Hello, Nice to meet you. My name is Honus Honus. Sometimes people call me Ryan Kattner. Sometimes people call me Mr. Kattner. Often times they call me things I can’t type here. I’m in a band called Man Man from Philadelphia, the city of brotherly shove. We have a new album called On Oni Pond coming out very soon. If you like it, then we have other albums you can explore. If you’ve never heard of us that’s quite alright, we’re still a band, we still play shows, it’s not too late to get involved with us.
Your new album On Oni Pond comes out very soon in Australia on 13th September. How are you feeling ahead of its release, has the wait been gruelling?
I really hope people give this album a chance and if they’ve heard us or heard of us set aside any preconceived notions of what they think we may or may not be as a band. There are many sides of this project and we’re definitely stretching our legs wandering into some new territories. Gruelling? Not so much. Just wanna unleash this beast into the world and watch it eat the children.
It’s the fifth album in your catalogue and you’ve said that it’s really different compared to your previous works. In what sense?
Personally, every album has been an evolution for me as a songwriter. Man Man is my first band and I didn’t really know any “rules” of how you’re supposed to put songs together; still don’t but I think I’m getting a little better understanding of how to wrap my sensibilities into a more digestible eggroll. I still want people to be “this tastes delicious but it’s made of what?! Broken glass, sugar wafers, and Vegemite? Excellent!”
This album is different in how it was constructed. Scaled back the writing process to just myself and Chris (Pow Pow was the name that they gave him). It was so much more fun especially after a couple records of push and pull with a crew of rotating and sometimes amendable musicians. To just have one other person to bounce songs off of was fresh. Hadn’t had that kind of freedom since Six Demon Bag (our second album). And Chris is a musical mind that isn’t afraid to pursue even the most questionable musical ideas down the alleyway for an old lady’s purse. And we split the contents of said purse.
RK: Old lady purse? What the hell is that supposed to mean, HH?
HH: I’m doing an interview, Ryan Kattner. Buzz off.
RK: An interview? What for? Who wants to talk to you?
HH: There’s beer in the fridge. Go grab one, go drink in the yard, cut me some slack.
RK: Punk. I think I will but only because it was my idea first.
What were the lyrical or even thematic inspirations behind these new songs? Love the lyric “Waterboard me with ‘Call Me Maybe’ looping on endless repeat”, by the way.
HH: A lot of it was a sense of rebirth, reboot, also questioning why the hell am I still chugging away at this under the radar venture when all rational signs point to “quit”. Lyrics are hard for me because I’m always striving to strike that magical balance of abstraction, storytelling, humour, pathos, conversation and personal confession without being too much of any of one of those and alienating a listener. Ultimately I always write for myself but objectivity is key to writing a song that anyone can affix their own meaning and value to. You go too far in the personal confession direction and exclude levity and you tend to alienate people. “Waterboard me with ‘Call Me Maybe’ looping on endless repeat” almost became, “Waterboard me ‘With Arms Wide Open’ [by Creed] looping on endless repeat” until an 11th hour gut check made me change it. I’ve got nothing against Carly Rae [Jepsen]. She seems cool and made one hell of an earworm song that I just heard too many times. Whilst being waterboarded.
RK: There’s beer in here?
HH: In the fridge.
RK: Oh, right. Found it.
HH: Stop interrupting. Go outside. Pet the dog.
RK: You don’t have a dog.
HH: The neighbor’s dog. Down the block.
RK: You know you sound like an asshole with these answers, right?
HH: Sorry about him, Tone Deaf. He’s a little wound up. Anxious to get on the road touring.
RK: I heard that. I’m just in the other room.
You’ve got a pretty unique songwriting process; writing down lyrics and taping them all over your walls whenever you get something down. How does this help you?
HH: There is something broken in my brain that doesn’t let me retain lyrics and phrasing. Forget karaoke. Impossible. Even my favorite songs I can’t retain the words until I write them down and repeat them to myself and who has the time for that? I’d rather walk down the block and have a coffee. I have a hard enough time coming up with my own lyrics. I have to write through repetition to get cadence and delivery down and make sure everything I sing feels like it’s just another breath, natural. There’s nothing I hate more than hearing a singer weave words and lines that sound like he/she just cribbed them from whatever influence they’re ripping off. You gotta sing it how you feel it and if what you feel comes across as “heard it before or cliche” then don’t write songs. Free up the playing field for everyone else. That’s so harsh. Sorry. No, wait! I’m not sorry!
Man Man is approaching its 10 year anniversary soon. Does it feel like it’s been that long? How would you say you’ve changed as a band since the early days?
HH: 10 years. Ain’t no thing. Only thing that’s changed is everything. Except for living out of a duffle bag and sleeping on couches. Still doing that.
RK: Oh, Jesus. Listen to yourself, man. For one second.
HH: I’ll be right back. Gotta go lock Kattner in the garage.
What’s it been like to bring in new members (Shono Murphy and Adam Schatz) into the band? How has it changed the dynamic?
HH: It’s been good. There’s a transfusion of new blood every album and this time we seem to have been injected with some grade A badass blood. Dynamic? These guys are studs. Great musicians, great voices, great stage presence. They hold their own and are quick, eager learners. So fast. Most importantly though is that they have a respect for the older songs and they are just as keen as us to pull them out. My only complaint about the fellas is that they’re both originally from Boston. Zing!
You’re about to hit the road again a full tour around the US. Are you keen to get back into the touring side of things?
HH: Fuck. Yes. Touring eases my troubled waters.
I’ve read a little bit about your pre-show rituals that involve rosemary tea – could you go further into this?
HH: We’re into the whole pig blood thing now. And the drying of the feet with hair thing too.
You were last in Australia in 2008, right? What’s your memory of the country like – any good experiences?
HH: We all pretty much fell in love with the country. I ended up staying a couple extra weeks and just hanging out with people we met at shows and sleeping on their couches (Amelia, Paul, Cipi, Vidette, Pete so many more). It was a blast and everyone was so friendly and open. We’ve been angling to get back over there and were really bummed it didn’t happen with our last album (Life Fantastic). Hopefully this new one will spark a desire to bring us down. How about this… talk to your people and have them talk to their people and get us the fuck back over there. And find me a couch or spare bedroom to stay in for awhile please. And then help me forge some papers to stay forever.
RK: Your possums are really cute.
HH: How’d you get out of the garage?!
RK: I pet one in a tree outside of a house party at 4am in the morning once. I don’t think it bit me. It was really soft.
HH: I’ll be right back. Kattner seems to have chewed through his restraints.
Any plans to make a return in the near future?
HH: Allow me to reiterate. Talk to your people and have them talk to their people and their people’s people and maybe even their people’s people’s sister’s girlfriend’s brother in-law’s niece’s babysitter’s step-father’s cousin and get us back over there. Last time we only played three shows. Give us two or three weeks of shows. Set us up with a residency. Man Man loves you. Is this pandering? Screw it. I’m pandering.
Lastly, what have you got planned for the rest of the year?
HH: Tour tour tour. I think this new record is really good and I just want people to come to the party we’ve been building for five albums and stay awhile. Hell, I’ll forge the papers. Stay forever.
RK: I think I hate Honus.
On Oni Pond is out today on ANTI.
Listen to Head On here:
