With āQuick,ā their stripped-down, deliciously funky track about liquor and vengeance, New Orleansā Tank and the Bangas beat out more than 6,000 other submissions for NPRās 2017 Tiny Desk Contest. Watch the first five seconds of the bandās entry, and youāll understand why: Tightly packed into a high school classroom, the septuplet reels off each otherās energy in a theatrical, jazzy performance that blends hip-hop and spoken word. The whole thing bursts at the seams with joy.
When I speak to her on the phone, frontwoman Tarronia āTankā Ball is happily cruising around New Orleans, which she says āactually feels like a special thing, because I donāt feel like Iām even home that much these days.ā Ever since the win, theyāve been travelling nonstop with NPRās Tiny Desk Contest on the Road tour.
āThereās a lot going on,ā Ball says, ābut you get rejuvenated the moment you hear somebody sing the entirety of āQuick,ā or, you know, canāt wait to hear āRollercoasters.ā The only thing that gets on my nerves is taking off my shoes in the airport.ā She lets out an emphatic laughāsomething that happens frequently and contagiously throughout our conversation.
When sheās on the road, what Ball misses most about New Orleans is the food. Itās what she and background vocalist Anjelika āJellyā Joseph first bonded over at college. āI canāt even explain it,ā Ball says of their connection. āItās just a natural chemistry, because thereās a friendship that goes beyond the stage. So when we get up there, you basically just get to see how we are when weāre in private. We laugh, we joke, we just be dancing all the time, singing, killinā, eatinā all the time. And when we add music to that, itās kind of awesome.ā
Before she tried songwriting, Ball channeled her creative energy into slam poetry. The switch didnāt come easy at first: āWhen I was doing it alone, it was so much easier for me to say what I wanted and just hope that everyone understood it,ā she says. āNow I have to be true to myself, but expand myself so that others can understand some of the things that Iām writing. Thatās a process because, you know, Iām just naturally a backwards person... I am the frontwoman of this group, but I in no way do this alone. I couldnāt do this alone. It wouldnāt even have the same impact alone. The Bangas are really importantāevery single person on that stage.ā
Tankās onstage movements and voices surprise even herself. She laughs, āI get up there, and I donāt even watch some of the videos because Iāll be like, āGirl, you crazy!ā Itās something else. Itās someone else.ā
Though she started with slam poetry, for Ball, growing up in a musical house set the stage for her singing career. āMy dad could sing really well,ā she says. āHe was a disc jockey and he used to entertain all over. Heās the one that actually gave me my nickname, Tank. He died really early [after] his pancreas burst inside of his body, but he was a singer and it makes me feel like Iām pretty much finishing out his dream. This is what he wanted to do. This is who he was. I donāt even know where all of this really comes from, but it must come from him.ā
Ball describes Tank and the Bangasā live shows as āa rollercoaster experience. It really goes up, it goes down, and thereās the calm after the light.ā