For the interview(in Swedish) with Algy Ward go to METAL ONLY webzine. For the interview with Cliff Evans go to METAL RULES! webzine. TANK Interview, SOUNDS. August 13th 1983. From the moment that fresh faced Mark Brabbs made me a nice refreshing cup of tea I knew there was going to be no violence to this showdown. Maybe we could even be friends. This was not always the case. The Tank drummer and his metal-merchant mates Pete and Algy had been critically lashed by me with well-deserved venom. Words like "appalling", "fumbled attempts" and "'unbelievably boring ", peppered a review I wrote after witnessing the band thrash through a sluggish, perfunctory set at the Zig Zag Club last year. But it wasn't merely their lack of musical competence and imagination that so angered me, their whole stance of beer-swilling, womanising , macho aggression strikes me as pathetic, wasteful and slightly offensive. Once the tape-machine is switched on, I launch straight into the offensive and corner the helpless tea-maker. New guitarist Mick sits quietly sipping a glass of coke (sure I like a drink, I just don't feel like one at the moment). Mark's brother Pete couldn't come because of his day job and bassist, Algy is late. So Mark, do you really enjoyed being portrayed in the pages, of Sounds as drunken morons by people like Bushell, who has in the past called you "bawdy bums" and messier than, a pool of puke on a dance-hall floor"? "We're not normally drunken morons" protests Mark amiably, but if you were on the road with us... See, the only time Bushell's interviewed us is on the road. I don't know what your experiences are, but most bands on the road… Well we do tend to get a bit out of order and have a few drinks ! BUT you take it to such extremes people say you're the loudest, the grossest the dirtiest... "'That's other people's interpretations of us!" he laughs. Yeah, but it's accurate, I respond. "'No, it's just when we're on the road" he tries to explain again. "'When I got engaged, I was quoted in the Sun as being the wild man of rock and I'm not at all people who meet me on the road might think I'm a bit of a nutter, but I think that happens to everyone! I like a drink, and we do go over the top a bit, 'cos we do enjoy a drink a lot to be honest, but it's not my way of life, I'm not a pissartist or anything!" Okay, let's forget alcohol for a moment what about calling an album 'Filth Hounds Of Hades'? (Every question an accusation!) Mark again: "That was just a laugh, it wasn't meant to be mean or gross or sound macho it came from Viv Stanshall's book and it just sounded apt 'cos we all like his humour. It just seemed to describe the sort of people who came to see us when we first started they were the same as us, just having a party, starting drinking each day at lunchtime, so it seemed apt, 'cos we called them The Filth even then, though not in a derogatory way!" Christ, the implications of calling your fans The Filth and it not being an insult are simply beyond me! But the point is that although Tank say this is all a joke, you're not ridiculing those aspects of beery, leery male arrogance you're actually celebrating them! "'Yeah, I suppose so, in a sense" he admits cheerfully. "But then we got just as many girls as fellas talking to us and drinking with us after, and they all get the same respect!" What! Now can you honestly say that when your whole attitude towards females is one of treating them as sex objects? "How do you work that out?" asks Mark innocently. BECAUSE of your whole stance backed up by lyrics, photos and actual quotes. In interview like the girls In Newcastle have the biggest knockers in Britain "Yeah, but that's true, they have!" the drummer grins in primitive delight. "That was just a passing comment and it was obviously sexist, but when we were in Newcastle all the girls we met had f*** huge tits! "If girls said the same about men's pricks, I wouldn't think "oh, you female chauvinist sow, how dare you say that about the male body!" lt’s all a laugh - just lads talking together." Yeah - but it can so easily get out of hand! "Well, I agree with you, it has got out of hand - and the people who don't know us might just call us a bunch of fucking piss-artists and think it"s a waste of time going to see us." At this opportune moment, Algy the wayward bassist arrives and immediately moans that Tank are misunderstood "because we never got the chance to say anything in interviews!" Well, this is your bloody chance - let's talk about politics and why the hell Mark voted Tory! "'Oh God, I said earlier I didn't like to mix politics and music, but I voted Tory 'cos I really respect Thatcher she’s very strong although she's obviously got her faults, but five years isn't long enough to clear up the state of the country. "'And also, although it was a lot of money spent. I agreed with her stance on the Falklands and everyone felt patriotic when we won the war. I bloody well didn't - and neither did a lot of my friends". "'Well I know they were hardly worth saving" continues Mark, "but, if we’d let the Falklands go, Gibraltar would have been next and then I think we would have been an absolute laughing stock as a country. Obviously, I don't agree with wars, but…" Your now album seems to glorify war, though! "Well there are a couple of songs on the album about the war, but we're not revelling in victory, 'cos there are lines like "nobody knows what we're doing here anyway of and if the bullets don't get you the dysentry will that's not glorifying war, it's saying how disgusting it is". OKAY, so you justify it with a few well-chosen lyrics, but still the whole imagery of Tank - from the name of the band to the name of the album and the hideous cover - reinforces aggression, imperialism and dominance. "The cover was nothing to do with us", Mark claims as Algy says, it's the worst cover I've ever seen in my life." You can't just disown it like that - you're being too naive! Mark: "I know what you're saying and I agree with you - it is partly to do with naivety. We're an aggressive rock band and we play aggressive rock - that's what we feel most comfortable playing - but the title 'This Means War', is a double entendre which says we should be taken seriously by the people especially journalists - who have slagged us off 'cos we think we've come up with a bloody good album!" "We could have called it 'We Mean Business', adds Algy. " I wish you had - that would have at least cast a few interesting ideas on the rock'n'roll syndrome where money talks, and as such could be equated with imperialistic wars. But no matter, let's get down to the important things before we go home - what does your mum think of all this, Mark? "She says exactly the same things you‘re saying now "why do you always have, to be stupid and behave like a piss-artist? She doesn't agree with all that over the top stuff, but we jut like to have good fun. See we're not as gross as you thought! But personally I've enjoyed every interview we've done and I've enjoyed reading them. "I like interviews that raise a smile." I thanked him for being so courteous and kind and said goodbye. Mark Brabbs shook my hand in farewell. And he smiled.

