Breakout New Orleans-based five-piece Tank and The Bangas are signing a record deal with Verve Forecast. Of the signing, president and CEO Danny Bennett says, “You only have to experience Tank and the Bangas perform live to understand why they are exploding on the music scene worldwide and why they are on everyone’s short list of artists to watch. Their artistry makes it crystal clear what the future of music has in store and embodies everything that the Verve Label Group hopes to achieve. We are honored and proud that they are part of our family.”Verve Forecast is the home for eclectic and non-jazz facing artists on the Verve Label Group (Universal Music Group) roster. Initially created in 1964 as Verve Folkways, Forecast has been the home to artists as legendary and varied as Tim Hardin, Richie Havens, John Lee Hooker, Elvis Costello, Susan Tedeschi and now Tank and the Bangas and Yuna, among others.
Additionally, the band will release Live Vibes—an exclusive Record Store Day limited edition record pressed on yellow vinyl—on Saturday, April 21. Recorded live at Gasa Gasa in New Orleans in 2017, the recording makes fans feel like they are in the front row of one of the best live shows around. Live Vibes comes packaged in a die cut jacket and features a very special custom color print found in the interior of the jacket.
The band will take their lauded live show on the road this spring, confirming an extensive run of North American dates. The shows include stops at Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre, New Orleans’ Tipitinas, San Francisco’s The Fillmore, Nashville’s The Basement East and Denver’s historic RedRocks Amphitheatre as well as festival appearances at Coachella, SXSW, Newport Folk, Hangout, BottleRock and more. See below for complete tour details. Additionally, they are currently touring in Australia and will tour Europe this summer.
Tank and the Bangas unanimously won NPR’s Tiny Desk contest with “Quick,” a riotous single they released in 2017, which Bob Boilen proclaimed, “This band combines R&B with hip-hop’s poetry and rollercoaster storytelling, with a flair and alchemy that could only come from New Orleans.” There’s more new music to come as the group works on the follow-up to their debut album, Think Tank.
The band’s ongoing evolution involves more than just music—lead vocalist and songwriter Tarriona “Tank” Ball continues to grow and develop as a performer and writer. Even back in the open-mic days, she was a force of nature. “I don’t know if there’s such a thing as too free, but it was totally uninhibited. She was inspired,” Norman Spence (synth keys, bass) says, laughing at the memory. More recently, Ball has become less of a dervish onstage—“I was running around so much I didn’t have time to sing at all,” she say—while finding new ways of expressing herself as a writer.
The band have performed with acts such as Lianne La Havas, PJ Morton, Galactic, Big Freedia, The Revivalists, Lyfe Jennings and The Soul Rebels while making major festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Jazz Fest, Pickathon, Hullabaloo and more.
Tank and The Bangas are Ball, Spence, Merell Burkett (keyboards), Joshua Johnson (drums) and Albert Allenback (alto saxophone, flute).LIVE VIBES TRACKLIST
1. Not Mr. Rodgah’s Neighborhood (1:12)
2. Quick (8:11)
3. X’s (5:04)
4. Ripperton Love (7:21)
5. Boxes and Squares (7:41)
6. Twice (All Wayz) (8:33)TANK AND THE BANGAS LIVE
March 7—Sydney, Australia—Oxford Art Factory
March 8— Adelaide, Australia—WOMADelaide
March 11—Auckland, New Zealand—Festival Playground Music Arena
March 15—Austin, TX—The Gatsby
March 16—Austin, TX—Hotel San Jose
April 5—Houston, TX—White Oak Music Hall
April 6—Dallas, TX—Club Dada
April 7—Austin, TX—THE SCOOT INN
April 10—Santa Fe, NM—Santa Fe Brewing Co.
April 11—Tucson, AZ—191 toole
April 12 & 13—Indio, CA—Coachella
April 17—Solana Beach, CA—Belly Up Tavern
April 18—Los Angeles, CA—Fonda Theatre
April 20—Indio, CA—Coachella
April 21—Charleston, SC—High Water Festival
April 27—New Orleans, LA—Tipitinas
April 28—Oxford, MS—Double Decker Arts Festival
May 4—New Orleans, LA—The Civic Theatre
May 6—Memphis, TN—Beale Street Music Festival
May 9—Louisville, KY—Headliners Music Hall
May 11—Richmond, VA—Brown’s Island
May 12—Saxapahaw, NC—New River Ballroom
May 13—Asheville, NC—The Grey Eagle
May 15—Charlotte, NC—Visulite Theatre
May 16—Knoxville, TN—U.S. Cellular Stage at the Bijou Theatre
May 17—Nashville, TN—The Basement East
May 18—Atlanta, GA—Terminal West
May 19—Gulf Shores, AL—Hangout Music Festival
May 24—San Francisco, CA—The Fillmore
May 25—Napa, CA—BottleRock Napa Valley
May 27—George, WA—Sasquatch! Festival
June 15—Bergen, Norway—Bergenhus Festning
June 29—Ewijk, Netherlands—De Groene Heuvels
July 7—Copenhagen, Denmark—Pumpehuset
July 28—Newport, RI—Newport Folk Festival
August 22—Denver, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre
