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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 clas
sic Where the Wild Things Are started a band,
it woutd sound tike Man Man. Armed to the
teeth with a wildly diverse instrumental arse
nal, 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
wildtings of Westerns. Thankfully, their mad
leader was kind enough to offer a few warn
ings 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 Athefts,be describes the band's
upcoming performance thusly: 'Wed, I mean,
we blow people yp now. It's a little messy.
Even more instruments than the first time you
saw us. Its really getting a little out of con
trol. If we didn't feel like professionals before,
we certainly do now."
Under the direction of Saddle Creek pro
ducer a go-go Mike Mogis, Man Man achieved
a tighter, more direct sound in recordingtheir
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."
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] hotd anything f
of value of yours, 'cause you'll never see it
again. He'll probably cut you."
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 Arts"), 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 hipi, and then
he'd roll on the carpet, and ther\, voila, he
wouldn't have the stickers bn him anymore.
And as a kid TwaS like, 'Man, set him on fire
for real and see how funny he isT
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."
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.
David Fitzgerald
N G W IN
BURGERS
A N U W I
A LADS
IN THE COURTYARD
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JUNE 13,2012 • FLAGPOLE.COM 17