Inside New Orleans After Hours with Tank from Tank and the Bangas

Music lovers are spoiled for choice during New Orleans’s annual Jazz Fest in the spring, as venues throughout the city host some of the most scintillating and legendary musical acts from around the world. You’d be challenged, however, to find more energetic and joyful performers than local Grammy-winning group Tank and the Bangas, presented by Rolling Stone and KOOL, who brought their unique blend of funk to a hyped-up crowd at Republic NOLA on a recent weeknight. 

Under the glow of green neon lights, fans of the band vibed out in the lofted, industrial space, while snapping photos in the interactive photo stage and sipping on signature cocktails. The Psychodelics—a funk, rock, and pop fusion band out of Charleston, South Carolina—opened the evening with a kinetic set to get the audience dancing. Later, Tank and the Bangas took to the stage in coordinated neon rainbow outfits, entertaining the room with songs like “Quick,” and frontwoman Tarriona “Tank” Ball’s lauded spoken-word poetry.

Before the performance, Rolling Stone sat down with Tank to get her unrivaled take on the best late-night spots for food, drink, and hanging out around New Orleans. Her choices range from her favorite off-the-beaten-path seafood restaurant to a chic cocktail lounge with a diverse vinyl collection. 

While frequently home watching Netflix and on voice rest, the constantly-touring vocalist says her best nights out often begin with dinner at The Chloe, a hotel and restaurant in uptown New Orleans where diners lounge on luxuriant upholstered couches surrounded by dark wood and bold, patterned wallpaper. (When the weather is nice, guests also have the option of sitting at the beautiful front patio on bustling St. Charles Avenue or out back by the pool.) 

“They treat me so well there,” Tank says of the Chloe’s service. As for what she’s eating, she opts for the smoked pork belly lettuce cups, served with mint, basil, chili mayo, and pickled onion, or the twin stack burger, a frequent contender for best burger in town. 

When craving something different, Tank pivots to Clesi’s Seafood Restaurant in Mid City, where they regularly serve up gulf oysters, crab legs, wings, and boudin balls. The biggest reason to go, Tank says, is for the delicious crawfish that they serve up throughout winter and spring, with March through May being the shellfish’s peak season.

“I’m obsessed,” she gushes. “The crawfish is so good…So juicy. They have really good service. And there’s a dip! I’ve never dipped my crawfish in all my years, but baby, they’ve got this very special dip.”

Post dinner, Tank has stopped by private social club Common House to hear good DJs surrounded by fellow creatives. When the band’s schedule allows, she hosts her own “Poetry on the Porch with Tank and the Bangas,” at the Emerald Door, an enchanting garden and cultural space in the Bywater neighborhood.

“Since I don’t get out much, I thought I could bring the poets to me,” Tank says. “ We do something special, literally between tours. You really have to catch it.”

For another music and arts venue, Tank recommends the Dew Drop Inn, a historic location in the Central City neighborhood that has played host to Little Richard, Ray Charles, and Irma Thomas. Recently restored and reopened, the Dew Drop offers live music and events several days of the week, while also operating as a bar, hotel, and pool. 

Even when not performing, Tank frequently seeks out fellow musicians and artists, often visiting friends at the many jazz clubs on Frenchman Street, while slowly making her way down to landmark dive bar The John for green tea shots from her favorite bartender. If fiending for a late night bite, she heads to the food trucks on nearby St. Claude Avenue.

“If no restaurants are open, I need to find someone who’s cooking right on the street,” she shares. “Someone is bound to be grilling…I’m talking oysters, I’m talking sausages. Someone could possibly even be boiling crawfish—that’s rare!”

Tank usually seeks out the food truck of Johnny’s Jamaican Grill, which also has a brick-and-mortar location in the Lower Garden District, for late-night jerk-seasoned meats and fish, curry chicken, and oxtail. After all that heat, she’s thirsting for a nightcap and so she goes to nearby NightBloom, where bartenders blast Sade and Erykah Badu from the record player and mix up unique alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks like the signature “Miss V,” a pineapple and mezcal twist on the margarita named after drag superstar Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. 

Wherever she goes, the musical and artistic community is never far from Tank’s heart.

“When I’m going out, the vibe I’m looking for with music is energetic, new, fresh, dope musicians, along with some older ones that may just be getting off tour—a big star, but they’re chilling with everybody. They’re about to be killing on keys or killing on bass, and you feel lucky to catch them there,” she says of an ideal evening.

Thankfully, those types of nights are especially abundant in New Orleans.