The Men

There hasn’t been much information revealed about the men behind The Men: We can say for certain the suddenly acclaimed Brooklyn punk band is built around the instrument-swapping trio of Nick Chiericozzi, Mark Perro and Chris Hansell. Drummer Rich Samis joined the band full-time shortly after the band recorded its excellent break-out LP, Leave Home. But there’s no real hunger for backstory. The Men have found the mythical place wherein the music actually is what matters.

If good artists borrow, and great artists steal, The Men are destined for legend status. It’s far too easy (and fun!) to get lost in the band’s endless supply of record-geek references: Their album title is a whiplash-inducing nod to New York icons the Ramones. They covered Devo and the Nerves on early releases (the “Think” b/w “Gates of Steel” 7-inch and split cassette with Nomos, respectively). Perro and Chiericozzi even have a “synth-kraut” side project called Dream Police with a song called “Let It Be.” These source materials reveal themselves in surprising ways. Every recorded song sounds like none other than The Men. Leave Home is a remarkably adept primer in the band’s expansive capabilities, ranging from the soaring psych-rock of “If You Leave...” to the Swans-like intensity of “L.A.D.O.C.H.”; from the propulsive, Motorik-punk of “( )” to the explosive noise rock of “Think.” You can consider The Men a contemporary take on the sludgy, anthemic promise of grunge—or the more fucked-up heirs apparent to Fucked Up’s bombastic hardcore.

Truth is, The Men will fill any space they’re given. As the size of the venues booking them increases, this is becoming increasingly true of their audience. But then, this is a band equally at home in murky shoegaze, spring-loaded power-pop, squalid squalling noise and feral hardcore. The Men drag the darkest depths of alt-rock’s extremes, and they reach its highest heights. —Bryan Reed