Nrvs and the artfully inflammatory politico punk revolution of "The Tanks Are Coming Out" (Official Video)

 

photo by emma chitty / "Doing my job / Sat at my desk / Watching the clock / Internet / The tanks are coming out / The tanks are coming out..."


The artfully inflammatory politico punk revolution of "The Tanks Are Coming Out", by London based enigmatic post punk trio Nrvs, is a darkly tense exercise in emotional claustrophobia and psychological terror. While lead singer / front man Ten Pence sings / narrates with  mostly a calm, reticent style that flares up as wails from time to time, the musical bed hammers at you with a steady attack of pounding synths, crying dissonant guitars, revved up thumping bass / drums and drones of everything into an eclipsing tension. Sonically, spiritually, politically, there is the sense that the opiates of the masses (from Netflix series to various music festivals, to all those food network shows, to the Taylor Swifts of the world) has been pushed aside for other addictions that matter more, dark truths shown on our phones everyday revealing the ugliness all around us, the death and destruction to human beings just trying to get by. 

"The Tanks Are Coming Out" as a rallying cry for us against the Billionaire Class, the Epstein Class, the White Christian Nationalist, The Fascists and other anti-humanistic entities is NO MORE relevant than now. Here in America, the Trump administration is poised to send a massive 2.8 Billion dollars worth of weaponry to Israel, an unimaginably insane amount of payloads. 40,000 of these 2000 pound thermobaric bombs actually melt rock and vaporize men, women and children. There are no bodies to count which, when you think about it, is beneficial for Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.

Tracks like this and the never ending barrage of truths on our phones and freedom journalists on You Tube might finally work to put us at a tipping point. Here in America the political tide is shifting but will it be too fucking late?? For some it is, for some it will be. 

LINER NOTES (excerpted and bracketed):

[Nrvs expand on the idea saying “the rise of authoritarianism, censorship, community collapse & impending apocalypse are upon us. This is about Ukraine, Gaza & the rest of the shit-show… but also the metaphorical tanks pointed at civil rights in this country in the form of new laws & long sentences for peaceful protesters. This manifests on both macro & micro levels, with your actual tanks & apocalypse on a macro level, while it’s also about the war that can break out when two people’s hearts get broken on a micro level – the world is on edge at all levels!”

Written while band member Ten Pence was in jail for said peaceful protest, The Tanks Are Coming Out is sonically inspired by the music of John Cale & in particular Faust’s ‘Rainy Day Sunshine Girl’, while production duties fall to band member Matt Allchin whose production credits include Florence + The Machine, Joy Crooks & Mark Ronson.As for the artwork, photomontage artist & Professor of Political Art Peter Kennard, empathising with Nrvs’s mission, has offered them use of his iconic artwork, giving added context to the band’s lineage. There’s a long-form video too directed by Emmy Chitty & featuring Josef Altin (Pypar in Game of Thrones). Shot in the bleeding ‘heart of suburbia’, it perfectly captures the concept of the ‘everyday horror of the end ’.]

-Robb Donker Curtius 

 LYRICS 

Doing my job
Sat at my desk
Watching the clock
Internet

The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out

Got on the bus
Went up the stairs
Sat at the front
Nobody cared

The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out

I thought about you
I thought about me
What was that about

The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out

I got back home
I went upstairs
I turned off my phone
I cut off my hair

The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out

Into the bedroom
I kissed my wife
Back downstairs
I sharpened my knife

The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out

I thought about death
I thought about life
What was that about

The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out

The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out
The tanks are coming out






The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3UEeyUnkTpXJSWVPSYbfEW

https://soundcloud.com/nrvsworld

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8KWMr0EaUQP_qqvLlppDg

https://www.instagram.com/nrvsworld/

https://www.facebook.com/nrvsworld

https://x.com/nrvsworld

https://linktr.ee/nrvsworld


Reflecting on their previous work including the apocalyptic sci-fi tinged pysch-rock EP I Like You, Nrvs are shaping “a nightmare-normal vision of the near future, that you can dance to”. Ideologically they are confrontational, unapologetic, existentially on the edge & uncompromising in their beliefs – all of which is reflected in their creative output, whether it’s music, visuals or their involvement in Extinction Rebellion & similar protests against the status quo.

Many artists have been shrouded in mystery: the music & the visuals should strike you first, whether you’re ready for them or not. Looking to the future Nrvs aim to spell out the writing that’s already on the wall – the story continues…

Nrvs, post punk, politico punk, alt rock, psychedelic, provocative rock, confrontational, rebel rock, EP "I Like You", "The Tanks Are Coming Out" (Official Video), performance art, visual / sonic social commentary, London,