Tankus the Henge – Artist Spotlight (interview with Jaz Delorean)

It’s been a while since I’ve done an artist spotlight, and I can only apologise for that! I’ve been out discovering new music, and also make time for my favourites on festival line ups too. Also, I always like to get a bit of an exclusive for my readers, so do my best to get interviews!

This particular interview has been a long time in the making. I’ve been a huge Tankus the Henge fan for a number of years, ever since Bestival 2013 in the Polka tent, where I was led by a friend on the promise of a foot stomping good time. He was not wrong! I’ve since seen them at every available festival opportunity, and it’s been amazing watching their live show grow. For my 30th birthday earlier this year, I even planned a big festival-style gig event (difficult in January!) in Brixton, and I managed to somehow persuade these amazing guys to play. It was an awesome night!

I finally managed to pin Jaz Delorean (piano & vocals for Tankus The Henge) down for an interview just recently, and as expected, he has some incredible stories to tell…

---

Hi Jaz! Thank you so much for speaking to me! As you know I’m a big fan, but for someone who has no idea who you are, how would you describe “the sound of Tankus the Henge” ?

Hi Jessi. No problem at all. As with any touring band with a weird name, if you haven’t seen us you’ve probably seen the name somewhere and wondered what it was all about. I don’t really describe it, because music is supposed to fill the void which exists between words, so I usually have to try and convince you to come along instead and find out for yourself. Also, there isn’t just one sound. For a basic idea, think illicit floating speakeasy barge sailing down a river; on one side is London, and the other New Orleans. No-one is entirely sure who’s piloting the vessel, which sometimes sneaks itself alongside an old time music hall, other times crashes headlong into the jetty of normality, destroying everything you’ve known about rock ‘n roll up to that point. Mercifully you find yourself clinging to the remnants of it as you are swept away downstream, destination unknown. 

And what about your live show? What makes that so special?

Thank you for regarding it as special. We have honestly attempted to create a show that we would want to watch. That has to be the ethos in a live band. It’s a bit like riding a rollercoaster. I saw the Flaming Lips when I was seventeen, and decided that was the ultimate way to put on a gig. I was into Muse big time around the same age, who also put on an epic show, but there was something about spectacle of the Lips which made it altogether more human, more emotive and unforgettable. I think the idea of live music which really turns me on is for those few hours, you escape to another plane of existence, where you can be anyone, anything can be attempted, failure is not an option! That reminds you to think in a similar way after you leave the venue, and wake up the next morning with hope restored, even if you’re still hungover. Live music is what the doctor ordered. If it doesn’t work the first time, administer until you see results and then continue the dosage. 

Have there been any accidents caused by you jumping off various things including the piano?

No accidents to anyone else. I love to jump off things. I did once nearly put my foot through the end of George’s trombone slide. Sometimes I have to jump off the piano and I’m just enveloped in fog. Can’t see the stage, the band or the audience. That’s a bit sketchy. The other night we were playing in Devon and we had a kind of catwalk which jutted out into the audience. The catwalk was the only part of the stage open to the elements, and after testing it in the dry evening, we started the show. A light rain began to fall, which we couldn’t see because of the stage lights. I jumped off the front of the piano, and landed, surfing style on the catwalk, which was now pretty wet and slick. Don’t try that at home. I almost lost my hat, and nearly stacked it as my feet tried to slip out from under me. 

How did it all start? How did you all meet?

It started a while back. Disillusioned with the radio, I gathered a crack team of weird and wonderful musicians who weren’t satisfied playing cookie-cutter music all night, every night. Tune in to any station and hear what I mean. I wanted to form a band who could all at once mess with your head musically, trigger emotions, get you on the edge of your seat and also plant earworms in your the flowerbed of your mind. The songs take a long time to come to fruition, which is why the new album took a while to come out. 
Everyone in Tankus the Henge is based around the vibrant London underground music scene, where you can go out and see music every night of the week. It may not be someone you’ve heard of, but that doesn’t matter, and your experience will be richer and more personal. 

And since then, how have you grown? Do you think the Tankus The Henge sound has changed since the beginning?

Definitely. The songs have got shorter, but not lost any of their oddness or meaning. It’s harder to tell a story in three minutes than in twenty three. I used to write pretty long, meandering songs. Now it’s jukebox length a lot of the time, although when we’re on stage, we can open sections out and really have fun with the music. We didn’t have a horn section at the start; that was added later on, and now it’s a signature part of the sound. We started getting into bands like The Band, Little Feat, and Dr John and the Meters, and it made sense to colour the Tankus experience with the raunchy and organic sound of trombone, trumpet and saxophone. It’s a rock show, with horns in the mix too. Some people can’t grasp that, but that’s okay.

Something we hear a lot is “it isn’t my sort of music but…” and then they’ll say how much they enjoyed it. Maybe it is your sort of music then. We also get mistaken for a ska band because of the horns section. We love ska, but Tankus the Henge isn’t it. 

I love rock ‘n roll – artists like Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Jerry Lee Lewis. I grew up listening to these guys, as well as contemporary artists such as Blur and King Crimson, but it’s the rock ‘n roll experience, and the spectacle of it, which we’re attempting to channel. People used to pay a fiver or less to go out to see a LIVE SHOW, not go and watch a band play a 100% pre-planned gig along to a backing track with extra harmonies and guitars and keyboards on, and have their wallet a hundred pounds lighter because of it! To us, it has to be live, and anything less is insulting to the audience. 

Tankus the Henge are huge stars on the festival circuit, and always draw a crowd, which I’m guessing largely because of how energetic you are live. Have festivals always been a big part of your lives, since before the band even existed? What were some of your favourite festivals to attend?

