First off, who am I talking to and how is the Tank doing these days?
This is James the drummer of Tank. We are all fine. We are just about to start rehearsing with our new member Giles, who is ex-Danananananaykroyd / Kill Yourself. We don’t really know yet what his role in the band will be but it’s exciting times.

Having seen and played with you boys quite a few times I have always enjoyed the live experience. How would you describe the Tank live? What sort of reactions do you usually get and what’s the worst and best reactions you would want to receive?
We are loud, pretty full-on but hopefully quite fun. Giles will add a performance / interactive element to the band that we haven’t had for a while, we’ve been a bit more studious in our performance recently. We have stopped taking our clothes off and wearing ’crazy’ outfits, for the time being, it was getting a bit old hat.

Recently we have been getting a very good reaction. We played in Oxford the other night to a frenzy of naked young boys who kept crashing into all our equipment, so much so we couldn’t really play the songs - that was fun though. More commonly, people just stare at us, smiling occasionally when they realise our music isn’t that serious.

Where did the original idea for the baritone come from and the switching between 2 amp set-ups? What sort of music caused you to be doing what you are now?
I think at first we were very influenced by Pink & Brown and Lightning Bolt and creating the illusion that they are more people in the band than just two. We still do that and we do have a big sound even though we look pretty stripped down. We were also influenced by a lot of Skin Graft bands like Flying Luttenbachers and US Maple. We wanted to play complex music with a jazzy sort of influence. Music that falls apart but has really complicated parts.

We are a lot more laid back now and play a lot more grooves and dance beats, which is more fun to do and to listen to I hope. I suppose our newer songs are more influenced by 60’s / 70’s British bands like Yes, Hawkwind and even some funky stuff like Parliament and er, Primus.

I will stop referring to you as the Tank as that’s a bit gay I reckon. Sorry about that. You’ve been around the UK a few times and Europe. What are some of your best and worst touring experiences?
I like us being called ’Tank’ so don’t worry. It’s good when people chant ’TANK’ at gigs. It makes for a more rowdy do!

The best touring experiences are getting to go to interesting places and meet nice people. The gigs are a bonus really (If they are good!). We have been fortunate to go to half the countries in Europe through being in a band and touring and traveling the way we do it has had a big affect on me as a person. What I mean by the ’way in which we do it’ is basically to treat our tours like a holiday. We travel in a small van not a tour bus we book the gigs ourselves through friends and as we get older we act less like Motley Crue and more like Michael Palin!

I suppose the worst experiences are long drives, worrying about losing money and meeting people who are ’industry’ or just not on our wavelength. I wrote a ’funny’ article about the all the crap stuff that happens on tour - it’s on our website: www.thatfuckingtank.com

I was surprised to find out you recorded a cover of "Red" by King Crimson. Who’s idea was this and how did the finished result work out? Any other plans for covers?
We did the song for a King Crimson covers 7" on Run of the Mill Records. We were just starting to explore the world of prog when we got asked to do it. They are a great band and I’d like to think that we do quite a good job of that song. It goes down quite well live. We are currently doing ’Dancing in the Dark’ by the Boss live. That doesn’t go down quite so well, most people don’t seem to recognise it (Which is probably our fault not theirs).

What sorts of thing do That Fucking Tank listen to? Any recommendations for people?
In the car going to gigs we listen to all kinds of crap. Lately, it has been Smashing Pumpkins, Miles Davis, Bruce Springsteen, Abba, Cheap Trick, Yes, Beastie Boys, USAisamonster and a dodgy CD from the front of Metal Hammer to name a few.

And finally, what does the future hold for the two of you? What’s the next move?
Firstly that two becomes three. Our new single, featuring vocals, is out on On The Bone Records on November 17th. We have a number of gigs in November and then hope to tour with an awesome band from Bologna, Italia in February next year. After that another album maybe? A European Tour next year as well. The future is very shiny.

by Oliver Turner

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