1989-01-20 The Guardian
Gone on Deputy Dawg
By Jonathan Romney, The Guardian, January 20, 1989
Archived from: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/259870041/
LOOKING like extras from Revenge of the Nerds II, New York duo They Might Be Giants — who play tonight at West London's Tabernacle — might just be the missing link between Dr Seuss and the Mothers of Invention.
Live, the two Johns — Flansburgh and Linnell — wear cut-out cardboard heads, brandish guitar and accordion and exhort their audience to scream like souls in hell.
This is a band who aren't worried about being frivolous. They even quote vintage cartoon hero Deputy Dawg as a major influence. "That series was the first time I ever heard bass harmonica," says John Linnell (the skinny one.) "It was kind of an existential cartoon as well — all these characters stuck out in this desert, all hating each other."
They're also noted for a series of increasingly eccentric videos, directed by Adam Bernstein, which recall the off-the-wall spirit of early Devo without the mechanistic overtones. The latest, for their new single They'll Need A Crane, features them playing with a sexuagenarian backing group. "They were actors we got through an ad," explains Linnell. "They're interesting guys — the drummer played with Frank Sinatra. He couldn't really play our song — it was totally modern for him."
The band recently signed to Elektra but their new LP Lincoln will be released here in February on One Little Indian, the label that brought us The Sugarcubes. Meanwhile, the live show should provide a taster, especially since they'll be bringing their giant heads — "the ones that are five feet high".