1997 Moe's Garage
They Might Be Giants
By Bob Pomeroy, Moe's Garage, 1997
Archived from: https://web.archive.org/web/20031031101128/http://www.tmbg.net/articles/wmnf1996.html
When They Might Be Giants began, it was just John Flansburgh and John Linnell playing odd ball instruments and using drum machines and tape loops. The did things their own way. They made their own quirky videos and toured with a tape machine. They even set up their now famous Dial-a-Song line for insatiable fans. Anyone, anywhere, could call the Dial-a-Song line and hear a new They Might Be Giants song. You still can.
The John's have come a long way from the geeky guys who infiltrated MTV. Their new CD, Factory Showroom, is their second using a full band. A retrospective box set called THEN: The Early Years will be hitting the stores soon. They Might Be Giants are currently on a world tour that will take them across America, Europe and the Far East.
Factory Showroom is the band's second album done with a full band. The record finds the band further expanding their sound to include lush orchestration reminiscent of 70's soul records, while at the same time bringing back beatbox sounds from their earlier days. "We write songs in a lot of different ways," John Flansburgh explained from a tour stop in Australia. "Sometimes we're really inspired by the sounds that we come up with in our home studios. There is a lot you can do with electronic music. You can manipulate the texture of what you're doing in a very active way."
"It's very different working with a live band," John continues. " As the band evolves, we're interested in working in a lot of different way. We've become more comfortable with mixing things up. "Exquisite Dead Guy" has a cello and completely electronic drums and it sounds natural in the arrangement."
Factory Showroom leads off with the most distinctly un-TMBG sounding song on the record. S-E-X-X-Y is fueled by an Isaac Hayes funk complete with disco strings. Flansburgh concedes that "there are things about S-E-X-X-Y that are completely new territory for us. Our fans have responded very well to it because it has the psychedelic elements of any They Might Be Giants Record."
"There is some pretty aggressively weird stuff on the record," John continues. "Our hardcore audience really responds to that. The weirder, the stranger we get, the more they like it. As songwriters, it's not really important to even think about the audience. Everybody is different and sometimes people only want things to go so far. I remember an early champion of the band, this rock critic from New York, who was always comparing us to Captain Beefheart and playing up the art rock connection. The on Apollo 18, we did a song called "Fingertips." It probably our most left field achievement. It's about four minutes long and has about 18 sound blasts of produced music in it. He really hated it. If someone asked I would assume this would be his favorite thing. Having established a style for ourselves, we could probably be lazier and people might even be happier. For us, songwriting is what it's about. It seems important to keep yourself challenged on that front."
They Might Be Giants have consistently enlisted respected musicians to for their band since they started using a full group in 1992. Luminaries from past configurations included Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu, Bob Mould) on bass and Kurt Hoffman (the Ordinaires). The current line up includes Graham Maby (Joe Jackson) and Eric Schermerhorn (Iggy Pop, The The). "We're just a couple of rock guys," Flansburgh says modestly when the topic of sidemen comes up. "We end up working with a lot of other rock guys. I think it would be interesting to work with people who had a background completely outside of rock or pop. The problem is, we change up things so radically between songs that we really need to work with people who are versatile. One the nice things about being based out of Brooklyn, you could assemble a pretty good band just from the people waiting for the subway. There is really a lot of talent floating around Brooklyn and Manhattan."
One of the session players on Factory Showroom is former Bay Area musician, Julian Koster. "Our friend Brian Dewan is an electric zither player," Flansburgh explained when asked about Julian's musical saw work on "James K. Polk." "He had done some kind of alternative instruments show with Julian. Brian was very impressed. He told my partner John and we brought him in for the song."
1993's "Why Does the Sun Shine?" EP showcased songs by other writers. TMBG resurrected a song from a kids educational record about the solar system and reworked tunes by the Allman Brothers and the Meat Puppets. On their latest record, TMBG work up New York City by the Vancouver trio, Cub. "They're a really great band" Flansburgh asserted enthusiastically. "They fall between bubblegum girl pop and riot grrrl. What they really are is a unique band who have their own approach. We approached them about doing April with us, but things are going well for them. They are graduating out of the opening band slot."
They Might Be Giants are scheduled to do "Tape Machine" shows in New York, Boston and Chicago. John explained, "We have a box set coming out, THEN: The Early Years, which is strange. It makes me feel prehistoric. Because we have this compilation coming out, we thought it would be interesting to revive the duo format for a few shows. Actually, we're opening for ourselves. It's like They Might Be Giants 1989 is opening for They Might Be Giants 1997."
"We did a special show in New York about a month ago where we revived our old show. I think for a lot of those songs, the best way to present them is with a drum machine and sampler," John concludes. "Since then we've decided to just throw a couple duo songs into the set just for fun. We let the rhythm section take a break and smoke a cigarette."
They Might Be Giants will perform at the State Theater on April 12th.