Formed by Algy Ward (one-time bassist of seminal punk band The
Damned), Tank's debut album, 1982's Filth Hounds, drew strong
(and favorable) comparisons to
Motorhead,
a tag that would remain with the band virtually throughout their
career.
They garnered fine reviews and a good following for their first
few albums, but by the mid-eighties interest waned, and by 1988
the band had had enough.
Fast forward to 1998, Ward and several of his old mates came back
together, releasing a couple of live albums followed by the
long-awaited new studio album Still At War, which was in the
works for ages before finally coming out in 2002.
In 2008, another new Tank lineup was revealed, this one led by guitarists
Cliff Evans and Mick Tucker but not featuring Algy Ward.
Ward was reportedly retired from the business at that time, but soon
he decided to reform his own version of Tank, at least for recording
purposes.
Usually a name dispute is eventually resolved by the legal system,
but well over a decade later both factions are continuing their
separate ways, hereafter documented here as
Tank (Algy Ward version)
and
Tank (Tucker/Evans version).