1994-04-22 Daily Eastern News
Standing on the shoulders of Giants: Rock's eclectic duo adds five new members
By Natalie Gott, Daily Eastern News, April 22, 1994
Also includes "Answering the zither riddle", a short interview with Brian Dewan, They Might Be Giants' opener at the time.
In the eyes of John Linnell, seven people make for a better poker game than two. Linnell, an original member of They Might Be Giants, said the band has made some definite improvements since adding five new members to the former two-member band — even the poker games are better.
"The greatest benefit, besides sharing the driving and remembering chords that we forget, is being all together to play a big poker game," Linnell said.
Linnell, John Flansburgh and the new members of They Might Be Giants will perform with soloist Brian Dewan at 8 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Gymnasium.
Linnell, who plays the accordion and saxophone, sings and co-authors the band's lyrics with Flansburgh. Flansburgh, the second half of the original They Might Be Giants duo, also plays electric guitar.
Linnell and Flansburgh started the band as a duo in 1983 as a result of their punk rock fetish.
"Before punk rock came around, I don't think there is anything that would make John (Flansburgh) or I to want to be in a rock band," Linnell said in a telephone interview.
Since then, the band has released five albums, toured worldwide and started their own subscription-only recording service which issues four-song CDs on a bi-monthly basis.
However, they moved to expand the band after the release of "Apollo 18," in 1992. Linnell said he and Flansburgh had a great time "doing the two-man show," but decided they wanted to expand sonically by recruiting new musicians to They Might Be Giants.
"It was a relatively organic move. We didn't have some big interview thing," Linnel said. "They seemed to vibrate at the same frequency we did and it's hard to find people who will vibrate as much as we do,"
New members of They Might Be Giants include Brian Doherty on drums and glokenspiel, Tony Maimone on bass, Kurt Hoffman on saxophone and keyboards and Steven Bernstein and Frank London on trumpets.
They Might Be Giants are currently on tour promoting their latest offering, "John Henry," which is scheduled for an August 5 release date.
Linnell said he found it difficult adjusting to playing with people rather than machines. However, the recording time for "John Henry" was reduced substantially, he said. And the overall tradeoff has been positive. The spirit of the band is still alive.
"We don't want to be just like any other rock band we enjoy having a wide variety of stuff, Instead of just one kind of song," Linnell said. "My one fear about what the public thinks of us is that we have gone normal. That is not the point at all "You don't have to worry that we are going to be like John Cougar Mellencamp."
In proving this, the band recently won a modern rock listener input contest sponsored by St. Louis radio station, KPNT 105.7. The Point. They competed against band greats such as U2, Nine Inch Nails, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Cure. Brooke Pitts, associate manager of They Might Be Giants, said winning the contest was an honor to the band members because of the caliber of the bands they were competing against.
Linnell said They Might Be Giants' current tour will serve as a preview show for their first album with the new Giants, "John Henry." However, Linnell said the band was reluctant to play a show featuring all new songs because they do not want to "bore the audience."
"If we played all new songs, there would be a lot of real head scratching going on." Linnell said. "It is sort of like watching the educational channel, when the new song comes on. Nobody knows what is going on."
Linnell said the new members add a new twist to the band's concert presentation. He added that he and John have had to work harder to leam how to perform on stage with the new They Might Be Giants. But, overall the two Johns are happy with their new "family."
"They are better musicians than we are. They can really jam."
Answering the zither riddle
By DAVID M. PUTNEY
"What's a zither?" By now, Brian Dewan has come used to hearing that question. He has an answer. "It's not just a zither," he said. "It's an electric zither."
If that doesn't clear up the question, he is willing to explain it as a stringed traditional folk instrument. For Dewan, that is an insufficient description cause he plays a zither like no one has before.
Dewan combines the fairly additional strumming style of playing with a more distorted sound he calls "sculpted noise."
"The instrument I play may obscure, but the music I play isn't that esoteric," Dewan said. "It's just another machine for making music."
Dewan will be opening for They Might Be Giants at 8 p.m. Surday at Lantz Gym.
The zither, a flat table-like instrument with 30 to 40 strings stretching across the top, is admittedly an unusual instrument for a rock 'n' roller to play, Dewan said. However, its ability make a variety of sounds ranging from an organ to a banjo gives Dewan's music an interesting edge that has caught he attention of a few critics.
Aside from the unusual sound of Dewan's hand crafted instrument, critics have taken notice of his unusual songwriting style.
His songs are a modem take on the classic storytelling folk song. The song "My Eye" on his album "Brian Dewan Tells the Story" is a tale of a boy who is forced to poke out his own eye.
Another song, "The Letter," traces a chain letter from person to person and chronicles the fate of those who break it. His songs have an eerie story-told-around-a campfire quality.
"I don't do verse, chorus, verse, chorus," Dewan said. "I do some sort of tale. My music is just a stack of verses in a pile, but I try to arrange it so each verse has its own sound."
In addition, Dewan performs several traditional folk songs, some of which date back hundreds of years.
"I play them just the way I learned them, but people don't believe it because of the way it sounds," he said.
Dewan grew up in Lexington, Mass., and has lived for the last seven years in New York. He first began playing the zither when he we was a teen, but never took a serious interest until he 1987.
His 24-city tour with They Might Be Giants is the first time he has gone on the road with his act for an extended period. Charleston is his fourth stop.
"Some of the drives have been pretty long," he said. "I've been enjoying the change of scenery though."
Dewan said people shouldn't expect a traditional rock show when he takes the stage Saturday.
"It's kind of a nice break from the din," he said. "Of course, some times I like to make a din myself."