MAN ON MAN, the project featuring FAITH NO MORE keyboardist Roddy Bottum and his boyfriend Joey Holman, will make its live debut on August 26 at Elsewhere Zone One in Brooklyn, New York. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 18 at 10 a.m. MAN ON MAN will also perform at the Riot Fest in Chicago on Saturday, September 18 and will participate in a virtual pride celebration, Dreamstage, on June 26.
MAN ON MAN released its self-titled debut album on May 7 via Polyvinyl Records in the U.S. and Big Scary Monsters in Europe.
“Man On Man” is infused with indie-rock distortion and soaked in gay pop confidence while still maintaining the acerbic and pure sense of humor Bottum and Holman both share. M.O.M.‘s music videos take their magical collaboration to another level with otherworldly cinematographic dimension, and, of course, the subversive playfulness of two gay lovers unmistakably flirting with their audience and each other. Upon the release of their debut single, “Daddy”, their video (chock full of the pair dancing seductively in their white briefs) was removed from YouTube for violating their “sex and nudity policy.” At this moment, the band solidified their political visibility as queer artists who are not okay with being silenced or removed from history because of their age or size. Bottum told Rolling Stone: “There’s enough representation in the gay community of young, hairless pretty men.” Roddy and Joey‘s love for each other and their own bodies, histories, and truths are what make this project so tender and lovable.
MAN ON MAN‘s music transcends both genre or decade, creating a timeless appeal for so many kinds of listening. The varied influences and textures of the record are a meditation on the myriad of emotions of lockdown, as well as this particular moment in their own lives, collectively and independently. The shoegaze whirlpools of “Stohner” transition into the square wave synths of “1983” with ease, while tracks like “It’s So Fun (To Be Gay)” open us up to a new type of queer anthem for the 2020s.
It is hard not to be captivated with MAN ON MAN‘s story. When we fall into their world, which was self-produced with mix support by Grammy Award-winning producer Carlos de la Garza (M83, PARAMORE, JIMMY EAT WORLD) and Mike Vernon Davis (FOXING, GREAT GRANDPA), we witness MAN ON MAN‘s deep intensity of falling in love while mourning, and the epic collaboration of two lovers that traverse the map of a COVID road trip.
MAN ON MAN is more than a band, it is a partnership of two beautiful queers who are committed to creating a language that is both musical and visual, and that transcends what we know of gay music at exactly the cultural moment we need them. As individuals, lovers, sons, community pillars, and human beings, M.O.M. are a womb to be reckoned with.
