Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with JD Samson of Brooklyn-based band and art/performance collective MEN


(Left: Michael O’Neill, centre: JD Samson, dosage right: Ginger Brooks Takahashi)

Take two-parts infectious electro-disco rock, capsule add an ounce of social politics, a splash of über cool haircuts, and a few generous handfuls of electrifying live performances and blend… è voila, you have MEN!

It’s not the first time we’ve featured MEN in Amelia’s Magazine but in case you missed our exclusive interview with the trio back in February, here’s a quick overview: MEN are a Brooklyn-based band and art/performance collective (by their own definition) focusing on the radical potential of dance music and the energy of live performance.

Formed in 2007 by the DJ/production/remix team of feminist electro-punk Le Tigre members, JD Samson and Johanna Fateman, and decidedly left-wing, the band deliver politically-motivated tunes, with an emphasis on issues ranging from wartime economies to the demand for liberties via hypnotic disco beats and creative, high energy stage shows.

With Le Tigre on hiatus, Samson and Fateman have teamed up with Michael O’Neill and Ginger Brooks Takahashi of Hirsute (a band of which Samson also fronts) to form the core of MEN, with Fateman taking on the role of writer, consultant and producer with artist Emily Roysdon.

Although the marriage of music and activism is no longer revelatory in today’s contempory music scene, what makes MEN worth checking out is that beyond the belligerent “rad image” and the “I ain’t nobody’s bitch” attitude, their tunes are pretty damn good and are likely to get you attempting robot moves on a beer-smeared dancefloor, even if the lyrical content may occasionally draw a few raised eyebrows (e.g. check out “Credit Card Babie$” where Samson exclaims “how expensive it is if you have a baby when you’re queer” over funky looped electronic intrumentals and slinky guitar riffs).

Having previously toured with the likes of the Gossip and Peaches, it is to no surprise that the fashionable threesome are being labelled as a “punk/disco/electoclash” band. In truth, their radio-friendly synth-driven sound makes them better placed next to New Young Pony Club, CSS and Ladytron in your record collection, which is certainly no crime at all in my book.  

Fresh from closing a set of UK tour dates, Amelia’s Magazine takes some time out to talk with JD Samson about MEN’s creative direction, the merging of diverse musical minds and how he’ll be spending the festive season…

You’ve just completed a set of tour dates in the UK – how did you find playing to a UK audience compared to a US one?
I’ve noticed over a long time with touring that the audiences change mostly city to city, or even venue to venue, instead of country by country. Some towns can be super responsive and engaged and freaking out, whereas in other places, some can seem a little depressed or inquisitive. We had a great tour with lots of great audiences that seemed to really care about what we are doing and feel very grateful to have experienced it. 

Your have been described as an act who ‘speaks to issues such as trans awareness, wartime economies, sexual compromise, and demanding liberties through lyrical content and an exciting stage show’ – was this always the creative angle you wanted to take as MEN or did this happen organically?
I think it is important to us not to adhere to any preconceived notions of what an electronic music band is. We don’t want to fit inside a box. We want to be fluid beings that move from one genre to another and one area of content to another. We want to be able to push ourselves out of a label and be able to discuss things that bewilder us with new adventures in music production. 

You all come from different backgrounds (JD Samson is from Le Tigre, Michael O’Neill is from Ladybug Transistor and Ginger Brooks Takahashi is from LTTR) – did you find it relatively easy to merge your musical styles?
We all have very different music styles actually and are psyched to be able to merge them together. We are constantly inspired by each other, making mix CDs for each other and drawing from so many different areas of music. 

Your live shows have been cited as one of your most enticing features as a band – how would you describe your shows to MEN gig virgins?
We go for it and give the crowd the energy so that they can give it back. It’s that exchange that pushes us through the set. 

What’s the most unusual gig you’ve played to date?
Hmm, well we played at a friend’s wedding at a poolside in the south of France. That was cool. 

What have been the most euphoric moments of being in the band so far?
Just getting our record finished and being able to tour without a press release or anything. Also realising how many rad fans we have. 

Which bands excite you at the moment and why?
Midnight Magic because I love her voice and I love disco. Kim Ann Foxman because she is rad, deeply cool, a friend and I love her. 

Who would you most like to collaborate with?
David Byrne and Joan Armatrading

Can you describe your new album (due for release in January 2011) in three words?
Body, money, power. 

