In trying to describe Man Man, it’s often difficult not to delve into the fantastical. Man Man are pirates on leave. They are gypsy werewolves howling in the moonlight. If the monsters from Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s classic Where the Wild Things Are started a band, it would sound like Man Man. Armed to the teeth with a wildly diverse instrumental arsenal, they tramp from town to town growling and yowling out tales of their mischievous misdeeds. Finishing up the last severed leg of a tour in support of their 2011 album, Life Fantastic, they will descend upon the 40 Watt this Friday with all the frenzied fervor of the wildlings of Westeros. Thankfully, their mad leader was kind enough to offer a few warnings of the pandemonium to come.
“I am saddled with the brilliant nom de plume of Honus Honus,†he begins, speaking from his encampment in Philadelphia. Two years removed from the band’s last jaunt through Athens, he describes the band’s upcoming performance thusly: “Well, I mean, we blow people up now. It’s a little messy. Even more instruments than the first time you saw us. It’s really getting a little out of control. If we didn’t feel like professionals before, we certainly do now.â€
Under the direction of Saddle Creek producer à go-go Mike Mogis, Man Man achieved a tighter, more direct sound in recording their last record, without sacrificing any of their signature insanity. Honus says, “It was very lovely having someone outside be able to come in and maybe kinda sculpt some of the parts that we had written—trim the fat off some songs, leave the fat on some other ones. It was good having an outside influence. And, ya know, he got the best performances out of us.â€
While aggressively coy in regard to the menagerie of instruments the band is currently traveling with, the venerable Honus does dangle this cryptic tidbit: “Billy’s got a filthy Smurf.†When pressed further as to what that is, he says only: “You’ll see. If you go up to Billy [Dufala], who’s also known by “Chang,” if you go up to him and ask to see his filthy Smurf, it’s not R-rated. It is dirty, though. It’s a Philly Smurf. Don’t [let him] hold anything of value of yours, ’cause you’ll never see it again. He’ll probably cut you.â€
At the mention of some favorite lyrics of mine (“These days I feel like a pariah/ an albatross with my feathers on fire†from the song “Dark Artsâ€), he leads me further down the rabbit (habit) hole, explaining, “That’s how I feel sometimes. I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but that line kinda reminded me of when I was kid and there were all these PSAs of ‘If you catch on fire, you stop, drop and roll,’ ya know, with Steve Martin. And he had these sticker fireballs on him, and then he’d roll on the carpet, and then, voila, he wouldn’t have the stickers on him anymore. And as a kid I was like, ‘Man, set him on fire for real and see how funny he is.’â€
As our time draws to a close, Honus offers up promises of new albums both from Man Man and his “doom-wop” side project, Mister Heavenly, excitedly mapping out the next phase of his master plan.
“We’re gonna spend the summer writing,†he begins, “and then hopefully we’ll get in the studio in the fall and get something out by next year. I think it was tough just because with Life Fantastic, there’s so much music nowadays, and it gets kinda lost. I feel like it was released in a vacuum, and people didn’t even know we had a record. So, we figured we’d just roll up our sleeves and make another one. We’re lucky enough to have people come to our shows, and we’re psyched about that. We love playing live. So, come out to our show. We’ve got a few tunes we’re gonna be showcasing. It’s gonna be fun, and what’s even better is it’s one of our last shows, so we’re gonna be cookin’. It’s gonna get weird.â€
So, if you’re feeling that itch; if you want to dance naked ’round the bonfire and drink deep the musical elixir of bandit leaders and druid queens; if you want to live, fantastically, then come out for Man Man. This Friday, the 40 Watt is where the wild things are.
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