Roll The Tanks

Roll the Tanks fuse the sonic textures and moods of vintage rock with punk’s kinetic drive and confrontational ethos, resulting in an urgent, anthemic style anchored by hefty guitar riffs and Danny Carney’s fervent singing. Childhood friends Carney, who handles lead vocals and guitar, and bassist–backing vocalist Mike Wakeham launched the group in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 2003 after playing together in several area punk outfits such as Five*o*Five and Private Army. Initially called Tanks after T. Rex’s album Tanx, the band adopted the name Roll the Tanks once they discovered the original was taken; the new moniker came from a phrase Clash singer Joe Strummer used to introduce songs in the documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. After two years attempting to build momentum locally, the musicians relocated to Los Angeles in 2005, only to lose their original drummer and lead guitarist to homesickness soon afterward. They replaced the drummer with fellow former Massachusetts resident Joe Sirois, previously of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and continued as a trio. Their debut album, Suffer City, was tracked in 2008 and issued on Intelligent Noise Records. Work on a follow-up began in 2010; during those sessions, Carney, an admirer of Memphis musician Jay Reatard, penned the tribute “Goodnite, Jimmy Lee” following Reatard’s sudden death. The track appeared first as a 2011 single and then on the four-song EP Roll the Tanks in 2012. While awaiting the album’s completion, the band enlisted Piebald guitarist Aaron Stuart as a second axman and overdubbed additional guitar parts. Epitaph Records signed Roll the Tanks in early 2014, and the long-gestating sophomore release Broke Til Midnight arrived that May.