1998-03-17 The Catalyst
Just a regular call from Brooklyn: An interview with They Might Be Giants
By Matthew Grieco, The Catalyst, March 17, 1998
Any They Might Be Giants fan knows that the band's Dial-a-Song service, which features a new song every hour, is just a regular call to Brooklyn. But it's not every day that one wakes up to a call from Brooklyn with John Linnell on the other end, as this fortunate reporter did last Thursday.
Linnell and partner John Flansburgh, both of Brooklyn, have been recording together as They Might Be Giants since 1986, and touring with a full band since 1992. On Wednesday, March 25, they will appear at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg, as part of their first Florida tour since their promotional tour of their last album, Factory Showroom.
They Might Be Giants are famous for their eccentric deviations from the pop-rock norm. Their first major label album, Flood, was released in 1990 and remains their best known. But those who haven't looked into the Giants' work since 1990 (or ever) would do well to grab a copy of Factory Showroom, which is easily their strongest work since Flood. Among other things, the album features John Flansburgh asking "How Can I Sing Like a Girl?," the duo jibing at pop culture's lack of staying power in "Spiraling Shape," and most curiously, "I Can Hear You," an ode to our gadget-happy culture ironically recorded on an Edison wax cylinder recorder made in 1898.
In a relaxed interview that quickly became a casual conversation, I asked Linnell about his reflections on Factory Showroom, their touring experiences, and their plans for the future. He was gracious enough to speak slowly as I struggled to type everything down in the absence of a recording device.
I'd like to begin by asking a few questions about your last album, Factory Showroom. The first and most obvious thing that jumped out at me was the number of songs. Your previous albums have all numbered about 20 songs, and this one had 13. Does this reflect any change in your approach to songwriting?
Well, in this particular record I felt like we had a good collection of songs, and similar to John Henry we had a lot of mid-tempo songs. A lot of people really like John Henry, but a lot of people had a problem with it because it had a lot of mid-tempo rock songs. So we wanted to do something more compact. It was a step forward.
I also had the impression that it was one of your darkest albums so far, at least in terms of the issues it appeared to be dealing with on a surface level. Would you agree?
Well, you know, we've always had pretty dark lyrics, I think that the real top level is the music, and just under that its the lyrics, which you have to listen to more carefully, where there's a little more doom and gloom going on. We often have very merry sounding lyrics, with music that's a little more cold. I don't think that's anything new.
We try to keep it diverse, and use all the colors on the palette.
What are your thoughts about Factory Showroom, now that it's been out for a while?
Well, I'm really happy about it, I think it came out really good. There was a time after we started recording with the band where we didn't know where we were going. I think John Henry was an indicator of that. Factory Showroom was a return to our old method of making records, using a studio, rather than recording the whole band in advance. The tape recorder has always been the instrument that we're best on.
You are just now going back on tour for the first time since the Factory Showroom tour, right?
It would be hard to make that case to my wife! We've been in and out of town a lot in the past year and a half. We've certainly done a lot of shows, though we haven't strictly been on tour. We'll be covering basically Florida in these next few weeks. It's hard to say what a tour really is.
[Apologizing for the lack of a recording device and for Linnell having to sit and listen to me type] Sorry about this....
Oh, that's okay, I'd rather that you take your time so you get some complete sentences. Sometimes we see an interview later, and it's funny because it uses phrases we would never say. John Flansburgh got quoted in the British press using complete British-ese, saying something like, [affects British accent] "I do believe I'd like to settle down a bit, yes." [laughs] It was pretty hilarious.
What have you been doing in the time since that last tour?
We've been finishing up a new project. A live album, though there are tracks on it that aren't live. It's hard to describe. It may not come out until this summer.
That was actually going to be my next question. You have put out a new album every even numbered year since '86. Can we expect the same this year?
We haven't been locked into a recording schedule. We may still be putting out a record every two years, but it happens differently every time. Some of [the new live album] was recorded in New York last year, and one of the tracks is this brand new song that we're going to make a video for. It's a one album deal with Restless.
Yeah, I was wondering, what happened with Elektra?
Well, the team that got us onto Elektra had left, the entire A & R staff had moved on by the time of John Henry. It was entirely a different company. Everyone we knew had gone. So we finally came to an agreement and they released us from our contract.
But you haven't signed a multi-album deal with a new label yet?
We are actively involved in setting that up for the next record. We're planning on producing another They Might Be Giants album this year.
How did you and John Flansburgh find touring in Australia and Japan?
We've always liked doing it. I'm a sucker for the exotic travel experience. There's always something good about working in a distant place. You get to interact with people that you wouldn't on vacation. I really liked Japan. I like it over there. It's interesting. Oh, and Australia as well, I should say.
Okay, to change subjects completely, a friend of mine is insatiably curious to know whether you and John Flansburgh have ever considered writing a Broadway musical.
[laughs] The answer to that, I would say, is no. Sometimes our music reminds people of some other thing, and they say we should do it. It's like saying your girlfriend looks like a movie star, so she should be one. The function of a musical is very different from what we're doing. I think Paul Simon would tell you the same thing.
Yeah, his Capeman hasn't been doing very well, has it?
Actually, I think I read somewhere that it's the biggest flop of all time.
[laughs] I had no idea it was that bad. Anyhow, any final thoughts you'd like to share?
We haven't been in Florida for a while, so we're looking forward to it. We're terrified of the weather, but we're excited about the gigs.