The Men - A Name Used Lightly

Original Post: http://queencitycommotion.blogspot.com/2012/03/men-name-used-lightly.html

Last night I headed down to the Queen City's ugly, long-lost step-sister, Princess Winooski, to attend a show where a band by the name of 'The Men' would perform their garage rock-induced jams. Like most half-decent shows at The Monkey House, I predicted this night would be full of self-induced ear aches and general joint discomfort from standing awkwardly for three hours consecutively – I was sadly and truly mistaken.



I never paid The Men too much attention before the show (and I won't pay them any more attention, or money for that matter) after it. I assumed they were just another made-for-Pitchfork band with a name that could be used when crafting a witty review that compares them to the band Women. Yet despite my reluctance, I figured that they must be sort of okay – after all, WRUV was co-sponsoring the event, so at the very least I'd be showing some support for (My)Your Better Alternative. I checked out their album Leave Home and was pleasantly surprised – they sounded like some strange Replacements, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr. hybrid, and overall, it was something I could certainly jive with. I figured the show would be preeetty packed after some recent hype surfaced on the Internet – an 8.5 rating from Pitchfork on Open Your Heart pretty much guarantees a decent turn out. Burlington + the surrounding towns are surely home to some of those Pitchfork-trolling zombies who crawl out of their dark caves only to see shows at the Monkey (I assume), but then again, you know what happens to people who assume things.

Oh hey, didn't see you there.

The night started off on with a little DJ I like to call Disco Phantom(little DJ was an oxymoron, he's actually quite stalky). He killed it, as usual, and for those old folks out there, killing it is a good thing. Get with it. If you haven't heard him spin before, I'd honestly be very surprised, unless of course you live under a rock like our dear friend Patrick. He's been kicking it in Burlington for a year or two now (he being Disco Phantom, not Patrick – I wish!). Last year he had a residency at the Monkey House, and has since been DeeJaying between sets at any and every show that's worth seeing, from Maps & Atlases to The Morning Benders. He even spun some Joy Division AND New Order for those folks who are still stuck in the 80s, or in my case, wish they were.

Rough Francis, a Burlington-based bag of trail mix injected with the tastiest rock 'n roll, hardcore and punk morsels, took stage and in an instant had the crowd tapping their toes and bobbing their heads. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of their performance, and was pleasantly surprised by their natural  talent. These are some seriously gifted guys – it runs in the family. Three of the five members are Julian, Urian, and Bobby Hackney Jr., sons of the late David Hackney of the band Death, a revolutionary protopunk/garage band from Detroit. Rough Francis' set was on-point, crisp, and most importantly, it was emotional, and not in the mush-gooshy love song way, trust me, just listen to their songs and you see that's almost virtually impossible. It was more emotional because the audience could tell they were all passionate about playing music, as cheesy and cornball-ish as that may sound.

Just like this.

Another Disco Phantom set made me forget that I was all hopped up on adrenaline, by quickly lulling my desire to sing Black Flag songs, and suppressing all other thoughts of the anti-establishment variety. Next on stage was Nude Beach, a little three piece band from Brooklyn, NY. I remember seeing one of the members at the bar during Rough Francis' set (only I didn't know he was in Nude Beach) and I couldn't help but overhear him ask his (what later became his band mate) to take some shots with him. Funny to think about in retrospect, but not all too surprising when you think about how blitzed some musicians tend to get before they perform. There's not really too much to say about Nude Beach – they were pretty unmemorable. The word 'cute' comes to mind when I think about their performance, and I'm pretty sure that's the worst name any (self-respecting) band could ever be called. The lead singer did have crazy Bob Dylan hair and that was pretty entertaining! So hey! There's that!

One more round for DJDP, and we're finally on to....THE MEN! The headliners, the big-shots, the big MEN on campus – yeah, I went there. Their drummer looked like he was already kind of pissed about something before the show even started, which is a bad omen for what ends up happening later – I'll get there eventually. After about three or four back-and-fourths with his equipment, I shifted my attention to some other dude with jet black hair. He had a nice hair cut and was generally a clean looking man so I was pretty much sold, but then I saw some thick round frames on his otherwise angelic face and was instantly repulsed (or at the very least, turned off).

They looked like this. Only thicker.

To my surprise, he was in the band! Though he took his glasses off onstage – I can't imagine those frames would fair well against some serious sweat. I stopped staring at his face and started to pay attention to the music. The Men sounded just like they did on their studio album, which is nice and refreshing and gives me hope that there are still some bands out there who don't rely entirely on production to sound half decent. They played about four tracks, and the crowd (all 35 of us) were pretty into it – we applauded them at the end of each song and danced along with a blissful sense of appreciation – and then they stopped. "I think we're all done," one of them said. Lucky for me, I was already half way out the door. It was getting late and I had an 8 am class the next morning. Staying at the show did not outweigh the enjoyment I would get from sleeping...which is a very bad sign because most of that time that should never be the case.

Overall, the show wasn't "bad" per-say, though it wasn't very good. It could have been a lot better if more people were there, maybe then The Men would have grown some you-know-whats and would've actually finished their set instead of quitting half way through because they just weren't feeling it. It was a sad, sad day for 'The Men" if you can even call them that. Perhaps a name change is in order.

Reverse, Reverse!