Before we meet Chicago’s Man-Eaters, here is a quick background.
First, there was Cülo, a group of windy city hardcore thrashers playing crazed and aggressive music, like a dog about to sink its teeth into your leg. They put out a few records on Deranged Records, stirred up some critical acclaim, and ultimately lived too fast.
Then came Tarantüla, featuring members of Cülo; still blistering hardcore but at a slightly slower pace. They too put out some stuff on Deranged, as well as Lengua Armada Discos, stirred up some controversy, and apparently, also lived too fast.
It’s obvious these boys need an outlet to exorcise their demons because now we have Man-Eaters, made up of most of Tarantüla, 1/2 of Cülo, and a little help from Bleeding Gums. It all comes full circle.
As good as both Cülo and Tarantüla were, I personally love where the circle has ended up. Man-Eaters’ debut 6-song EP crushes like Motorhead, with the abrasiveness of Discharge and the hooks of Turbonegro. These 6-tracks tick a lot of boxes for my ears, including wicked chunky riffs out the wazoo, a vibraslap rattle and Tom Warrior like grunts.
The band mentions the influence of 70s French cult band Soggy and a listen to a song like ‘Taste Concrete‘ demonstrates the same riff-heavy street rock as Soggy’s classic ‘Waiting For the War‘. This is perfect filthy, denim and leather sewer punk and makes the anticipation for their full-length, due later this year, off the charts.
Get the cassette from Pissed Off Records here.
We hooked up for a little Q&A:
Man-Eaters is made up by 3/4 members of Tarantüla, as well as Cülo, and Bleeding Gums, who are the members and how did you all come together and decide to form Man-Eaters?
Our official Man-Eaters trading cards provide most of our stats and background development as both eaters, men, and lovers. I would direct any actual curiosities or concerns to pick up a pack of these bad boys to sate your taste of knowledge. Ordered at fair bulk prices and amazing customer care at maneaterspropaganda@gmail.com. It is correct that Man-Eaters are 3/4ths of the same folks that brought you Tarantüla, 1/2 of the people that brought you Cülo and a fourth of Bleeding Gums. Danny Babirusa replaced the old singer of Tarantüla, Mr. Future. Complications with Mr. Future with the law and the time/space continuum rendered him useless to us at the moment. The rest of the band is Drugface, Corporal Cunt, and Dr. DNA. We started fucking around with this as a project and to tie up some loose ends song-wise, but since then has turned into an actual band.
What changed from Tarantüla to Man-Eaters?
I guess one boy singing is the only actual tangible change from band to band. Man-Eaters is obviously far more leaning into our Kiss and Motorhead infatuations though. We didn’t want to do the same exact thing as Tarantüla but there’s definitely some bleed over. A few of the songs that are less rocking were originally written for Tarantüla. Shit that we just redid with new lyrics/vocals. When we started, we talked about bands like Soggy and the Rude Kids of being kind of a vague idea on what we wanted to do.
The Self-Titled cassette from Pissed Off is the band’s debut, tell us about the recording of it…
We originally released the first run of demo ourselves through Man-Eaters audio division, then our comrade at Pissed Off from Malaysia did another go at it. Everything he does looks mutha fuckin exquisite, and he had put out a bunch of Tarantüla crap too. We only did the songs with Danny Babirusa about 3 or 4 times and we went and recorded everything. The whole tape was one or two takes for everything tops and ended in D. Babirura vomiting all over the place for some unknown reason. The amount of PCP he was smoking had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was a wild and crazy time, everyone was all jacked up on wasabi and corn nuts.
To my ears there’s a metal bent to some of the riffs, especially a song like Tasting Concrete, how did this come about?
I wouldn’t go so far as to say metal, or at least I hope not. I wouldn’t even know how to play metal if I tried…but I can play a real mean version of Iron Man on glockenspiel. We’re more comfortable with people mentioning us in the same breath as Ram Jam. Cause you know, that happens constantly, not because of the music, but because of what we look like.
What are you guys listening to at the moment?
The whole band has been cranking a lot of whale sounds lately. Whale sounds, and Black Betty, non-stop. The new Witch Trial 12″ rips as well as the new Fried Egg lp, and Uranium Club 12″. The Jeez Louise and Matrix demos both are pretty frosty.
What’s up for the rest of 2019?
We have a 10 song lp that’s all written, wet, and ready to go. We are recording the album in July and it’s coming out on Fell It records. We have some shows this summer all around the US and some fests n shit that we are playing. Normal band bullshit but way, way fucking cooler. Someone might die, or quit the band, or something like that, who knows?
