1996-08-31 Billboard
TMBG Banks On Loyal Following: Offbeat Elektra Act To Tour With Hootie
By Drew Wheeler, Billboard, August 31, 1996
Archived from: https://web.archive.org/web/20031019023109/http://www.tmbg.net/articles/billboard1996b.html
They Might Be Giants continue on the delightfully twisted musical journey they started in the last decade on indie label Bar/None Records with their newest album for Elektra Entertainment, "Factory Showroom," to be released Oct. 8.
To further the unlikely mainstreaming of these energetic rock dadaists, They Might Be Giants are set to open for mega-stars Hootie & the Blowfish on tour. "That's the weird scene that we've entered into now," says They Might Be Giants co-founder John Linnell with a laugh.
John Flansburgh, the other leader of They Might Be Giants, penned the album's single "S-E-X-X-Y," a dance-funk groove that suggests the artist formerly known as Prince dogged by a hyperactive Motown string section. The group is set to perform the song on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show" in late September, for broadcast later in the fall.
"Factory Showroom" does nothing to thwart TMBG fans' appreciation of the eclectic band's rococo blend of pop styles and sounds--especially evident in the infectious, circular pop hooks of such songs as "Metal Detector," "New York City," "Spiralling Shape," and "Bells Are Ringing." Their material is drawn from such typically unlikely sources as U.S. presidential history ("James K. Polk"), a hypothetical battle of the bands ("XTC Vs. Adam Ant"), and an embalmed icon ("Exquisite Dead Guy"). In an unprecedented low-tech turn, the song "I Can Hear You" was recorded on the first audio format ever--a 19th-century Edison cylinder. "We were invited by the people at the Edison Historical Society to come and do a demonstration and recording there," says Linnell.
The aggressively offbeat TMBG sound is as wide-ranging as it is instantly recognizable. Yet, since the formation of TMBG in the early '80s, Flansburgh and Linnell have had no preconceived "concept." Says Linnell, "We didn't really have a plan, we just had a bunch of songs."
After 10 years as a duo backed by prerecorded tapes, They Might Be Giants expanded to a full-sized band in 1992. The current TMBG touring ensemble consists of five players with the possible addition of a two-piece horn section.
Despite TMBG's internal changes, Elektra sees the group as a stable unit. "They've done very well over a long period of time," says Steve Kleinberg, senior VP of marketing for the label. "We think they're very much a `career band.' Based on what kind of success we have at radio and how extensive the touring is, and what that might do for sales, potentially, we could have a very big record with them."
The band tours exhaustively, spending more than half a year on the road in support of an album. "They've been on the road for the last 10 years or so," says Marcia Edelstein, senior director of marketing and product manager for Elektra. "They work very hard, and touring has been a huge part of how they've developed."
On tour, TMBG sees a profit selling an ever-changing selection of T-shirts. Their newest design, by artist Tony Millionaire, depicts Flansburgh and Linnell at age 90 or so. "It's really disturbing," says Linnell, "It actually kind of freaks me out to look at it."
Although greeted by enthusiastic fans at their headlining dates, the band's audiences at its warmup gigs have sometimes differed. "They're basically waiting for you to leave, so it's a little bit demoralizing sometimes," says Linnell. The band can take some comfort in the fact that the members of Hootie & the Blowfish are TMBG fans themselves.
"The Hootie opportunity is to play in front of a very large audience," says Kleinberg, "Obviously, there's going to be people there who've not seen the Giants before and might be unfamiliar with their music. And we see that as a potential upside."
They Might Be Giants tour as headliners Sept. 5-28 and join Hootie & the Blowfish Oct. 4-Nov. 2. Additional TMBG headlining dates will follow in November.
With the album's October release coming in the middle of the tour, "we're looking to position this at retail very aggressively," says Kleinberg. "We're considering rolling them out into some stores when they're out on the road and doing some in-store appearances. And we're always doing things with radio, whether it's performances or on-air appearances."
At radio, Elektra is staging a multiformat assault, sending advance copies of "Factory Showroom" to college stations the second week of September. The "S-E-X-X-Y" single will go to alternative and triple-A stations at the end of the month, followed by top 40 one week later.
On the Internet, Elektra will be posting information about the new album on its World Wide Web site (http://www.elektra.com). The Elektra site is linked to They Might Be Giants' soon-to-be-opened Web site (http://www.tmbg.com). "That's perfect for these guys and for their fans," says Edelstein, "We should be including some bits from the new album on the site, and hopefully they'll be doing some online things with us."
At present, there is no scheduled video shoot for "S-E-X-X-Y." "We're hoping to do a video very shortly," says Kleinberg, "We're looking to get a little bit of feedback from the marketplace, from radio. Videos are an awful lot of money, and any record company at this point is trying to be more prudent about what we push buttons on. And frankly, the band should be as well, because they pay for a portion of it."
Flansburgh doubled as video director for TMBG's earlier single "The Guitar" and has directed clips for Frank Black, Soul Coughing, and Edwyn Collins. Flansburgh's other outside projects include his Hello CD of the Month Club, which releases material by TMBG members and others.
But Flansburgh's most ambitious outside project is Mono Puff, a full-fledged band whose album "Unsupervised" was released earlier this year by Rykodisc. The video for the single "The Devil Went Down To Newport (Totally Rocking)" has received airplay on MTV's M2.
Linnell's back-burner projects include a collection of 50 songs written for all 50 states (five have been recorded for Hello) and a series of songs about the mayoralty of New York.
With such inarguably marginal preoccupations on the band's part, observers might be surprised that They Might Be Giants ever found a home outside the innovative Bar/None, which released their self-titled debut album, its follow-up, "Lincoln," and a B-side collection.
Linnell explains that a major label was the only place the band could go. "There was a moment when we started selling so many copies of 'Lincoln' that Bar/None--God bless them--just wasn't really able to keep production up. They couldn't meet with demand. That wasn't a reflection on their enthusiasm for the project. They didn't have the resources to expand that quickly. So Elektra was really the right move at that moment."
Says Elektra's Kleinberg, "Their albums have had varying success rates, with [label debut] 'Flood' being the biggest of them all. We think that the potential audience base is enormous, because between their lyrics and their music, we think the songs are quite good. And good songs appeal to a lot of people." Three albums remain on TMBG's contract with the label.
Linnell thinks the key to TMBG's success is the strong bond they have with their audience. "We have this kind of not huge but loyal following." he says. "They're going to continue to buy our records. If Elektra puts out a They Might Be Giants record, it will get sold, even if they don't spend a ton of money promoting it. They can rely on that."