Last year, Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum and boyfriend Joey Holman launched a new project called Man on Man during quarantine. Now they’ve announced their self-titled debut album, arriving May 7th, and shared the video for the single “1983”.
The self-described “gay lover band” is a joyous celebration of the duo’s relationship and mutual appreciation for mathy indie rock. As indicated by the album cover, press shots, and merch — bearing the motto “It’s So Fun to Be Gay” — Man on Man aren’t holding back, combining honest sexuality with a twisted pop-rock concoction.
The band shared the first single “Daddy”, last year, and you can also hear new single “1983” and “Baby, You’re My Everything” on the group’s Bandcamp. The former’s music video sees the duo sharing dialogue throughout the song’s verses, with walks in the woods inter-spliced with scenes of lovemaking. Previously, the video for “Daddy” was removed from YouTube for violating the “sex and nudity policy”.
As the press release explains, there’s an acerbic humor underlying the project, one that Roddy frequently exercised alongside Mike Patton in Faith No More. Man on Man are clearly not interested in internet content filters, testing those arbitrary limits and discriminatory regulations.
“There’s enough representation in the gay community of young, hairless pretty men,” Bottum told Rolling Stone last year. “It feels good to represent a faction of our culture that isn’t squeaky and manicured.”
The musical collaboration came about during the pandemic, with Bottum and Holman each experiencing the loss of their respective mothers. The music became a means to endure despite the devastating circumstances of their personal lives and the world around them. A complete transparency and honesty of expression in tangible in the songs.
Pre-order the album via Bandcamp. Watch the video for “1983” and see the album cover and tracklist below.
Man on Man Artwork:
Man on Man Tracklist:
01. Stohner
02. Daddy
03. It’s So Fun (to Be Gay)
04. Beach House
05. 1983
06. Baby, You’re My Everything
07. Two at a Time
08. Lover
09. Please Be Friends
10. Kamikaze
11. It Floated