Man Man is an American

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

rock band from

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currently based in

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. Lead singer, songwriter, and lyricist Honus Honus (Ryan Kattner) is accompanied by a group of multi-instrumentalist musicians and vocalists.

History

Man Man released their debut, '' The Man in a Blue Turban with a Face'', in October 2004 on Ace Fu Records, but did not begin to tour extensively until the 2006 release of their second album, '' Six Demon Bag''. In 2007, the band opened for

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members were lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock (musician), Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and ba ...

on several U.S. tours, gaining them further public attention. Not long afterward, Nike aired a series of commercials starring Rainn Wilson with Man Man's "10 lb Mustache" as the background music. "10 lb Mustache", "Feathers", and "Engrish Bwudd" were featured in season 3, episode 8 of the TV show ''

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''. The band also recorded a cover of "Little Boxes" for the title sequence of that episode. Man Man released their third studio album, '' Rabbit Habits'', on

ANTI- Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. Founded by Andy Kaulkin, Anti- first gained attention by releasing Tom Waits's Grammy Award–winning '' Mule Variations'' in 1999. Other veteran recordin ...

in 2008, and embarked on a North American tour in March 2008, with Yeasayer and

Tim Fite Timothy Sullivan, also known as Tim Fite, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, living and working in Brooklyn. His past releases have run the gamut from indie to alternative to country to hip hop. Life and c ...

splitting dates. They performed at numerous festivals including Voodoo Experience,

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released as the band's debut single in 1966. The song is from their 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the so ...

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, and the Meredith Music Festival that same year. Man Man released their fourth album, ''

Life Fantastic ''Life Fantastic'' is the fourth album by the experimental indie rock band Man Man. The album was produced by Mike Mogis, marking the first time the band has worked with an outside producer. ''Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricu ...

'', in May 2011 with producer Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk fame). The album featured a more somber sound than previous releases. The first song written for the album, "Steak Knives", was inspired by a failed relationship and the death of several close friends. It took Kattner (Honus Honus) over a year to write. Man-man-the-band-band-montreal

In 2011 and 2017, Honus released albums with the indie supergroup Mister Heavenly. Man Man's fifth studio album, ''On Oni Pond'', was released on September 10, 2013. The album was again produced by Mike Mogis. The first single, "Head On", peaked at #32 on the Billboard

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart. In 2015, Honus completed both a solo album and an album of children's music. On November 4, 2016, Honus released his solo album, ''Use Your Delusion''. On August 9, 2019, the band released a two-song single for

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Singles Series titled "Beached" / "Witch". Six months later in February, 2020, the band announced the release of their first studio album in seven years, '' Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between''. In 2020, they were featured in the game ''

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'' with the previously unreleased song "So It Goes", credited in-universe to "Fingers and the Outlaws".

Multi-instrumental variety

Instruments played by the band include

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

, Moog Little Phatty,

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

drum set A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The drummer ty ...

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

Fender Jazz Bass The Fender Jazz Bass (often shortened to "J-Bass") is the second model of Bass guitar, electric bass guitar created by Leo Fender. It is distinct from the Fender Precision Bass, Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midra ...

Danelectro Danelectro is a brand of musical instruments and accessories that was founded in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1947. The company is known primarily for its string instruments that employed unique designs and manufacturing processes. The Danelectro com ...

baritone guitar,

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

and various percussive instruments including pots and pans, toy noisemakers, Chinese funeral horns, spoons, smashing plates, and fireworks.

Members

*Honus Honus: vocals, piano, electric piano, organ, guitar, ukulele, percussion *Joe Plummer: trap kit, percussion *Mature Kevin: marimba, bass, melodica, trumpet, clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion, backing vocals *Harry Eggs Foster: bass, guitar, keys, organ, percussion, backing vocals, pack master *Sam "CTS" Small: guitar, rice cooker, full-bearded vocals, Furred harp

Past members

Previous members have included Tiberius Lyn, Pow Pow ( Christopher Powell), Jazz Diesel ( Dylan Ryan), Sweet Chestnut (Dan Scofield), Brown Sugar (Adam Schatz), Shono (Bryan Murphy), Kritter Krat/Cougar/Alejandro Borg (Russell Higbee), Turkey Moth/Giamebee (Jamey Robinson), Chang Wang (Billy Blaise Dufala), Blanco (Steven Dufala), Brett Swett (Brett Morris), Les Mizzle (Craig Van Hise), G. Clinton Killingsworth (Sam Henderson), Liz Rywelski, King Cyrus King, Dicky Betts Jr. (Matt Gibson), Moonbeam (Evander Green), Thu Butler, Jefferson, Brown Sugar Jr. (Michael Kammers), Pee Wee Tay Tay, Shit Foot (Stephanie Smith), Sara Yurman, and Sergei Sogay ( Chris Shar).

Discography

Studio albums

*'' The Man in a Blue Turban with a Face'' (2004) *'' Six Demon Bag'' (2006) *'' Rabbit Habits'' (2008) *''

'' (2011) *'' On Oni Pond'' (2013) *'' Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between'' (2020) *'' Carrot On Strings'' (2024)

Extended plays

*''Man Man EP'' (2004) *'' Little Torments 7"'' (2008) *''Dig Deep'' (2022)

Singles

*"Head On (Hold On To Your Heart)" - No. 32

*"Beached" / "Witch"New Man Man Single Release Available for Streaming & Purchase
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References

External links

Official Site

Interview with Honus Honus, Ryan Kattner, ''The Inflatable Ferret'' 10/13/11

Interview with RadioUTD

Interview with Tiny Mix Tapes' Chris Ruen

Interview with Pitchfork Media 05/22/06

NPR Broadcast of the June 30, 2006 concert in Washington, DC

Tiny Mix Tapes
article on current tour.
Set of 6 live videos at scheduletwo.com

Honus Honus interview with Ted Coe on KCSB-FM's ''The Freak Power Ticket'' 08/30/10

{{Authority control Rock music groups from Pennsylvania Musical groups from Philadelphia Musical groups established in 2003 American experimental rock groups Anti- (record label) artists 2003 establishments in Pennsylvania