Bang Tango

Attack oF Life: The Bang Tango Movie

By Jay Oakley

It's important to state right off the bat that a band having success and not making it is totally common. There is no secret or shock about a band having the world by its nuts and losing it. This story, however, is a little different.

Bang Tango formed in 1988, were signed very quickly and with the release of their first album Psycho Cafe and it's first single "Someone Like You" just exploded all over MTV and they performed all over the country in a series of sold-out club tours. Then it ended.

Director and documentary film maker Drew Fortier takes you on an in-depth and uncensored journey into the world and history of Bang Tango. You are not going to get a high definition, hot shit-shot movie. What you are going to get is the real deal. An in-your-face history lesson into all things Bang Tango featuring stories of the rise and sudden end, drug use and the car wreck that nearly killed a key member. Interviews with all of the original members, former and current members, producers, fans and the people that know Bang Tango best leave most questions completely answered. Not to mention a hilarious opening narration by Twisted Sister's Dee Snider. 

Sole original member and singer Joe Lesté is very open about what keeps him going in Bang Tango and why he won't give up the ship even after all the drama, multiple line-up changes and the many, many headaches that have come with it. An amazing moment in the film was a show around Chicago where two hours before show time the band put Joe into an ambulance and sent him to the hospital and as a last ditch effort they recruited a fan at the show to front the band. He kills it and as a result there is a gig in Bang Tango history that was performed with zero original members.

I loved the honesty but even though this is a film about Bang Tango I would have liked Joe to talk about his time in Beautiful Creatures. The absence leaves a gap in his history and the Bang Tango timeline that I feel the fans are owed to be filled but that does not take away from the detail and quality of the film.

An L.A. premier is aimed for late summer and there have been talks with many distributors about a DVD release for the film as well. This is a music film to be excited about and worthy of all the hype it's been receiving.