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Tank and the Bangas are the Big Easy Awards’ Entertainers of the Year
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FTER SOME CONVINCING FROM THEIR MANAGER and
with a makeshift setup inside a classroom at Joseph S. Clark High School, Tank and the Bangas filmed a nearly acoustic, single-shot take of their song “Quick,” burst into laughter and sent it to NPR without a second thought. One of more than 6,000 submissions from across the U.S. for the network’s 2017 Tiny Desk concert series, the band was crowned the winner, making an unlikely introduction to a worldwide audience after several years of whirlwind tours and countless local gigs in their hometown of New Orleans. “We submitted on the last day and it turned our world around,” Tarriona “Tank” Ball says during a rehearsal break the day before a summer tour. “We were performing in the littlest club in New Orleans or Alabama. We’d always have people who were nice and kind to us, who
were fans already — we’re used to setting little clubs on fire in the country, having us a good ol’ time, and packing out Chickie Wah Wah in New Orleans. We’ve been having these amazing people behind us, this unbelievable and undeniable influence. Tiny Desk gave us the platform that we wanted and truly needed.” The band joined NPR’s Tiny Desk tour and performed on its concert web series and the radio program World Cafe, capturing a massive audience with its dynamic, exhilarating performance marrying R&B, funk, jazz and Ball’s powerful poetry. The band — Ball and Albert Allenback, Merell Burkett, Norman Spence and drummer and musical director Joshua Johnson — also caught the attention of Verve Forecast Records, which released a live EP in April and will add a full-length studio LP later this year. After wrapping dates in Australia, New
BY ALEX WOODWARD @ALEXWOODWARD
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