Collected Q&A

Trivia, standalone sidebars, or one-off John & John quotes from otherwise non-band related articles.

Nippertown, September 2011

John Linnell, What Was the First Album You Ever Bought?

"When I was about 12 years old, I think the first album that I bought was a Frank Zappa record.

Although in some ways, it was kind of less of an event than when I was ten, and I was given 'Let It Be' by the Beatles. The idea of actually owning a record just blew my mind utterly.

But the Zappa album was the first one that I went out and got myself. It was on sale, so it was about three dollars. That was kind of cool, and I said, 'I can afford to buy this. I'm gonna get it!'"

New York Press, September 2008

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

John Linnell, They Might Be Giants: I always get the ice cream sandwich from the guy in the park. It sounds dull but it doesn't make a mess. For a puritan like myself, having sticky hands after you enjoy an ice cream cone in order to be more comfortable when it's boiling hot is like the chickens coming home to roost! Enjoy your summer pleasures while you can, young people, for come September it's back to the salt mines for you!

Entertainment Weekly, March 2005

What's your favorite letter?

JF: As a former graphic designer, R would have to be my favorite because of the shape. It's got everything going for it — it has curves, it's got straights, and it can support itself architecturally.
JL: I like the T in The New York Times. When other kids were writing the name of a rock band on their desks, I was drawing that T.

Time Out New York, 2005

Best place to find new talent?

John Flansburgh: The Loser's Lounge show at the Fez. Without it, I wouldn't be aware of a lot of New York's best artists: Mike Viola, Jenifer Jackson, Kiki & Herb, John Cameron Mitchell and a lot of others.

CMJ, Nov/Dec 2001

In My Room
TMBG have been the kings of quirk-pop for almost 20 years; Flansburgh’s studio contains everything they’ve collected in the past 15.

Dial-a-Song. (718) 387-6962 - This is the original home of Dial-a-Song. I just installed a new Record-A-Call 675 machine, circa 1985, that was found on eBay by a fan. This is probably our 30th phone machine. You can't even get them repaired anymore; there's no one to repair them. You can't access it remotely, so people can't hack it. We are freak magnets, man. There are all sorts of people who project all sorts of crazy things on us, and they want to get their insane message through.

They might've been Dumptruck - I've got a copy of our very first poster. I made two versions of it; one said "Dumptruck," because we were considering calling ourselves Dumptruck. A band came out about a year later called Dumptruck—I think they were from Boston. I'm just grateful that we didn't have to call ourselves, like, NYC or Junior. But Brooklyn Dumptruck might actually be an improvement on Dumptruck.

A vortex where nothing is ever thrown away - I've got an Apple II computer. I've got an Autoharp. I've got a toy piano. I've got a feather duster. I've got a worn-out Rand McNally atlas from the road. I've got Febreze. I've got a little DJ setup with a turntable. I've got a couple of unsuccessful lottery tickets-"Win For Life" is my preferred brand. I've got a pair of glasses from 1992 that no longer make me see well enough.

Don't forget the Febreze - You got the febreze, right? I’m a big fan of Febreze. I love it in all its different modes. It’s really good on fabric.

Boston Globe, October 2001

Four inane questions for John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants

Have you ever said to fellow Giant John Linnell "You're not the boss of me?"
No. I've said it to my brother. It's straight out of my Massachusetts childhood. It's interesting, because I'm pretty positive that up until that song, the saying could have been filed along with "23 skiddoo" as no longer in use. But from what my friends with kids tell me, it's brought it back full swing. It's been saved from oblivion. I can't save "23 skiddoo", but at least I can save "You're not the boss of me".

Are you guys planning to sue Cake for stealing your shtick?
I don't know anything about that. Isn't he kind of rap? They talk, right? I've heard their two hits. I like both of them - the one with the trumpet solo [BG point of clarification: this describes every Cake song] and the one that has that enigmatic video [ditto]. Lots of bands have been compared to us in the past, and lots of them have enjoyed far greater commercial success.

Would you describe yourself as a triangle man, or a particle man?
I can't weigh in on that. I have to think about the words. It's really Linnell's song. I'll go with triangle man. But I'm just saying that with no reason, really.

Is there really a birdhouse in your soul?
Yes, Chris, there really is.
Is this when you're supposed to insert a witty rejoinder?
That's the thing about They Might Be Giants. We're complicated and deep. I'm a thoughtful person. We are not flip people, we're thoughtful people.
I'm shocked to hear that, and frankly, a little disappointed.
Just imagine how I feel.

