With “Quick,” their stripped-down, deliciously funky track about liquor and vengeance, New Orleans’ Tank and the Bangas beat out more than 6,000 other submissions for NPR’s 2017 Tiny Desk Contest. Watch the first five seconds of the band’s entry, and you’ll understand why: Tightly packed into a high school classroom, the septuplet reels off each other’s 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 “Tank” Ball is happily cruising around New Orleans, which she says “actually feels like a special thing, because I don’t feel like I’m even home that much these days.” Ever since the win, they’ve been travelling nonstop with NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest on the Road tour.