The Men

Overview

If you went on a road trip this summer and didn’t include anything by Brooklyn four-piece The Men on your playlist you didn’t do it right, but luckily summer’s not over and you’ve got a chance to make amends on the 30^th.

The relentless scuzz-punk guitars and thumping anthem-like vocals take their cues from around three decades of straight-up American rock, but The Men aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel: They’re just giving it a spin at breakneck speed. Disfigured vocals, distorted guitars and thundering drums are ballsy and abrasive, but when it hits you all at once the effect is more like a friendly clip around the ears than a punch in the face.

This is most evident on 2012’s Open Your Heart, a varying yet on-point bunch of rambling crowd-pleasers that are made for hot days and good company — and sure to go down a treat at Laneway. If you won’t make it to the festival, hear them in the sweaty Danceteria at Goodgod then blast them out of your windows until summer vacates the premises.