CMJ, October 2000

CMJ 2000 Panelists Speak Out
John Flansburgh - Paid In Full: Artists Who Are Making Money On The Web (And How They've Done It)

Q: What aspect of the panel topic is the most controversial?
A: The issues surrounding music online runs the risk of being the most overdiscussed topic with the most ill-considered and thoughtless responses of the year. I look forward to a discussion with some real back and forth, and getting past the sound bites.

Q: What artist are you most looking forward to seeing perform?
A: If I get one of those laminates for being a moderator, I'll see 'em all.

Q: What phrase will you try to avoid using at CMJ 2000?
A: "Please put the gun down"

Rolling Stone, September 2000

As the labels struggle, some artists with the freedom to make their own online deals have enjoyed a measure of success. They Might Be Giants' Long Tall Weekend has been a moneymaker for the band on the EMusic.com site, selling between 50,000 and 25,000 downloads. "The Giants are in the anomalous condition of actually generating cash flow," says the group's manager, Jamie Kitman. "People have always said our fans are computer nerds, and they were right." The band's Internet success hasn't been lost on larger companies, who have peppered the Giants with offers. Adds Kitman, "We were approached by a lot of labels trying to get into the Internet business, and it was clear to me that somebody was ready to give They Might Be Giants a million dollars just to have some cash flow. The sincerity in all other aspects of those companies' plans after they give us the million dollars - which strikes me as a deep and meaningful gesture - was absolutely nonexistent."

USA Today, June 2000

One band's piracy is another band's treasure

That 10,000 fans have paid $7.99 for the recent nine-song Internet-only Working Undercover For The Man "is extremely flattering," says TMBG guitarist John Flansburgh. "It also makes me respect our audience even more, because they have the self-control to live karmically cleansed lives."

Playboy Magazine, April 2000

Songs that Changed the World - John Flansburgh, They Might Be Giants

• "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland: The lyric and the melody perfectly combine to describe the emotional content of a dream.
• "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding: It's two great songs really, and the way it slips from one to the other just makes it more amazing.
• "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys: The biggest pop experiment that ever worked. Not simply ambitions, the production and instrumentation (cello, theremin, bass harmonica, Mike Love) succeed as immediately as any simple pop song.
• "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan: As good a song as a young white guy could write. It's a musical solar eclipse that effortlessly covers 50 percent of rock music.
• "Roadrunner" by Jonathan Richman: It's the reason I'm in a band.

GQ, May 1995

The Worst Record I Still Love: Sonny Bono, Inner Views.

Says Linnell, "There's a psychedelic bad-trip aspect to the record. It's kind of a bummer." Indeed, the last of the album's five songs, "Pammie's on a Bummer", harshly depicts a young hooker whose unhappy experiences with LSD merit loudly atonal guitars. Linnell and Giants partner John Flansburgh often listen to a tape of Inner Views while on tour. "We were fascinated by it, and then repulsed. We thought we'd never listen to it again." But the pull of the wretched is irresistible. "We came crawling back to it," Linnell admits.

Washington Post, May 1995

If a label advances the band $300,000, it has to sell 300,000 albums before earning a profit. Some bands see even less than a dollar per CD. They Might Be Giants, a Brooklyn NY duo, has sold 750,000 copies of its 1990 Elektra Records release "Flood", which cost less than $200,000 to make. But the group has yet to see a dime from that album or any of its major label records.

"Between 'Flood' and two other releases, They Might Be Giants have sold about 1.5 million albums for Elektra," said band manager Jamie Kitman. "But we've never seen a single royalty check from the company since we joined it in 1990." Most of the band's money has come from touring, song writing, and T-shirt sales, revenue that is not deducted from royalties.

Victorville Daily Press, December 1994

Rockers name fave holiday boodle

John Linnell - 'Let It Be.' I got it when I was 11. It was the first album I'd ever had. I couldn't believe somebody gave me a record album 'cause I couldn't believe that I could actually own one. It was like I was allowed to have an LP. It was just totally exciting.

Entertainment Weekly, December 1992

1992, hits & the pits

John Flansburgh - HIT: "Al Pacino's performance in Glengarry Glen Ross—a chilling portrait of a creep. Al chews up the scenery."

LA Weekly, August 1992

Performance

Just a couple of weeks ago, coincidentally, I went out to Burbank to watch They Might Be Giants tape The Tonight Show. The Giants were once a mainstay in the East Village performance clubs. Now they've really "crossed over", although watching the show from the greenroom - live on tape - gave me the impression that Jay thought they were pretty weird. Giant John Linnell told me he usually has an out-of-body experience during a taping and can't remember there's an audience in the studio because there's another audience in the camera, while sax player Kurt Hoffman described what "crossover" is all about in the end: "I'm playing something idiotically simple - with Branford Marsalis!"

