Since debuting with the self-released 2009 EP We Are the Men, the Men have been bound by an oath to subvert the punk status quo. Even within a single album, these Brooklyn dudes leapfrog from genre to genre with relentless, caustic energy—and on the brand-new Open Your Heart (Sacred Bones) they make their biggest jump yet, bringing a little bit of country into the mix. Before the Men left for their current monthlong tour in support of the new album, guitarist and vocalist Mark Perro was interviewed by guitarist Ryan Lowry of local hardcore group Raw Nerve, who opened for the Men when they came to town in August. The Men play in Chicago on Wed 3/21. Raw Nerve’s final shows are Fri 4/13 (with Ceremony at Subterranean) and Sat 4/14. —Leor Galil
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The Men started as a DIY kind of punk band, putting out two of your own records, and then escalated into this band that’s in major magazines. Did you feel like there was a choice that had to be made? I don’t know if there was that actual conversation. We’ve just kind of been taking it as it comes. Like, each individual thing that comes up, you know, does this work for us, does this not work for us? We come from a background of do-it-yourself, DIY, and all that stuff. I think it’s really just about getting involved with people that share those same ideals. What we want to do is make records and tour.
As far as new people, Ben [Greenberg]’s in the band now. We just started really jelling with him. I’m not sure how it’s going to pan out, but it’s that same idea. He’s fronted Pygmy Shrews. He’s got his own band. He’s a man that has a lot of ideas. You can’t expect someone like that to join the band and not have ideas.
Oh yeah, and I mean, it totally works. To pretend that we live in this vacuum, or we exist in this vacuum—we’re not this incredibly unique thing. We’re just a bunch of dudes playing music, and it’s happened a million times before. We’re just having fun and doing our thing. It’s fun for us to fuckin’ play some kind of MC5 riffs or whatever, because we fuckin’ love the MC5 and obviously that’s going to come out in our music. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think what’s wrong with it is when you try to pretend that that stuff isn’t there.
