Local Love: Wes Tank POSTED:: October 29, 2020
FILED UNDER::
Local Love
FILED UNDER:: Local Love
Wesley Charles Tank has been performing art rap in Milwaukee under various pseudonyms since 2002. He has been a driving force for multiple Milwaukee projects such as Sun//Decrease, Bread Mothers, 0Cul1, Antler Antennas and Stumblesome. Having performed most often as “WC Tank” in a variety of forms (including backed by Riley Lake and The Fatty Acids), Tank has worked across the years with local collaborators Erik Schoster, Nate Zabriskie, Barry Paul Clark, Devin Drobka, Kipp Zavada, Kendra Calhoun/Amalie, Renee Bebeau, Mauriah Kraker and Anja Notanja.
Lately, news of Tank’s undeniable skills has been buzzing, far and wide. These skills have been buzzing around the Milwaukee scene for quite some time. One of our most creative Local/Live at Club Garibaldi shows belongs to Tank and his “Dub Sea Tank Quintet” back in 2015; the performance included dancers and live, storytelling art projection in addition to a musical performance filled with spoken word and ample improv. Tank has also added his expertise to local music videos and acted in several films. Find some good reads on his past accomplishments over at Milwaukee Record. It’s no small wonder to us that Wes Tank has stepped into the role he’s in today as the one-man performance guru heading up his own TankThink Productions. Since late March, Wes Tank has, with lightning speed, reached an audience from around the world. His “Fox In Socks: Dr. Seuss Raps Over Dr. Dre Beats” video has millions of views and he has since gotten coverage from SPIN, CNN, HuffPost and made Reddit’s front page.
Tank was recently approached by Canada’s Kidoodle.TV to create original content based on public domain tales (such as “The Three Little Pigs”) and be the face of their first original show. StoryRaps was born and features not only Tank’s talented reworkings and rappings but also features a bevy of local artists who keep that rhyming rap boat afloat. Tank fills us in:
How long has TankThink Productions been rolling? What had been some of your notable projects before StoryRaps came about?
TankThink Media grew out of my freelance video practice. I had been freelancing fulltime as a videographer for about three years before I made TankThink an official LLC in February 2020. Notable projects include the music video for Klassik’s “Active” and the Rural Urban Flow project.
What’s your true love: theater, film, literature, music? You ably combine all three but there had to be a jumping off point…
Film is my first love, because I think it has the capacity to incorporate all other arts into itself.
How long have you been rapping? What is the most satisfying rap to perform for you, personally – your own or a classic?
I’ve been rapping for 20 odd years. Back in the day at shows I would rap part of “Everyday Struggle” by Biggie over the Cranberries’ “Ode to my Family” and that was quite satisfying.
Did you grow up learning tongue twisters? I always feel like classic tongue twisters and Dr. Seuss went hand-in-hand…
Big fan of tongue twisters. I just found a whole bunch of obscure ones in my big Mother Goose book. We’re currently working on a “Peter Piper” episode of StoryRaps.
What gave you the idea to record yourself rapping Dr. Seuss over Dr. Dre beats and share it?
I have been rapping Seuss over Dre sporadically at live shows for several years but never recorded it. I played them at clubs around town and really honed the series at Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan. It was a project I’ve been meaning to record for years but didn’t have time until all of my TankThink work was put on pause during the initial pandemic shutdown.
How many takes did your first video take?
Assuming you mean “Fox in Sox“? Around 30, but most of what was used in the video is the last two takes.
Please explain “Kidoodle .TV” to folks not in the know…
Kidoodle.TV is a child-safe alternative to YouTube. It’s a free streaming service that is highly curated by parents and grandparents to be family friendly. They are based in Canada and very nice people to work with.
When Kidoodle.TV approached you to create original content, you were not only given the freedom to write your own lyrics but also to illustrate, animate and write original music, etc. Tell me about the team you assembled.
When Kidoodle asked us to produce 3 episodes a month, I thought, that’s great, we can do one a week and have a week off every month! However, 3 episodes actually means writing and illustrating 3 children’s books, producing 3 songs and shooting/editing 3 music videos per month. That’s a lot! Luckily I am surrounded by an awesome network of creatives in Milwaukee. With the help of my longtime producing partner Kurt Ravenwood and TankThink’s managing director Ryan Sarnowski, we were able to bring in local artists Carol Brandt and Lydia Ravenwood to create the books, and Josh Evert of Silver City Studios and Seakn Behling of my former band Antler Antennas to produce beats. We’re 12 or so episodes deep and the StoryRaps team has really been finding a groove.
Now that you’re pulling from the public domain and you’re re-creating these classic tales, is the sky the limit? Do you see yourself doing StoryRaps for a while?
Sky is not the limit, we are headed to outer space! We are building on the world and characters of the Land of StoryRaps and hope to be creating it for as long as possible. Right now we’re rewriting fairy tales to find the balance of timeless and timely, and we have many more ideas for children’s edutainment that we look forward to exploring over time.
Normally, you do quite a bit of live performance (i.e. at Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan) – are you starting to book for 2021, yet?
With the amount and frequency of episodes we are producing for the foreseeable future it would be impossible to put together a live show on the level that I am imagining it, but I can’t wait to tour the world when we have a pause in our shooting schedule and the pandemic is over.
After a whirlwind year, what’s in the pipeline for the next bit?
While continuing to grow StoryRaps I’m excited to be returning to act in the feature film “Corridor” soon which began shooting last January, and was put on pause due to the pandemic. Another film I am in called “Mags and Julie Go on a Road Trip” is getting wide release on VOD November 24.
Find all things Wes Tank over at his web site. Keep supporting (and loving ) your local artists.