Jazz Fest: Tank and the Bangas at Home

In this video interview, the emotion is obvious when the local R&B/hip-hop/spoken word/funk band performs.

Tank and the Bangas play Jazz Fest's Gentilly Stage Saturday morning at 11:20 a.m. We ran Lauren Keenan's video interview with Tarriona "Tank" Bell and members of the band when it played French Quarter Fest, but here is an encore presentation to accompany their Jazz Fest set.

After shooting the video, Lauren wrote:

Tank and the Bangas are a volatile bunch. It feels clichéd to liken a band to a family, but listening to Tank and her crew on the couch together felt a lot like watching a bunch of siblings squeezed in together in the back seat of a car. When they aren’t yelling over each other, cracking jokes and poking fun, they’re having quiet moments of true insight and emotion.

The same holds true for their music. The often joyful, whimsical lyrics sometimes seem at odds with the depth of emotion that their music produces--emotion that becomes clear as the band discusses having seen fans cry at shows.