The Men Release New Album “New York City”

“When everyone left NYC, the sewer opened and we crawled out.” Prolific NYC punk institution The Men are today releasing their ninth studio album, ‘New York City’. Arriving following 2020’s ‘Mercy’ and the recent ‘Hard Livin‘, ‘God Bless The USA’ and ‘Anyway I Find You’ singles, the new LP is out now on Fuzz Club and marks a return to the more scuzzy and abrasive rock ploughed over The Men’s decade and a half spent coursing through the grimy sewers of NYC.

“The New York City album was revised, reorganized and shaped until it became clear that things fall into place like the hammer driving the nail or the scythe’s swipe through the tall grass. These songs became the blood of the band as the band could only exist for and of these songs. There was no place else to hang their hats. Without making this record, the group would not exist, so there really wasn’t another option. NYC is fluid. It means a lot of different things to all kinds of people. We present the record in that spirit.” – Mark Perro (The Men)

On ‘New York City’, nocturnal proto-punk meets a timeless, all-guns-blazing rock and roll gusto. That the album leans into a more primitive, back-to-basics sound owes largely to the way in which was forged. In late 2020, whilst the city shut down, the album was first completed with a different tracklist and drum machine by founding members Perro and Nick Chiericozzi. However, that early version was destined to be shelved in favour of the sound of four people playing in a room together.

With drummer Rich Samis and bassist Kevin Faulkner in tow, the end-result is a series of cuts played live and recorded to 2″ tape in Travis Harrison’s (Guided By Voices, Built To Spill) Brooklyn studio. Capturing The Men at their best, ‘New York City’ is a record that doesn’t stop moving for a second, packed full of the kind of hedonistic and cathartic energy you can only really capture in a live setting.