Known primarily for the outlandish sound of their earliest recordings––a barely-controlled swirl of chaos and cacophony––Man Man is the type of band that could easily fade into caricature. Plenty of people are turned off by the gravel-voiced wailing of frontman/multi-instrumentalist Honus Honus (aka Ryan Kattner), while just as many are so endeared to the quirk that they’ve become inflexible to accepting any change in the band’s sound. Their last full-length (Life Fantastic) saw a decidedly more sober Man Man, addressing themes such as abusive relationships, drug addiction, mutilation and the overarching darkness of humanity––this time with far fewer wacky horns or melodicas. It seems the record forced a sea change in the band and Kattner has emerged from that blackness to create what he calls possibly one of the best albums Man Man has ever made. On Oni Pond sees release this month and the band stops through town as well. I spoke with Honus Honus to talk about the breaking point of Life Fantastic, communicating directly with his fans on social media and why he would never date a kazoo.
The reaction to your last album, Life Fantastic, was critically positive, but one thing mentioned ad nauseum by critics and fans alike was the lack of that certain “zany” quality that was a hallmark of your earlier albums. Did you guys anticipate that when you were recording? How did you deal with it?
Ryan Kattner: We didn’t really care. Life informs material. Those are the songs that came out of that specific period in time. I couldn’t have written different songs. If I had, I wouldn’t have been being true to what I was going through. So yeah, there was backlash, but we really didn’t care. Because you also have to write for yourself.
Did that backlash affect how you approached the new album?
The only thing that I took into consideration this go ‘round was that everything that was happening behind the scenes, just personally and personnel- related, during the making of Life Fantastic… I couldn’t make another record under those conditions. I would just quit. And so that was the big thing with the new record, is that I didn’t want to be in that kind of environment at all, creatively. So when things seemed like they were starting to go that direction, [drummer] Chris [Powell, aka Pow Pow] and I extricated ourselves from it and got on the path that we did. And I’m really glad we did, because we made––I think––an awesome record.
So despite the negative feelings you had around the recording process for Life Fantastic, you paired up with Mike Mogis again to produce the new record. What made you want to revisit that relationship?
Well, the big concern is that with every record, we try to make things different. We don’t want to just keep writing the same songs and make the same sounding record. So when we sent demos to Mike, we just wanted to get his reaction really and it was overwhelmingly positive. He was like “Hey, this is different––this is new-sounding stuff.” Neither one of us wanted to make Life Fantastic: Part II. So it was good, because we had the challenge of almost being a new band, new vibe, but we could speak in shorthand because we’ve worked together. And we worked under very arduous parameters before. But this time we could cut to the chase and just focus on the songs and make them sound rad.
Obviously there have been some personnel changes and shifts. Who makes up the band at the moment? Is this permanent or just for recording and touring purposes?
With this band, there has always been an infusion of new blood, since the beginning, with my old blood being the steady. And the same with Chris now––he’s been around since Six Demon Bag, basically. We have Jamey [Robinson, aka T. Moth]––he played on Life Fantastic and played a little bit on the new record. Then we have two new young guns that just crush it––we have Shono [aka Bryan Murphy] and Adam, who likes to go by Brown Sugar.
Any idea what the genesis behind his choice in nickname was?
He’s a BBQ fan. He feels like brown sugar is one of his favorite ingredients in that mix and, in many ways, his addition to the band is like throwing some brown sugar in the mix.
Is there any new instrumentation coming in on this record? It’s kind of trademark for you guys to have a really broad spectrum of pieces to play with.
Yeah, we have cool guitar stuff on this record. Which is actually strange.
Honestly, it is a bit of departure in focus. So no xylophones or kazoos?
Oh, the kazoos. Hopefully those fuckers are gone. Melted. Melted down. Thrown away. Buried.
Are you over kazoos at this point?
I never liked kazoos! I don’t know why kazoos got thrown into the mix of our band––I hate them! I mean, hate is a strong word. Put it this way: I wouldn’t date a kazoo. I’ve just had to deal with kazoos being tied to my name for so many years now that I’m like, get ‘em away from me. I don’t want to see a kazoo.
Happy to help clear that up. This new record is being framed as somewhat of a reboot, with Chris becoming more involved insongwriting. How did that come about? Was it something he’s been wanting to do for a while or was it in reaction to the difficulty of the process of the last album?
It was definitely circumstances, but it had just gotten to where I would have X amount of time to write a record, and Chris was the only one who really wanted to jump on board. And it was awesome. We’ve always both believed that you should be able to distill any great song down to a voice and a beat. And if you start from there––from the raw development and build out––then you’re pretty good, you’re golden.
You guys are almost always categorized as “experimental” rock. Do you agree with that label? Or do you feel about it now like you feel about kazoos?
Experimental is fine; it’s good. But I don’t think we’re that experimental. Unless it’s an experiment for people to have to deal with my singing voice. It’s fun to experiment with sound, but it’s not like it’s unlistenable. I mean, I like experimental music, and this isn’t experimental music.
I’ve always thought of experimental music as music that I have to prepare myself to listen to. That I have to get into a space where I’m okay with being uncomfortable fora little while to really process it.I’ve never felt that way about any of your work.
I feel like maybe that tag has kept people away from the fact that––I think––we just write killer songs. Maybe it’s like a lab experiment. Because that’s one thing––there aren’t any parameters or rules about what a Man Man song can be. You can have it be any genre or whatever, and at the end of the day it’s still going to be anchored by my rusty pipes and Chris’ beats. Because we’re not afraid to experiment with styles but fuck man, we live in modern times; everyone’s a little gumbo.
That’s a concept we cleave to pretty exuberantly here in New Orleans.
I know, man. I don’t know why bands are afraid to mix it up. That’s what life’s about! And we’ve been thrown into that experimental box, but it’s so strange to get boxed into something that’s not even categorizable.
So if you had to explain yourmusic in a handful of words, not necessarily a genre tag, what would those words be?
Fried chicken and ice cream. But knowing that your arteries are all clogged. And you’re watching a Fellini movie. While crying.
I noticed in looking over theMan Man page on Facebook that it appears you have personally responded to some fans. Is that really you?
Yeah, that’s me. I mean, we’re people, too. I write to people all the time, especially on Twitter. We’re socially networked. [laughs]
You’re one of few there. Most musicians that I’ve talked to don’t have that direct interface with the fans. They may respond through a publicist or have a friend or partner do it for them, but they don’t wantto be that close to the onslaught of questions and frequent weirdness.
No interns needed. I’m just a person with problems who found a band to exercise them. But yeah, I write all that stuff… I’ll even like the negative comments, like people bitching and moaning about [new single] “Head On.” They’re saying “Why can’t you do more crazy stuff ?” We can do crazy, but we’re experimenting. We’re schizophrenic, multi-dimensional people. We don’t just want to do one thing. Why should anyone have to? I’d rather quit than have to keep doing the same thing over and over again. But we’ve been really lucky with our fans in that if you take the time to learn the language and learn to speak it with us, then you can grow and change with us… and it’s fun. And if there are people that don’t like our new record, then I really don’t care. I just think it’s a great record. It might even be one of our best. I will go on the record and say that. It’s a sneaky-ass, catchy, evil record. It somehow has the darkness of Life Fantastic but there’s also a joyfulness to it. Because as stressful and as hard as it was to write with just me and Chris, it was a blast.
Any parting thoughts?
If people think they know who we are and what we’re about, keep trying.
Man Man plays The Howlin’ Wolf on Saturday, September 21st with Sylvan Esso opening. For tickets and more information, visit howlinwolf.com or manmanbandband.com
