Honus Honus, Pow Pow, T. Moth, Chang Wang and Jefferson.
No, those aren’t members of a cult or a hip-hop conglomerate. They’re a gang of bearded, unabashed, unorthodox musicians from Philadelphia known as Man Man.
Though it frequents smaller venues, Man Man has made a name for itself over the years. It’s been featured in Nike commercials and episodes of the Showtime hit “Weeds,” and it’s toured with acts like Modest Mouse and Yeasayer. Tonight’s early show at the Spanish Moon marks one of the first stops for the band this year.
Frontman Honus Honus, who interviews under his given name, Ryan Kattner, said he’s taken the mic at the Spanish Moon several times throughout his career. Kattner and his band seem excited for the early leg of their new tour to carry them through Louisiana’s most famous college town once again tonight.
Man Man’s latest album, “Life Fantastic,” produced by Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, has the 10-year-old band hitting the road again. Kattner seems eager to try out some new live sets, since he has found the response to “Life Fantastic” to be “amazing” so far.
As for their stage names, Kattner considers them just another part of their unapologetic eccentricity.
“It’s funny, because when I read interviews with other bands, nobody ever asks them how they came up with their stage names, but people ask us all the time,” Kattner said. “They’re just names. We just made them up because we thought it was fun.”
The men of Man Man don’t offer many explanations for themselves — a tendency that fits their music’s defiance of everything from genre to what counts as an instrument. Their sound ranges from disjointed and experimental to catchy and brassy to echoey and despondent, and their instrumentation constantly pushes limits.
“I do think we’re kind of different in that we find sounds and things to put into our music that a lot of people wouldn’t really think of,” Kattner said. “Breaking glass, pouring water into a bowl. We’ll just be messing around and be like, ‘I like the way that sounds.’”
According to Kattner, the band’s live shows bring the same kind of aggressively weird energy that so often appears on their tracks. Man Man has been known to rev and rock crowds with bizarre onstage antics, variations of songs, freestyling and unrestrained oddity.
Always opting for the unexpected choice, when asked who he’d most like to collaborate with in the future, Kattner — who has most notably worked with Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse and The Shins — chose Bill Murray.
“I just want to be in one of his movies,” Kattner said. “Or maybe he could get me in a Wes Anderson movie. That’d be cool.”
Man Man will storm the stage of the Spanish Moon at 7 p.m. tonight after a set by openers Murder By Death. Doors open for the early show at 6 p.m., and tickets are $15.
