Amy X Neuberg and Men are a Bay Area band. Amy started out solo, adding the Men in 1993 at the request of Racer Records.
They include Herb Heinz on guitar, Joel Davel on the electronic MalletKat MIDI "marimba" and Lightning instrument, Micah Ball on the Chapman Stick, Amy X on the DrumKat and lead vocals, and extra singer and "theatrical dude" JT Quillan III.
Herb uses Roland's VG-8 guitar processor to make bizarre detuned sounds.
Amy X and Men's first album, Utechma, was released on Racer Records in 1995. Their latest, Sports! Chips! Booty!, was released in 1999.
Their sound has been described as "Electronic Avant-Broadway" by more than one reviewer.
"Amy writes songs steeped heavily in the musical theatre tradition, though she sings in various styles, from rock to bel canto. The arrangements then go off in left field, played by an assortment of weird electronic instruments which both emulate traditional instruments and produce unreal synthy sounds.
Bordering on accessible, every song is rescued from commercialness by an odd time signature or a space jam or a yelling match or some such thing. No Top 40 hit is imminent.
The Men sing in a manly way, bringing attention to the fact that they are indeed Men. The Men often echo Amy in a thick Wall of Men chorus, or go off on their own macho beer-drinking tangent of sloshed Mannitude."
-- IS Productions