Catching taxi back into the charts

By MIKE HOULAHAN

The band shot straight to the top in 1993 with the album August and Everything After and its singles Mr Jones and Round Here. Since then it's not exactly been all downhill - Counting Crows still regularly sell a million-plus copies of their albums - but hits have eluded the group whose sound echoes the classic rock of the vinyl era.

But now they have a hit care of another old favourite - a cover of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi.

Not that they were worried about the long time between hits. "One of the things we knew, even after that first record, was that we just had to do what we were going to do and keep on doing our thing," says guitarist Dan Vickrey.

As well as writing their own songs, over the years Counting Crows have regularly recorded and stored away cover versions of favourite songs - a covers album was meant to precede the release of the band's latest album, Hard Candy. However, the band decided their new material demanded and deserved their full attention, so Hard Candy came first.

After the sessions had ended, the band reconvened for a four-day stint in the studio and "recorded a whole mess of covers", Vickrey says.

One that stood out was Big Yellow Taxi. A bright spark at their label heard the acoustic version and heard dollar signs. It ended up on the soundtrack to the romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice, with an added dance beat and has lead singer Adam Duritz duetting with rising star Vanessa Carlton.

New Zealand is a place Counting Crows have long wanted to visit, Vickrey says. Despite a major fear of flying, it's one trip he's ready and willing to take.

"It's been too long. We've been set to go to New Zealand three times in our career, the first time being right back in 1994 but Adam got nodes so we couldn't make it. It's always been scheduled in there at the end of the tour, but it is halfway around the world and things sometimes crop up and get in the way.

"We're doing it this time, though, and we're really looking forward to it. Well, I'm looking forward to being there and seeing the place, but I'm so not looking forward to the plane ride - that I can't even begin to tell you."

What Vickrey is looking forward to - and looks forward to every night - is getting on stage. If record sales aren't as stellar as once they were, Counting Crows have always been able to rely on a strong live following.

Duritz, Vickrey, Jim Bogioo (drums), Charles Gillingham (keyboards), David Immergluck (guitar) Matt Malley (bass) and David Bryson (guitar) repay those fans with long shows, which often see familiar songs taken in strange new directions.

"Live, you get instant gratification," Vickrey says.

"The feedback from an audience is electric and I ultimately prefer it to recording, but both have their own beauty.

"When you're making a record it can be so microscopic and maddening at times, but there's also the time when you finally finish with everything and it sounds great - that's a pretty rewarding thing because it's there forever and can't be taken away."

*Counting Crows play at the Civic tomorrow, 8pm

- NZPA