Tankard’s sweet side

Warrnambool Standard 25th October 2001 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2001 All rights reserved

One of Warrnambool’s hardest working musicians, Richard Tankard, will show off his sweet side this Sunday when he unleashes his debut solo release Flaunt Your Sweetness. The seven-track EP features tunes collected from recordings made over the past two-and-a-half years and is a tantalising taste of what listeners can expect when Tankard releases a full-length studio album, planned for mid-next year. Flaunt Your Sweetness includes two live songs, four studio tracks and an improvised jam featuring a special guest appearance by race-caller John O’Flaherty. O’Flaherty lends his voice to the track Correct Weight Rose Hill, which, along with the four studio songs, was recorded by Tony Peel at Motherlode Studios in Warrnambool. Despite having never met O’Flaherty, Tankard gave him a call and invited him into the studio to do a phantom race call. “He loved it,” Tankard said. “We used this trippy Sergeant Peppers treatment on his turf talk — we go heavy with this weird reverb.” The two live tracks on the EP, Lovesong and Brickwall, were re-corded on four-track at an open stage perform-ance by one of Tankard’s many projects, the Tank Dilemma. “The live stuff came up better than we could have hoped — it was a happy fluke,” he said. The live recording, made at the Basement at Images in July this year, features a guest spot by alto saxophonist Karl Laskowski. Other musicians to contribute to the various tunes on Flaunt Your Sweetness include Jon Emry (drums), Ruben Shannon (bass), Matt Hewson (tenor sax) and Glenn Board (bass). The CD also includes Shenanigans, a song recorded by the original line-up of the now defunct Guy Smilie Trio in 1999. The former Blue Heat member said he hoped to have a full-length album out by mid-next year, squeezing recording in between his many musical commitments. Aside from the Tank Dilemma and his solo performances, Tankard also plays with Andy Alberts and the Walkabouts and will soon be touring Queensland and New South Wales with Things of Stone and Wood. He is also a regular at the Hotel Warrnambool’s jazz nights and occasionally does guest spots with the Frisky Go Cats, Broderick Smith and Oriel Glennen. Tankard and the Tank Dilemma will launch Flaunt Your Sweetness this Sunday at the Hotel Warrnam-bool at 3pm.