3D Tanx' Propulsive New Album

This week, we’re pleased to feature again, Three Dimensional Tanx. Also known as “3D Tanx,” (not to be confused with the video game), the band is one of the most solid musically, and also with one of the most wide-ranging musical visions.

And they’re on these pages for one of the best reasons – they have just released a brand new album, A Compulsion for Propulsion.

At the risk of torpedoing any suspense, we’ll say right from the get-go this is a wonderful album. A Compulsion … continues the frantic weirdness (for us, weird is a positive, not a pejorative) of earlier efforts, yet breaks plenty enough new ground to make the album more than worthwhile.

Never predictable at any point, the band’s musical gaze goes in directions that must surprise even those who have followed the band for years.  There are, of course, the kinds of garage rock and freakbeat sounding songs one might expect, and first-wave punk quite audibly figures in, too.

“I guess all these influences come out.” said Richard, who like the rest of the band declined to provide a surname or instrument played. “We didn't consciously aim for a direction, it just came naturally.”

Simon (aka Spacey), Pete, Sean and Loz round out 3D Tanx’ line-up.

The song “Medication,” though a little speeded up, is about as straight-up ‘60s garage-rock style as you might want, complete with the in-your-face keyboards.  “The Human Stupid” is very much in that vein as well, with a bit more of a blues tinge to it. “Tramp Ramblin’” is yet another cut with one foot in the garage rock.

Other songs lean perhaps more in a freakbeat direction. “Chemical Cubical” features one of album’s best riffs, and is a little more sophisticated to boot.

It’s not all ‘60s all the time on this album though. The band has made no secret of its affection for late ‘70s British punk, which echoes throughout the album. The band is often compared to the Buzzcocks, and songs like “E is for Engine” and “Uneven Steven” are but two reasons, though we’ll say here – and probably get some flack for it – that 3D Tanx riffs are more interesting.

The band adopts more musical styles as well. “His Latest Apparatus” is close to straight-up krautrock; “Plastic Labcoat” could be tucked into an early ‘80s new wave playlist and none would be the wiser. “Racing Car #9” off-offhandedly recalls Tubeway Army, though in much less robotic fashion.

Richard told Garagerocktopia that the band’s feels this is their best outing yet.

“We feel this is the best album for a few reasons,” said Richard, talking to us via email.  “For starters, we think it's a more coherent set of songs. But another major factor that makes us so pleased with this album gets down to engineer/co-producer Alan Gregson. He was brilliant to work with. He's super-quick and really on the ball. He immediately understood what we were trying to do, and just captured us as we really are.”

“We were able to record the basic tracks live. We did nine songs in our first four-hour session with him, and the first hour and a half of that was just setting stuff up. As a result, the sound is basically like a well-recorded version of us doing what we do when we rehearse -- facing each other in one room. Gregson didn't try and tame any of the wilder sounds we made. He was really on board with anything we wanted to try, and came up with a few ideas for things that really helped. All that, plus he shares our stupid sense of humour, too.”

Another reason Richard feels the band was able to take a giant leap forward was  all the hours the members of 3D Tanx have logged playing together over the years.

“These songs came out of us playing together, getting tighter, leaner and meaner in our approach,” explained Richard. “We're big fans of freakbeat and the just-gone-psycho garage sound. Spacey in particular has every Nuggets, Pebbles and Rubble compilation going.”

But 3D Tanx has never, at least to our ears, made much of an effort to hide its punk leanings, sometimes sounding like they recorded in the late ‘70s rather than the late 2010’s.

“This album also had a big post-punk element to it as well,” revealed Richard. “Wire, Gang of Four, Swell Maps and Buzzcocks have all been mentioned in reviews, and they are all indeed influences. People assume Loz's favourite drummers are Keith Moon and John Bonham, but his absolute favourite is Stephen Morris of Joy Division and New Order.”

Nobody can accuse the band of a lack of ambition. One listen to any of their albums can help you figure that one out right away. That said, 3D Tanx main goal appears to be just to make the rock and roll kick more behind with each succeeding release.

“Artistically, there is no master plan,” Richard explained. “We all have day jobs and families like most people. And we get frustrated by political BS, injustice and just life’s general nonsense. Being in a band is like being in a gang - we get together in a huddle and we play our worries away. It's been said (most notably by John Lydon) that ‘anger is an energy’ and we definitely harness our frustrations and channel it into the music.”

Like any band worth their salt, the best place to see those frustration turned into something positive is at a 3D Tanx gig, where the band has garnered a solid reputation as a live band.

“Someone said.” Recalled Richard, “when we played live recently that ‘they played as if their lives depended on it,’ and yes, we really do focus everything into a performance. When you make a record, it's even more the case in a way, because that's what's left behind when the gig-goers memories have faded. We saw this as an opportunity to make a great album.”

Sadly, for rock and roll bands whose raison d’etre is playing great music, they must also temper their hopes for big-time mainstream success – and its financial windfall. 

As we point out oh, just about every post, the airwaves packed with performers who are good at what they do. It’s just that artistry, vision and boldness –  all prominent in 3D Tanx’ music – isn’t as much a part of the mainstream template.

“In terms of our hopes commercially, we have no delusions on that front,” said Richard. “If we'd been around in 1966, or 1978, then maybe. Our only commercial goal is to sell enough merch to pay for us to continue to record and release our next album. Obviously, we want more people to hear us and hopefully to like us, but we can't make something solely with sales in mind.”

We always have other features in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists are encouraged to send us some music. We don’t make any guarantees, but we’re happy to report we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us. We’re always happy to spread the word about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.

Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" if you're so inclined ...