Lime Lizard, April 1992

John Linnell: "Once I was standing on the subway platform and a train went by and I suddenly felt this really enormous smack in the head, which seemed to come from all directions at once, and I looked down and there was this piece of individually wrapped American cheese in the shape of my face lying on the ground. Who would throw a cheese out of a moving subway?"

NME, June 1990

Bigmouth

John Flansburgh: "The great thing about the English and Americans is that we have so much embarrassment to share; so much political shame. Our only rival for political shame is South Africa."

Guitar World, May 1990

Slowest Hand

If there's a role for the fastest fingers in the world, maintains Mr. Flansburgh, there must be role for those on the other end of the spectrum.

"I want to be known as the world's slowest professional guitarist," he says with dignity. "I'm out there doing shows, people like what we do, we sell a lot of records. The fact is, we have a major label deal and I am the world's slowest professional guitarist. And I challenge any professional, any artist signed to a major label, to play more slowly than me. I challenge them. I'll meet them anywhere, anytime, anyplace."

SPIN, December 1989

We wondered what rockers like to do in their time off. What are bands' favorite amusements?

JOHN LINNELL, They Might Be Giants - Asteroids.

SPIN, November 1989

Favorite TV show?

JOHN LINNELL, They Might Be Giants - America's Most Wanted.

Rolling Stone, June 1989

Technology For The Nineties

"My stereo has been prominently featured in every room of my one-bedroom apartment, and it's currently in the kitchen. It's the stereo I've had since I was thirteen. I bought it with the money from my first summer job. It's basically a college-freshman standard-issue stereo — they gave out a free bong with every sale, it's really state of 1972 hi-fi. It's got an AR turntable, which has a rubber band on it to change speeds, and a Pioneer receiver, which has been problem-free, except that about every three years another light on the radio dial blows out.

"My stereo has been slightly modified by John Linnell, my accordion-playing partner. He cut out a piece of terry-cloth towel and put it on top of the turntable so he could do some scratching. I've got these Advent bookshelf speakers, which are white with rounded corners and look kind of faux modern. I've played this stereo really loudly every day for fifteen years and only recently has one of the speakers blown."

Manhattan, Inc, May 1989

They Might Be Giants, a new York duo most often described as "quirky", was pursued by at least half a dozen labels--some of which offered more money--before landing at Elektra. In fact, says the band's manager, Jamie Kitman, the Giants waited to sign with the label because they wanted to be with a company that knew how to promote and market unconventional acts. And Krasnow? "He sure didn't say anything stupid," says Kitman, "and that distinguished him from every other record-company executive I've ever met."

Spin, May 1989

They Might Be Giants: "We laugh really hard at the Smiths, like when we listen to their records we're on the floor because they're so intensely hilarious."

Esquire, December 1988

"Abraham Lincoln," says Flansburgh. "He had a high, squeaky voice, and when people heard him at the Lincoln-Douglas debates, they thought Douglas won. But when they read what Lincoln said, they realized he was a cool guy and Douglas was a bunch of smoke."

SPIN, September 1988

What Did You Want to Be When You Were Seven?

JOHN LINNELL of They Might Be Giants - I wanted to be Bingo of the Banana Splits.

JOHN FLANSBURGH of They Might Be Giants - Eugene McCarthy.

Interview Magazine, July 1987

"The greatest moment of our career was jamming with Sebastian Cabot. Nobody even knew he was in the club. Then, all of a sudden, there he was, laying down some awesome licks on his axe. That guy was a monster."

Village Voice, May 1987

Please Valise Me, Let Me Go: John Flansburgh

Destination: Boston

Type of Luggage: An Amelia Earhart tweed makeup case he got from his mom

Contents: One pair socks, six pairs underwear, six shirts, one pair black jeans, Fez

On whether he folds or rolls his clothes or just balls them up and stuffs them in his bag: "I fold my clothes neatly and then give them a hearty toss across the room."

Kansas City Star, April 1987

Linnell sees a metaphor for the Giants in the "black skull", a recent archaeological find that is forcing scientists to rethink the family tree of humanlike creatures. "I sort of wish we'd waited it out and named ourselves the Black Skull," Linnell says, "just because they're having trouble classifying this thing. It's pretty weird."