Man Legs

Well I’m happy to announce that Man Legs has made a huge comeback from the recesses of my mind with their newest EP Cosmic Chief.
I’ll be darned if these three tracks aren’t some of the most musical fun that you’ve had in a while. Turning the fidelity down to levels that will tickle your ear drums, the guys sound like they are playing around with giant rubber bands. And in the crowded garage rock field it can be hard to stand out. Well with their cheeky sense of humor, bouncing bass, and bluesy guitar licks I think it’s pretty safe to say that these guys have nailed down a take on this sound that they can proudly call their own. So shame on me. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting these guys again any time soon.
- Cactus - Mouth

These guys know groovy. The ability to write excellent songs, whip a crowd into an elbow-jabbing jive frenzy, and beat any child in a game of dressup is what inspires absolute band loyalty in us.So the fact that the three of us have been to almost all of their shows in the past five months should say righteous things about the fine dudes of Man Legs - Søndercroft

Joe Simmons, James Perry, Bryce Cloghesy, and Josh Boguski are Man Legs, a four-piece from Calgary that burn through some supremely groovy psychedelic garage rock on their new EP Cosmic Chief. Though the blueprint for much of the music seems to be acid-soaked blues, Man Legs utilize progressive time signatures and muffled tape hiss in order to blaze their own path of shambolic jangle. What makes this band so refreshing in a culture where similar lo-fi acts like Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall are all the rage is that their songwriting is so tightly unified, resulting in three brief songs that nonetheless pack a wallop. “Zong Death” has heavy bass, guitar feedback, splashy drumming, and a kick ass groove that doesn’t let up, while ” Take My Hand” comes off like a 1950’s matinee idol ballad swathed in reverb. Finally, “Shirley’s Temple” is a psych-freak out of noodling guitar chords and throbbing bass lines that rages with such blistering energy that one wishes it was even longer than its 3-minute running time. If there’s any justice, Cosmic Chief will propel Man Legs into the spotlight as a band worth heralding as a kind of art-pop gone blues for the next generation. - Symbiotic Reviews

If I were to have a party in my backyard, I’d want Man Legs there. Mainly to do what they do best, which is play damned good summery pop-rock songs. (You know the kind I mean: uptempo, jangly guitars, dreamy yet fun, somewhere between Girls and Real Estate, maybe a touch of Vampire Weekend.) But more importantly, I think they’d just be fun to party with. I mean, look at them. These kids are living the dream. So for that alone, Man Legs, I salute you. - Dingus

In the vein of everything that’s dirty in todays DIY music scene, Man Legs has international potential. Take that as this man’s nomination for representation. Distilling the core values of the speedy kind of punk that dominates todays culture and processing them through a more consequential (and sometimes more reserved) music machine, Cosmic Chief has everything in just three tracks. Pulling funk into the wild assortment while never losing the filthy feel, the album’s 100% worth the click.
- Dingus

Man Legs
Local band graduates and moves into lo-fi

The forces of lo-fi distortion, freshly-pressed vinyl and microwaveable tour food have given birth to their next generation -- an indie-rock progeny that goes by the name of Man Legs.

The four-piece, comprised of Josh Boguski, James Perry, Joe Simmons and absentee guitarist Bryce Cloghesy (currently pursuing his studies at McGill), is the product of informal after-school jam sessions that started in the sixth grade.

"When it comes to Man Legs, it started in the summer of Grade 11," says freshly-graduated guitarist/bassist Boguski.

"We all live very close to each other and have always . . . hung out and played music," adds drummer Simmons.

Unlike many of the bands looking to make a mark on the Calgary indie scene, the members of Man Legs only just turned 18. That, however, hasn't hindered them from pursuing their musical interests to the same lengths their older musical peers have.

"We're just kind of getting into the bar scene," says Boguski. "We were actually able to play a few bar shows before we were all 18 -- just some 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of thing."

At a time where a lot of their peers are clicking through Facebook photos from their 2010 graduation and still getting the hang of first-year university, Man Legs are looking to shed more childish endeavours, as their name might suggest. However, these four Calgary boys are still just that -- Calgary boys.