Here is an interview TANK gave in the first issue of "FILTH" from 1982 just after they'd recorded "Power of the Hunter". I'd like to thank very much John Stormont for sending me the interview. The scene: The Lounge Bar of the Windmill, a surprisingly quiet pub in the depths of downtown Croyden, humble abode of Algy, Pete and Mark, the 3 Tank persons. At the moment we're on our fourth pint and it's still only 8:45 so I thought it best to get this "thang" on the road before I become totally undecipherable. The scene set, here we go! SO HOW DID TANK FIRST GET TOGETHER? MARK: Well it was when Algy left the Damned in '79 and... ALGY: I was sacked! MARK: Yeah right, anyway, he'd seen me and Pete playing in a band called "The Brabbs Band", believe it or not! (Laughs all around). PETE: I've still got the T-Shirt, look (revealling said band's T-Shirt, only slightly shrunken) they made good car wash material! MARK: Anyway, one night Algy happened to be in the audience an' he came backstage afterwards and announced  "I'll be in a band with you two one day" and then buggered off!  didn't even ask what we were drinking! PETE: Still doesn't today! MARK: Cor ! You can talk! PETE: Wanna fag "pliable conk resentment"! (Laughs all round). MARK: Nah I don't smoke. PETE: Not your own anyway! (At this, Mark and Pete make their way yet again to the bar leaving Algy with me to gulp down his large Scotch and coke chaser). WHO THOUGHT OF THE NAME "TANK"? ALGY: Well it was one of Who's (Doug Smith, their manager) ideas actually. He's got hundreds of dodgy names that he's registered and Tank was one of them. For me, it had all the right qualities of what I wanted the band to sound like!  Big, Heavy, Loud, Dirty, you know ? DID YOU START OUT TO STAY A THREE-PIECE? ALGY: No, when we started rehearsing in '80 we wrote songs like, "Struck by Lightning", "Shellshock", "Blood,Guts and Beer",  in fact a good 3/4 of the "Filth Hounds" album for a Five-piece band. WHAT WERE YOU LOOKING FOR TO BE THE OTHER TWO MEMBERS? ALGY: Well, a Jon Lord type keyboard player and a singer who maybe played a little guitar! SO YOU DIDN'T SET OUT TO BE A VOCALIST THEN? ALGY: Christ no!   I didn't even know I could sing.   I still don't! I REALLY LIKE YOUR SINGING. MARK: Yeah, Me too, he's got a real soulful voice when he tries. PETE: Yeah, some of the best phrasing in the business too! WHAT ABOUT THE MOTORHEAD CONNECTION? MARK: Well, the whole so-called Motorhead connection was blown totally out of proportion by the Press.  One British Tour, one European Tour,  "Fast" Eddie producing, they're the only real connection. AND YOU'RE A FAST, LOUD THREE-PIECE? MARK: Yes but so are a lot of other bands, loud three-pieces, but what if we'd got those other two members!  We'd have sounded the same but the Press probably wouldn't have compared us! I WONDER WHAT TANK WOULD HAVE SOUNDED LIKE WITH TWO MORE MEMBERS! ALGY: Phenomenal! WHAT ARE YOUR INFLUENCES ?  YOU'VE BEEN DESCRIBED AS METAL/PUNK BEFORE - WHAT'S THAT ABOUT? PETE: I don't think thats a bad position to be in, I mean it's a really nice feeling when you see a headbanger with his denim waistcoat singing along to us next door to a punk, when they're apparently supposed to hate each others' trends and music, what's wrong with that? MARK: As far as influences are concerned, the band as a whole aren't influenced by any one...phenomena, but we all have our own personal influences. WHICH ARE? MARK: Well mine are really hard hitting, skillful drummers like Ian Paice, Cozy and to a certain extent John Bonham. PETE: Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie van Halen and old blues guitarists, anyone with a good feel and construction of solos. ALGY: I'm actually more influenced by guitarists, Van Halen,  Jeff Beck,  Blackmore. I actually write songs on guitar but I've never performed on the damn thing!  