The Men began as an abrasive punk group before vastly expanding their sound to incorporate influences from country-rock to soul, in addition to more accessible song structures. Initially forming as a trio in Brooklyn in 2008, they first made a national impact with the blistering noise rock of 2011's Leave Home, their second album. Released in 2012, Open Your Heart proved to be a breakthrough for the band, receiving rave reviews. It also signaled their shift beyond punk, and the Men continued to redefine their sound with ambitious, eclectic albums such as 2014's Tomorrow's Hits. They ventured back into confrontational noise rock with 2016's Devil Music. Retaining a stable lineup meant they could continue to stylistically branch out with albums like 2020's Mercy. Brooklyn's Nick Chiericozzi, Chris Hansell, and Mark Perro formed the Men as a scuzzy post-punk trio in 2008. Before recruiting drummer Rich Samis, they self-released the albums We Are the Men and Immaculada, as well as a few tapes. The band recorded in Python Patrol studio for its Sacred Bones debut, Leave Home, which was released in 2011. They returned the following March with Open Your Heart (their first album to include Samis as well as bassist Kevin Faulkner), expanding their musical palette to meld country, psych, and surf influences with their caustic, aggressive rock. Their fourth album, New Moon, as well as their Campfire Songs EP, arrived in 2013; by this point, engineer Ben Greenberg (Hubble, Zs) had begun his brief tenure in the band. The Men continued their musical evolution, as well as their prolific streak, with their fifth album, Tomorrow's Hits, which found them moving further away from their hardcore roots toward the earnest blue-collar rock of artists like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. In 2016, the group revisited its noisy, more experimental side with the self-released Devil Music. Returning to Sacred Bones in 2018, the Men released Drift, their most eclectic album yet. Also that year, the group gathered tracks from early releases as well as previously unreleased material on the collection Hated: 2008-2011. 2020's Mercy was influenced by styles ranging from country to '80s arena rock. ~ Jason Lymangrover
