Music Critic Sarah Mawson attends Tank and the Bangas’ latest press conference where they cover, their new EP, life in lock down, musical influences and more
Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball and her bandmates – Joshua Johnson, Norman Spence, and Albert Allenback– are squeezed into a red sofa, talking over each other at every chance. It’s not malicious, more out of excitement to talk about their upcoming EP Friend Goals and eagerness to get back into the normality of making music and everything that comes with it, in this case a press conference. It’s clear from the band’s palpable energy and their music itself that they could never be doing anything else, and when asked if they do anything together outside of the music sphere Norman jokes that “setting up the musical equipment” is the most non-musical activity they do together, further proving the want to create music as not only a foundational aspect of themselves, but of their friendship.
Josh tells of the weirdness of going through the creation process all the while hearing the different stages over small speakers, through a phone or in the car, instead of the more industrial speakers studios have
When asked to describe the EP in a few words the adjectives start flying: “friendly”, “goals”, “fantastic” all said multiple times among laughs, and eventually “challenging”. The EP was made primarily over zoom during quarantine, presenting a new experience for the band until they could get back into friends’ home studios to do final recordings. Josh tells of the weirdness of going through the creation process all the while hearing the different stages over small speakers, through a phone or in the car, instead of the more industrial speakers studios have. The first single from the EP, ‘Self Care’, is even more linked to the pandemic than the rest of the project as Albert (known mostly for the amazing saxophone and flute he brings to the band) made the beat when he was ill with the virus and sent it over to rest of the band to work with, Tank immediately coming up with the refrain “by myself, chilling all by myself” and one of the artists on the song, Jaime Woods, going on to sing “I’ve been in this house so long I think I’ll go insane”. The video follows much of the same theme, showing each of the musicians (Tank and Jaime along with frequent collaborator Anjelika ‘Jelly’ Joseph and Big Orleans, Tank’s brother) findings ways to pass the time in isolation and focusing on the eponymous idea of self care there they can, whether it be ignoring calls or changing their health, both mentally and physically – something that Tank herself says she’s worked on during the pandemic. She spoke in the conference about lifestyle changes to aid both her body and mind, making the point that media intake is just as important to reflect on as food or exercise, saying “what you watch, what you see, what you talk about: all of that is diet, all of that is self care”.
When talking about more modern influences the band are quick to throw names out: Thundercat, Noname, Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals
The video with its colourful themed rooms individual to the artists was inspired in part by Brandy and Monica’s music video for the 1998 song ‘The Boy is Mine’, a clear childhood inspiration for Tank. When talking about more modern influences the band are quick to throw names out: Thundercat, Noname, Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals (this one from Albert who admires the multi-instrumentalism of Paak), and Tierra Whack. It’s easy to see the similarities and interests shared by Tank and the Bangas and the artists they mention, such as the clever, atmospheric lyricism like that of Noname, or the fun, thought-out themes of the Bangas’ music that could be straight out of Tierra Whack video.
From the speed at which they rattled off names it’s obvious that the band holds a deep appreciation for other artists and values the chance to work with them, as they do in Friend Goals. The project only has seven tracks yet includes features from big names such as Duckwrth, PJ Morton, and Chika (who Albert went to high school with, he is quick to mention). Duckwrth is featured on the track ‘Fluff’, a smooth, somewhat psychedelic track with an incredible horn outro about Tank’s first time at Coachella, the Duckwrth feature fitting in perfectly. PJ Morton’s feature comes on ‘TSA’, a song, predictably, about the trails and tribulations of airport security. The song is exactly what you want from a collaboration, both of the musicians individual vibes evident and coming together to compliment each other to create a piece about introspection in the terminal that keeps getting interrupted by TSA, punctuated by Tank’s refrain of “TSA keeps taking my shit”.
With the release of the new EP just around the corner now is the perfect time to get into the world of Tank and the Bangas, a band that has mastered the art of creating precise atmospheres in their music, a skill that appears to be more present than ever on Friend Goals.
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