Otherwise I respect, as opposed to influencd by bassists like Jack Bruce and Chris Glenn. MOVING ON TO MORE RECENT EVENTS, WHY NO EDDIE IN THE PRODUCER'S CHAIR? MARK: Well for one thing there's his own career to get together right now, but really for me anyway, I wanted this second album to be more, um, professionally produced, that's not to say that Eddie did a bad job, in fact quite the opposite... ALGY: In fact with the first album we had like, about 2 years to get it together,and apart from one or two tracks, we'd done everything that needed to be done to get the best out of them, if you see what I mean, (more laughs all around). Whereas with "Power of the Hunter", we had to write the whole album in about a sixth of the time, so we needed someone with the know-how to work for us, rather than with us... PETE: In other words we needed a more experienced producer than Eddie. HENCE GIVING THE JOB TO "POLICE" PRODUCER, NIGEL GRAY,  BUT WHY NIGEL? MARK: Well we weren't going to use him at first, it was a bloke called...ahhh... What was his name? ALGY: Mike Platt, he's done AC/DC among other things. MARK: Yeah, that's right, then Nigel's name cropped up. ALGY: He'd just done the Girlschool album and was still in daily contact with our management and everyone just thought it was the logical thing to do. AND HOW DID IT TURN OUT? PETE: Well you've heard the bloody thing, what to you think?  (Laughs). NO, NO,  I MEANT WORKING WITH HIM AS A PERSON? PETE: Oh yeah well he was a really good laugh! MARK: Yeah, when we first turned up we were given a message..."Be at Surrey Sounds Studios at 11 o'clock sharp as Nigel doesn't like to be kept waiting", so we thought, Christ,  what an enjoyable six weeks we're going to have! ALGY: Yeah, What a Sherman!  A right Barclay! PETE: Well we turned up an hour late, accidentallt of course, and the first thing Nigel said was "Hello Lads, my name's Nigel, I'm afraid I haven't finished setting the desk up yet so go over to the pub and I'll come and get you when I'm ready". What a great start! MARK: He even ended up coming over and buying the last round! ALGY: Talking of which, you haven't bought a round yet ! OK WELL I'LL BUY ONE IN A MINUTE, ARE YOU PLEASED WITH THE NEW ALBUM? MARK: Yes, but I'm surprised the critics liked it. I was expecting it to be slagged off! PETE: The production is good, I mean it's all there, but the mix on a couple of tracks is dire. You can hardly hear the guitar on some tracks. MARK: But then again the album took over a month to record and Nigel had three days to mix the whole thing. ALGY: Which as it turned out was totally unecessary. WHAT ABOUT THE SINGLE "CRAZY HORSES"? ALGY: So many people took that thing too seriously. MARK: It was recorded as a laugh which we thought everyone would realise.As it happens, I really like it, Whack up the volume and it's soooo heavy! WAS IT YOUR IDEA TO RELEASE IT AS A SINGLE?  I PERSONALLY THINK THAT " SOME CAME RUNNING "  COULD BE A GOOD SINGLE. MARK: Well that's a good track I agree, but it's normally up to the record company to pick a single and I suppose that "Crazy Horses" is the obvious choice. ALGY: We're really an album band anyway, singles are really an attempt to gain a household name for the band. SO WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS NOW , AND FOR THE FUTURE? ALGY: Unfortunately Britain is really going through a low period as far as gigs are concerned, the kids can't afford to buy an album and go and see a show so they're going for the album and that's it! PETE: We'd just be losing such a lot of money if we went on tour in Britain at the moment which is a real downer. ALGY: Yeah, so we're off to Europe for a month or so... MARK:  Hopefully starting in November. ALGY: With a really brand new over the top stage show! MARK: Make every other show come across like a fart in a thunderstorm  (Eruption of Laughs). PETE: We've also been asked to go to Canada, America and Japan so hopefully that shoul happen next year sometime, I need a holiday. (Laughs). For the interview(in Swedish) with Algy Ward go to METAL ONLY webzine. For the interview with Cliff Evans go to METAL RULES! webzine.