Rocketing past their humble origins in Melbourne’s cover-band and busking circuit—and naming themselves in honour of a taxi-driving mate who would road-test their songs with his passengers—Taxiride scored double-platinum sales with their 1999 debut, Imaginate. Combining radio-friendly pop/rock with intricate harmonising, the quartet initially featured four vocalists in Dan Hall, Jason Singh, Tim Watson and Tim Wild. Though Hall departed after the first album, their 2002 follow-up still leans on the strength of multiple singers and songwriters. Again recorded in Los Angeles with repeat Black Crowes producer Jack Joseph Puig, Garage Mahal yielded the biggest song of Taxiride’s career: the Top 10 hit “Creepin’ Up Slowly”, which updated classic alt-rock and power-pop vibes with prominent record scratching by DJ Swamp. Drummer Sean McLeod and bassist Andy McIvor join the group here, while the yearning vocals and robust hooks dwell comfortably between iconic ensembles The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and late-’90s acts like Third Eye Blind and The Wallflowers. More lineup shifts came on the heels of this record, with Watson exiting and Hall returning to the fold later, and two more albums followed before Taxiride parted ways. Yet the core quartet reconvened for high-profile touring in 2015. With their square focus on American success, Taxiride presaged globe-conquering Aussie bands like Jet, whose smash “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” charged through the door that Garage Mahal pried open.