2001-11-16 Telegraph & Argus
Confessions of a rock star
By Jim Jack, Telegraph & Argus, November 16, 2001
Confessions of a rock star: For a man famous for being half of one of pop's quirkier success stories, John Linnell is an unlikely Phil Collins fan.
But the They Might Be Giants singer admits that, ever since an alarming moment last year, he has developed a grudging respect for the ex-Genesis drummer. Fans of the surreal New Yorkers needn't panic just yet, though-- one look at the title of the band's new album is enough to see that the Giants are still as mad as ever. Talking from his native Brooklyn ahead of next week's show at Bradford Rio's, John explained the thinking behind Mink Car.
"In the '80s I really hated music by Phil Collins and just wished he would disappear. But last year he released a song which really, erm, won me over.
"I never thought I'd say that, but I like the fact that things aren't set and you can always be surprised.
"That's been kind of the tone of the album, Mink Car. We got some producers in to just give our stuff a dif ferent twist and the result is it sounds very different.
"It's not what we'd intuitively do because we've let other people take it in strange directions--one song sounds like New Order and another like the Pet Shop Boys, music which we used to hate. But we've ended up liking it!"
With the album and a promotional tour pencilled in for September 11, world events conspired to make sure the Giants' latest offering did not arrive to a fanfare. With flights cancelled across the US following the terrorist attacks, John and his partner in inspired crime--John Flansburgh--had to take drastic action.
"We cancelled the first bunch of dates and then ended up driving for about a week to get to the first of the later shows," he said.
"Being from New York it obviously made us all very sad but everybody in our organisation was fine, thankfully, and we're determined to get on with what we do.
"The second week after the attacks people were coming out to see us and there was a general feeling that, with all the madness going on, it was a good idea to see a rock show."
Happy with their latest output, John says the group have another album's worth of songs ready to roll, as well as a children's album for next year. The band may be best remembered here for their 1990s hit Birdhouse in Your Soul and the record which spawned it, Flood. But devotees will know that the Giants have since spawned several studio albums, a live recording and the soundtrack for TV show Malcolm in the Middle.
They've also assembled a gang of real musicians around them, moving away from the minimalist synthesiser and drum machine sound of their early career.
Not a huge fan of contemporary music, John does confess a liking for Missy Elliot and Radiohead. "It's kind of hard to argue with a band like Radiohead," he says, "when they're almost automatically doing something interesting." Now married to a Scottish woman, Karen, from Dundee, the singer spends a lot of time in the UK but admits to never having played Bradford before.
"It's been a long time since we've toured the UK and we're really look- ing forward to it," he said.