The band had the opportunity to participate in the Sled Island Music Festival, a personal milestone.

"We had just turned 18 . . . and my parents were out of town so that was a pretty wild week," says guitarist/bassist/vocalist Perry. "We went to a house party and I'm pretty sure a chandelier was ripped out of the ceiling."

In addition to the destruction of home furnishings, their status as recent high school graduates provides them with a unique fan base to that effect.

"It's kind of great because we have two totally different followings between bar shows and all-ages shows," says Boguski. "They're two completely different experiences."

"When we have bar shows it's mostly . . . our friends and older people coming, but when we play all-ages shows, we get all these people who are just so excited to see us," says Simmons.

"It gets pretty rowdy; there's a lot of crowd surfing going on," adds Boguski.

While differing in age range, Man Legs' following has one thing in common  -- their affinity towards lo-fi, an indie music genre characterized by experimentation and purposefully rudimentary recording techniques.

"There's a huge following of the Friendo/Women thing," says Boguski, citing two influential Calgary lo-fi acts, the latter of which was signed to prominent Calgary indie label Flemish Eye.

It is here that the ties connecting the veteran and emerging personas of local indie rock emerge. Man Legs has very specific reasons for their attraction to lo-fi.

"We've come to terms that our greatest efforts are still going to be below Warner Brothers releases in terms of fidelity," says Boguski. "For awhile we were hiding behind a mask of distortion . . . there's a pretty big following for that kind of stuff and we got into it for a bit."

"There's no commercial appeal at all for lo-fi which is kind of a cool thing," says Simmons.

Considering the heterogeneity of their fan base, it's interesting that Man Legs has decided that their first publicly available compilation of recordings will be a self-released cassette tape entitled Please Please Yourself with a circulation of only 100. Although releasing their first recordings in restricted amounts and on antiquated technology might seem a market strategy about as efficient as eating yogurt with a fork, Man Legs have their eye on the segment of their fan base that see a cassette tape as less of a novelty and more of a weird grey thing that somehow won't fit into their CD drive.

"We're going to release them with digital downloads as well so they're not completely inaccessible to some people," says Boguski.

"You're paying for the artwork and the novelty of the tape -- a souvenir from the show," says Perry.

And with that, Man Legs has only one final request.

"If Flemish Eye is reading, then give us a record deal!"

- Andrea Rojas, February 2011 - Gauntlet Entertainment

Man Legs is a hotshot young garage-pop trio, brimming with energy and a penchant for simplistic but catchy guitar hooks. - FFWD

Hometown cuties who give their shit away for free on their myspace. Teenagers ‘n shit. Surf’s up in calgary AB. Complicated rhythms under cheap amps. The best. - aerophones on aeroplanes

By Blake Gillespie » Calgary stays in our thoughts with Man Legs, which lack the polish of Women/Friendo, but so what, reckless done right is just as rewarding.

Reckless done right is the best route in appreciating Man Legs. Our guess is these canucks are fairly young. Man Legs often meander in off kilter jamming, while violence is spewed into the mics, but each song finds itself a tender groove from the search party of the jam. The garage genre of late has zeroed in on suffering through the lows to pluck out pop bliss. Man Legs are live abstraction; a blues band with shoddy equipment and probably huge fans of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies LP.

If "jamminess" is not your forte, bask in the juvenile lyrics of Man Legs. I, for one, will be humming "I wish I was my favorite animal / Cuz you don't have to shower and you can fuck... wherever you want!" all the live-long day.

Both of Man Legs' 7" releases are available for download on its Myspace page.
- Impose Magazine

"Man Legs are pretty much one of the most exciting new Calgary bands to come around in some time. It is promising that bands have taken to the crucial elements of Chad VanGaalen and Women - namely the willingness to experiment with structures and recording techniques without fear, and when a young band takes these lessons to heart and matches them with the ability to write great songs we all win." - Sled Island