At The Deli’s Best of Philly Showcase this year with Reading Rainbow, Grandchildren and Levee Drivers, I ran into Ryan Kattner, better known as the grizzled and bombastic Man Man ringleader Honus Honus. After picking his brain a bit and unsuccessfully sedating him enough to tuck my dick between my legs to convince him I was my twin sister who was a sucker for “mustachioed taxidermy enthusiasts”, he agreed to talk to us for the debut of our artist interview series Where Is My Mind? all the way from Omaha where he and his cohorts are hard at work on the new Man Man LP.
The Deli: For the past six years you have been reliably releasing an album every two years, does that mean we can expect a new album in 2010 to follow in that tradition?
Honus Honus: We spent a good deal of last year (between tours) working on the new material, and we just started road testing it in March. We’re recording now actually, and we’re just trying to get it sounding the best it can. Been here in Omaha since mid-May, and we’re still tracking here heading into July.
TD: Your music is carnivalrous. It is full of fireworks and covered in mud. The songs also contain lyrical depth that is thoughtful and dark. The question may be a bit too broad, but how did you come to this balance and how intentional was it?
HH: If you write from the heart it’s gonna come out however your heart is designed. Perhaps mine is muddy, dark and a bit of a fire hazard. If the center (heart) of the song ever feels plugged in and sculpted as just another "part", I have no interest in making that kind of music. People aren’t dummies. They can tell, regardless of how good something sounds or how clever something is, if it’s real or not. If it ever feels like "going to the well" with this band, I quit. Even if a lyric sounds abstract, I wouldn’t know how to fake the energy to get there. With that said, it’s very important to me to retain the balance of playfulness and sincerity and objectivity. It’s a pain to get all those working together. It really is.
TD: You sound like you could be a soundtrack to a fantastic puppet show, do you have any interest in scoring and have you gotten any offers yet?
HH: Scoring would be interesting for sure. We haven’t received any offers yet, at least not ones that would pay and allow us the time to focus. I’d love to do soundtrack work because we could do very diverse things. There are many layers to this onion. Puppets? Oh man…
TD: What are the goals for the new album, musically and dynamically?
HH: The same as it never was.
TD: What are Man Man’s plans for the summer?
HH: Recording, recording, recording. Shows here and there. Water ice.
TD: How would you describe the Philly music scene?
HH: Very vibrant and idiosyncratic. It’s cool that people in Philly don’t tend to ride any particular "sound" and allow themselves the confidence to just chase down whatever inspiration catches them. We’re talking about a city that’s spawned everything from Gamble & Huff to Sun Ra to Hall & Oates to the Roots to Beanie Sigel to Pissed Jeans. That’s a pretty diverse scene.
TD: Do you consider yourself part of the Philly music scene?
HH: Proud to be from Philly and representing this tough city. Philly can be brutal and real and I love it.
Stay tuned for more Where Is My Mind? with Man Man’s Honus Honus! We guarantee that it gets a lot weirder.
– Adam G.