How will MEN be spending their Christmas this year?
I can’t speak for the others but I will be in Australia with my girlfriend’s family. 

And finally, if there were a tagline for MEN, what would it be?
Humans can be whatever the fuck they want.

MEN’s debut album “Talk About Body” is released on IAMSOUND on Monday 31st January 2011.  

Categories ,Credit Card Babie$, ,css, ,david byrne, ,Ginger Brooks Takahashi, ,gossip, ,Hirsute, ,JD Samson, ,Joan Armatrading, ,Johanna Fateman, ,Kat Phan, ,Kim Ann Foxman, ,Ladybug Transistor, ,Ladytron, ,Le Tigre, ,LTTR, ,MEN, ,Michael O’Neill, ,Midnight Magic, ,New Young Pony Club, ,Peaches

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Amelia’s Magazine | Ladytron at the HMV Forum: Live Review

Ladytron by Claire Kearns
Ladytron by Claire Kearns.

Has it really been this long? This long since I first caught the subtly seductive beats of Playgirl on Radio 1’s Evening Session? Hearing Helen Marnie’s coy yet devastating vocals for the first time? And what was the band’s name? Ah, cialis 40mg taken from an Eno-period Roxy Music song. Cool! And how long since I first saw them live, on the South Bank (Queen Elizabeth Hall, I think)? Daniel Hunt drolly announcing that dancing was allowed. Then the one and a half gigs at the late, not necessarily lamented Astoria (the first attempt was abandoned when the mixing desk packed up half way through the set). And now here we are, with a decade-spanning greatest-hits-that-should-have-been in the shops, a new album in the offing and a date to keep in Kentish Town.

Ladytron by Robert Tirado
Ladytron by Robert Tirado.

YouTube Preview ImagePlaygirl

Two single green beams of light cut through the Forum’s darkened auditorium as a curious synthwave re-working of the old jazz standard You Go To My Head played over the PA. Then Ladytron (all dressed in black, as ever) appeared – Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo centre stage, flanked by Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu –and launched into Runaway, with those pounding drum beats bouncing round the room. Backed by pulses of blue, green and red light, we then got a blistering High Rise, which gave way to a typically immense-sounding Ghosts.

YouTube Preview ImageRunaway

There seemed to be a kind of back to basics approach tonight – recent flirtations with stringed instruments seem to have been put to one side (though from my vantage point I couldn’t make out whether Hunt did tinker with a guitar at all), and it was a return to the straightforward analogue synth sound of old, save for the presence of a drummer behind the quartet.

Ladytron by Michelle Pegrume
Ladytron by Michelle Pegrume.

Marnie’s ice queen vocals belie a commanding stage presence (in between vocal and keyboard duties, she was even seen perched on the drum riser!). Her voice really comes into its own, though, on the darkly pulsing Soft Power and the forbidding International Dateline (both from 2005’s acclaimed Witching Hour album). Aroyo also got in on the act, with her stern Bulgarian intonations giving the dark dance beats of Fighting In Built Up Areas an extra edge.

YouTube Preview ImageSeventeen

The delicate White Elephant provided a taster for the forthcoming album, Gravity The Seducer, and marks how far the band have travelled since the likes of Discotraxx (from debut album 604, and which also got an airing tonight). Near-hit Seventeen, with its perceptive pop culture mantra (“they only want you when you’re seventeen, when you’re twenty one you’re no fun”) received a rousing reception as we headed, inevitably, towards Playgirl and the traditional set closer, the massive Destroy Everything You Touch.

YouTube Preview ImageDestroy Everything You Touch

And so, the lights come up and Ladytron depart for their remaining few shows – apparently our last sighting of the foursome on these shores for the rest of the year. Still, we got what we wanted, a glimpse through a synth-pop past darkly, mixed with a teaser of what is still to come. And it really has been this long, a decade of remarkable music that still sets the standard for the latest wave of synthwave bands to aim for.

Categories ,astoria, ,brian eno, ,Claire Kearns, ,Daniel Hunt, ,Destroy Everything You Touch, ,electronic, ,forum, ,Gravity The Seducer, ,Helen Marnie, ,jazz, ,Ladytron, ,Michelle Pegrume, ,Mira Aroyo, ,Reuben Wu, ,Robert Tirado, ,Roxy Music, ,south bank, ,Synth-Pop, ,synthwave, ,Witching Hour

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