‘Man-Tongues’ thrust their way onto the scene

by Michelle Yu

Monday November 14, 2005

Their origins are widely disputed by authorities and the fascinated public. Some claim they descended to earth in a faintly phallic rocket ship while others point to the soil and shout spontaneous generation. Separately, they are senior Max Steele (also of Bang! Bang! Indians, BALLERINAS and Max Steele and The Party Ice fame) and sophomores Christopher Smith and Ben Walsh. When the three become a consummate one though, they are the Thrusty Man-Tongues (TMT), one of the most revered, dogmatically religious and confusing student acts on campus.

“It all started back in ’99,” elucidated Walsh, his words wet and heavy with truth. “Those were the good old days. Max was still into nude painting…Christopher and I spent our days watching the boob tube. We fantasized about someday starting a rock‘n’roll band, but we knew that we couldn’t make it by ourselves…We arranged a meeting [with Max] to see if our vibes gelled. And man did they ever!”

On the subject of the name, Steele said, “it means something so prurient and sexual, perverse, loud, noisy, dirty, that you can’t even access it. Except through dancing. There’s like, this big huge tongue at you: what now? MAKE OUT or GET OUT!”

On Oct. 6, the TMT invaded Brooklyn, playing at The Glasshouse—a small concrete space that looks a little bit like the prop room of a high school drama club vomited awesomely on its walls—in Williamsburg. The set featured Steele on drums, Smith on the keyboards and Walsh on vocals and on top of the audience.

Their clothing was tight, bright and beautiful, but the energy was even more gorgeous. “We would like to give our audience the sensation of being swallowed by Max, stepped on by [Christopher] and sneezed on by me,” explained Walsh.

Though this was a significant live flirtation off-campus, the TMT have been very fruitful with recording in the past and future.
According to Steele, “We’ve recorded one E.P. that we self-released (“The Bulge, Boy!”). Then Tim Green recorded an album of ours last summer in NYC. It was supposed to come out on a kind of big indie label that I can’t name because of weird libel issues…they ultimately decided not to released it because of some really weird top secret shit —seriously…We’d like to make a real album and go on tour. We just met Mike Simmonetti from Troubleman Unlimited and we’re going to put out a split 12” with the old new-wave band E.S.G. in December.”

In a time when music is so stagnant, the TMT stand out even in the underground as something smart and real and at the very least, something that moves. Also, they tell really good stories.

According to Walsh, “I’d like to thank all of our beautiful fans. I’d also like to thank our ugly fans. I’d like to thank our tall fans and our short fans. I would NOT like to thank our medium fans.”
Steele added, “I don’t have a boyfriend. LET’S FIX THAT.”
Seriously, let’s.