Drink Me
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Drink Me opened for TMBG on tour in 1992, plus they appeared on the Hello CD Of The Month Club. John Flansburgh worked as an engineer for their self-titled album released in 1993.
Brian Dewan appeared on both their albums: Drink Me (accordions, engineer) and Sleep (electric zither). While in concert, Dewan performed with Drink Me on accordion. Sleep also includes the bass clarinet and baritone sax of Kurt Hoffman.
Mark Amft (lead singer) went on to play bass on Amy Allison's Hello Recording Club CD.
Hello. Mark Amft here, one half of "Drink Me." A mutual friend introduced me to the Johns who led us to Bar/None records. The rest, as they say, is geography. Dewan and Linnell shared an apartment above a short-lived nightspot in a former funeral home. In that space, Dewan recorded some Drink Me demos. Flansburgh also recorded some of our early work, and, as you say, produced a demo in a studio, as I barely recall. Dewan's brother went to Oberlin college (as did Amy Allison) where Wynne Evans (the other half of Drink Me) and I met as undergrads.
The key to the Drink Me/TMBG relationship is Jamie Kitman, who managed TMBG at this time. Kitman advised Drink Me regarding our deal with Bar/None. In effect, he made it clear that without bass and drums our appeal was limited. The genius of the early TMBG format was the backing tapes. Their shows were fun to watch and yet still "rocked," as the young folks say. Drink Me never rocked. Whether or not this was a subconscious decision to avoid success is a subject for the therapist's couch.
"NYC," our five-song Hello release, is one of my favorite Drink Me recordings; "Flotsam and Jetsam"--a cassette-only recording featuring the early demo work of "Flansy," as he is so monikered. - Mark Amft
