peters.

"Bones and Lungs was all kind of angular guitars and had a certain kind of formula," says Marsh. "The new songs have a little bit more of a kick to them - they have different beats. It's kind of a dancey disco feel."

The band's decision to release the four songs as a split reflects not only a shared goal of saving money on printing/pressing costs, but the band's investment in a local DIY ethic. "A lot of hardcore bands and punk bands put out split records and we [looked at] what bands were associated with what other bands that way, and we just thought it would be a fun thing to do," drummer Rob Adams explains. Given Dear Leader's similar investment in emotionally charged, atmospheric post-rock, the pairing of the two bands makes sense - especially given the opportunity for cross-pollination of mutual fanbases and tour opportunities.

"We weren't sure what we were going to do with the songs and [Dear Leader] weren't sure either," says Adams. "They are friends of ours, so the conversation started." Using the same producer, and recording in Waterford, Connecticut and Cambridge, Mass., the bands combined their work for a stellar and, most importantly, cohesive, full-length release. Given the quality of these songs, though, it seems an even bigger release is coming. Hopefully, we'll hear it in the not-so-distant future.

www.taxpayermusic.com