AM Taxi winning fans the old-school way

The weather can always be a bit iffy with an outdoor festival, especially after Labor Day, but AM Taxi lead singer and guitarist Adam Krier said he's nonetheless looking forward to this weekend's Middlewest Fest in DeKalb.

"It can be a bit of a mess sometimes," he admitted. "It's definitely different from a club show, that's for sure. It's a good opportunity, though, to meet and see a whole bunch of bands at one time and kind of get out of the monotony of the whole club scene."

That fits the bill right now for AM Taxi, an outfit with its origins in the Western suburbs and which Krier described as a "punk rock and roll" band.

"We haven't toured over the summer," said Krier, a native of Naperville. "We've been sort of writing and regrouping."

That's after the band got wrung through the major-label wringer at Virgin Records last year, when they hit the road for a handful of tours behind their debut album, "We Don't Stand a Chance," a title that proved oddly prophetic.

"We called the record 'We Don't Stand a Chance,'" Krier said, "because, I don't know, we kind of had a feeling."

The album was a fine display of the group's roots-rock punk, and the label was initially excited, picturing AM Taxi filling stadiums. The band, however, had humbler ambitions of building a following the old-school way, through relentless touring and reliable, sustained product. "Their expectations and our expectations were two different things," Krier said. In short, Virgin was hoping for the next Nirvana. "They always are," said Krier, also of Lucky Boys Confusion. And the band was expecting a longer slog to widespread success, a journey that got derailed when Virgin's EMI corporate ownership fired a bunch of executives, undercutting AM Taxi's support.

The band's lawyer got them out of the deal, and they retained full control of their recorded masters. So the group returned to its roots, where it had always been in the first place.

Krier formed the group four years ago, with bassist Jason Schultejann, a friend from Downers Grove he'd been in bands with going back to the '90s, and drummer Chris Smith, from Geneva. Their first extended-play release, "Runaway Songs," found Krier overdubbing extra guitar and keyboard parts. It was also the first time he was writing all material himself, without a collaborator. So they added Krier's fellow Naperville products - brothers guitarist and keyboardist John and Luke Schmitt - to fill out the sound live, and they continued on to record the EP follow-up, "The Good, the Bad and the Fed Up."

Krier led the members of the band favoring classic punk material, from the Clash to punk's roots in reggae and ska back to the proto-punk garage bands featured on the original "Nuggets" compilations, such as the Remains and the Knickerbockers. Others in the group favored more contemporary material, which combined to give AM Taxi its unique sound. They were all, however, devoted to the group and to touring, which is why they joined together from other outfits.

"Are you still gonna do the rock and roll thing or are you gonna go the other path?" Krier said. "The four, five of us got together because we wanted to keep doing it ... in it for the long haul."

Even after abandoning the major labels, they've proved they're all in for good with a new single release, "New Solution," which finds the band grafting a Hammond B-3 organ - or "a fake Hammond," as Krier puts it - onto a rousing punk anthem that, like much of the Clash songbook, mixes anger over the status quo with an inherent optimism that suggests change is possible and music can help effect that change.

Circumventing recording labels, they've put it out for free through their website at amtaximusic.com, and Krier said they'll continue to offer newly recorded releases through the site for fans who sign up for emails.

"Everyone's still trying to figure out the best way to do it right now," Krier said.

Yet this weekend they'll still be trying to do it the old way, performing before DeKalb fans at the Middlewest Fest and taking it from there.

<b>Middlewest Fest</b>

When: 5 p.m. to midnight Friday, Sept. 9; noon to midnight Saturday Sept. 10

Where: Various locations in downtown DeKalb

AM Taxi: Performs at 4 p.m. Saturday at Van Buer Plaza, at the corner of 2nd and Locust Street, $10 for their show only

Tickets: $25 for a single-day fest pass, $40 for both days, at middlewestfest.com/tickets; single-show tickets available at the door at varying prices.

Full schedule: middlewestfest.com