The evolution of the Men

The Brooklyn band doesn’t set out to mess with its fans’ expectations, but that’s what happens anyway

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      If you were to listen to Immaculada, the self-released first album by the Brooklyn band known as the Men, and then skip straight to the five-piece’s most recent album, Tomorrow’s Hits, you would be forgiven for thinking you were hearing the work of two different groups. That first full-length was a blur of careening noise-punk, all buzz-saw guitars and barely discernible vocals, punctuated by long passages of feedback and industrial-grade drones.

      Released last month by Sacred Bones Records, Tomorrow’s Hits is an altogether different listening experience. Driven as much by insistent piano and an in-the-pocket horn section as it is by off-the-rails guitars, “Another Night” comes across as punk rock’s answer to the E Street Band. Meanwhile, the shambolic “Sleepless” suggests at least one of the Men has a well-loved copy of The Band in his vinyl collection, and the hypnotic “Different Days” could probably be described most accurately as “krautrock boogie”.

      In other words, the Men have evolved, and they have done so in a remarkably short time: Immaculada was released in 2010, and there have been three other full LPs and one EP between it and Tomorrow’s Hits.

      Reached at a tour stop in Cleveland, Ohio, singer and bassist Ben Greenberg isn’t the most forthcoming interviewee. In fact, his most in-depth answer—a seemingly innocuous comparison of major labels with indies—is one that he immediately requests be stricken from the record. The Straight does, however, prod him to say that the Men have never set out to mess with listeners’ expectations, even if that is what ends up happening.

      “I feel really good about the responses we’ve gotten over the years,” Greenberg says of fans’ willingness to follow the Men down the rabbit hole with each new release. “You’d have to ask them, I really don’t know. But the songs feel good. And the shows feel good and the playing feels good, so that’s all that really matters.”

      With a release rate of one album per year, there is evidently no Axl Rose or Kevin Shields in this outfit to slow down the process. Greenberg shrugs off the notion that the Men are especially prolific, but he will allow that there’s never any shortage of new material. “Well, there’s three of us who write songs, so we can build up songs pretty quickly,” he says. “They just come when they come, and then you keep them collected, and when it’s time to bring them together, you bring them together, you know?”

      Asked what specific influences he and his bandmates brought into the studio this time around, Greenberg replies, “When we were making Tomorrow’s Hits, we were listening to a lot of Electric Ladyland [by the Jimi Hendrix Experience], and a lot of JJ Cale, and… I don’t know. I mean, it was, like, a year ago. I don’t remember everything, but, you know—just good rock ’n’ roll music, and cool stuff from other countries. We all like lots of different kinds of music.”

      Fair enough, and if you, dear reader, are of a similarly eclectic bent, there is probably at least one record by the Men with your name on it.

      The Men play Electric Owl on Friday (April 18).

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