Sunburned Hand of the Man are an experimental rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. They are a loose collective known for their frequent line up changes and large discography released on a variety of labels including Eclipse Records, Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace!, Three Lobed Recordings, and their own Manhand label.

Biography

Sunburned Hand of the Man formed in Boston in 1994, growing out of a trio named Shit Spangled Banner with John Moloney and Robert Thomas managing an ever-changing line-up. Their initial influences included Sonic Youth and the Melvins, though as their line-up expanded they began to incorporate elements of folk, drone, free jazz, and funk. By the early 2000s the band were increasingly associated with the "free folk" movement as described by David Keenan in his article "New Weird America" for The Wire. The following decade saw a consistent stream of limited edition releases and live documents, ranging from improvised noise to more coherently arranged material such as 2007's Four Tet-produced Fire Escape and 2010's A. Their output slowed during the 2010s and releases became more infrequent, although the band never fully deactivated. Frequent Sunburned guitarist Marc Orleans died on June 25, 2020, at the age of 52. The following year the band returned with Pick a Day to Die, an album edited together from unreleased material recorded between 2007 and 2017.

Selected discography