We’re no stars, we’re just doing our thing, but it’s a joy to see so many people come and join in with the moment. I think that’s why people dig it, because when we’re up there doing the Tankus thing, that is the most important moment which has ever existed. Anything less than that is not enough. It’s not a show to perform standing still. I’ve always run around and jumped off things. We want to give people the most memorable, emotional and uplifting show possible. 

Festivals are a huge part of our lives, and the community around them have been extremely supportive of the band from the start. On the surface, festivals can sometimes appear to be mindless hedonism, which is obviously great and has it’s place, but there’s another level to the international festival scene too. More and more you’ll leave an other-worldly site ready to take on the world again, wishing life was like that all the time (how many of us have thought that) but also having considered your ecological impact on the Earth, the vital importance of acceptance of all races, creeds and sexualities, and standing up for those who may not be able to stand up for themselves. There is a growing network of festivals around the globe, and now with the addition of the internet, we can positively keep in touch with each other, fight the good fight and bring these values into everyday lives and work towards it being the norm. We don’t think of ourselves as a “festival band”. We are a touring band who plays at festivals during the summer. We actually tour all year round, and some of our favourite shows are in clubs where we can do a full two hour performance. We’re often limited to an hour and the ‘favourites’ setlist, on a festival stage, and if you’ve seen us do that in a beautiful field somewhere, I encourage you to come and see a tour date in the Autumn, and let us take you on a properly bodacious excursion. 

And now, what’s your favourite festival to perform at and why?

We play at fifty or so festivals every summer around Europe, so it’s almost impossible to narrow it down to just one favourite. Glastonbury Festival has been the mother of everything from near the beginning of Tankus the Henge. So many friends made there, so much hilarity and networking done in places like the 24 hour Tiny Tea Tent or up in the Green Fields. This year we played a massive show on the Avalon Stage, which was a very long way from our humble beginnings eight years ago. Glasto will always be our New Year. 

As far as other festivals go, we are blessed to be part of a beautiful musical family who descend on the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire each year, and create something so enchanting that it’s achingly difficult to walk away from. The Rollright Fayre has been going for ten years, and is definitely our favourite small, independent festival. It seems to exist outside the 21st Century, and brings to mind the early days of Glastonbury and the Summer of Love. We highly recommend it for your next season. 

On a slightly different tangent, the International Youth Arts Festival (IYAF) in Kingston were one of the earliest supporters of our mad project, and are still encouraging young people from all around the world to take up an arts discipline, work together and devise shows. So many lives have been affected in a positive way by IYAF, including ours. 

Do you have a particularly funny festival story you can tell me? Any field-based antics?

You know the saying “what happens in a field….” – yeah that… but one does spring to mind. We were at a festival in Bavaria, Germany a couple of years ago. They love their festivals, and many of the farming community come and party hard. They have big trailers with log cabins built on the back, and tow the whole thing with a tractor. After hours, you can find dozens of little parties kicking off in this crazy trailers.

We’ve always been friends with the crew wherever we go; we love hanging out with crew. They work so hard behind the scenes for weeks and months before the shows, and then again afterwards, returning the land to how it was before the festival arrived. Anyway, we’re the last band on site at this Bavarian festival, and we’d played in a crew bar on the Sunday night. We get invited to take part in a tradition, so being the honoured guests, we agree. About one hundred people gather round three tractors and trailers, and armed with crates of beer and instruments, everyone gets on and we rumble around the perimeter of the site for a couple of hours, occasionally stopping to pick up stragglers, riders who have fallen off the back or sing songs. 

There are plenty of other stories, but the best thing I can say is come along to a festival, get involved, and you’ll end up in some unexpected and unforgettable antics. 

You recently crowdfunded your latest album, “I Crave Affection Baby, But Not When I Drive”, proving that you have really loyal fans. My favourite track is definitely the opener, Electric Eyes. What is your favourite song on the album, and does it have a story behind it?

My personal favourite is “Last Night In New Orleans”. I wrote it afer my first ever visit to New Orleans, while we were recording the first album, and that whole trip was such a non-stop mess of emotion, adventure and chaos, that I wanted to capture it in song. It’s based around the memory of a funny and sweet encounter I had with a girl there, our walk by the Mississippi, the subsequent gig we attended where Tankus the Henge supported the New Orleans band Dirty Bourbon River Show, and then the breakneck drive back to Nashville the next day. I literally wrote it in the bus the next morning. I love playing it live, too. It’s a kingpin of the live show and has been for a while. Since the record was released, it’s been wonderful to see so many people singing along to it when we perform it. We were able to bring in a few guests to play on the recorded version, including Ewan Bleach (clarinet), Lukas Drinkwater (double bass), Jake Stoddart (trumpet) and Louis Schultz-Wiremu (tenor sax). 

And you recently played a joint-headline show with another of my favourites; Oh My God, It’s The Church! in London on the 1st June, which was such a great night! Who’s been your favourite artist to play with/share a line up with/support on tour? 

Shishko Disco. I think the whole band would agree with this. Watching Shishko Disco together after we’d played was such an entirely overwhelming experience, and not one I’ve ever been able to put into words apart from “go and watch Shishko Disco”. Their album Human Alien came out last year and really is an innovative work of art. 

Thanks so much for chatting! Final question: which festivals can we find Tankus The Henge at this summer? Any you’re particularly looking forward to?

No problem. 

We’ve already visited a few including Isle of Wight, Rollright Fayre, The Good Life Experience, Boomtown Fair, Glastonbury and Eden, and a whole load of festivals are over in France this summer. 

The remainder of our UK festival schedule includes Sunrise Celebration, Weyfest, Watchet Live, Meraki Festival, Lindisfarne Festival, Bunkfest and Looe Live. 

We’re genuinely looking forward to each and every one, and if you are going to be there, let us know via social media, check out the new album online and we’ll see you down the front. 
Until then!

---