Shows/1990-07-11/Interviews
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (BUT I PREFER THEM THE WAY THEY ARE…)
The Interview appointment with the two Johns from Brooklyn/NY was scheduled for 6:15 PM. As we arrive at the Modernes, a considerable number of - strangely enough very young - fans have gathered in front of the door. There’s a real frenzy of activity in the foyer of the former porn movie theater: Sofas are being brought in and out (?), boxes and chests are being piled up, and all of the merchandising nicknacks are being placed in a suitable location. The most frantic one turned out to be their manager, who brings us to the backstage cellar after the boys are done with the soundcheck.
John and John are currently examining the beer and cheese plates while they kill time reading the phrases and names on the wall out loud. Everyone who has ever played the Modernes has immortalized themselves here, although it’s doubtful if the Sex Pistols also fit into this category. The interview is conducted by Stefan and Andreas, who are accompanied by Yvonne. Yvonne was actually supposed to take photos, but the band don’t feel photogenic enough to pose in front of the camera right now.
GNG: How did you start out?
John Linnell: We had met already in highschool, where we worked on a creative project together. In 1981 we moved to New York and in 1983 we started They Might Be Giants.
GNG: How did you develop your style?
JL: It was just the sort of music that we and our highschool friends found interesting. It wasn’t really calculated, we just made what we liked. Whether it was hip or not didn’t really matter.
GNG: You both play a bunch of different instruments, how many?
JL: A few. <laughs>
John Flansbourgh [sic]: 100!
JL: We kind of just tinker around with a whole bunch of different instruments. I started with various woodwind instruments and keyboards when I was in high school. We’re really just noise makers. When we’re recording an album, we try to get as many different sounds out of the instruments as we can.
GNG: Is songwriting still difficult, or has it become routine to you by now?
JL: No, when you have a new idea for a song, you have to reinvent the writing process each time - obviously you don’t want to repeat yourself. It might even get harder and harder. We don’t write as many songs as we did earlier, but that means the ones we do bring out are that much more worth hearing.
GNG: Do you feel like you belong to a scene? Is there really such a thing as an “independent” scene?
JL: No, most people like to lump a number of different bands together, but I don’t think that we really fit in that whole scene musically. There’s a whole bunch of guitar bands in there and I don’t feel particularly connected to them. And then it seems like some of these bands, for example R.E.M, fall outside of that scene’s usual mold entirely.
JF: John doesn’t believe in all of that jangling and whining.
JL: Yeah, I just don’t like that stuff.
GNG: What’s the New York scene like?
JL: Well (Hello, Andrew!), I went to CBGB on occasion when hardcore bands were playing. They had these “Mad Nature Nights” on Saturdays and Sundays and on those days it’s just these hardcore bands playing. At some point I had to go to CBGB to grab an amp from backstage. It was in the middle of one of those HC-Festivals and, well, I felt like I was 1000 years old.
CBGB: How old are you anyway?
JL: 1000 years old, I just said that.
JF: I’m 30. When we moved to New York, it seemed like there was some type of scene there, some kind of experimental music scene, downtown. Interesting, but not really what we ended up doing. What shaped the scene was that a lot of people were playing in dozens of bands. LA Sharp for example played in like, every band.
GNG: Do you think that the hype around you will fade and the people will have forgotten you in a few years?
JF: I think it’s very easy to imagine that. I saw a series of bands that I really liked suddenly disappear into thin air. I don’t know if it was the hype fading with them too, but the press machine just stopped working. But there will always be some people who still have your records and think about you. <laughs>
GNG: Your shows are considered pretty funny, do you feel more like musicians or entertainers?
JL: We definitely feel like musicians and we’re already more successful than we ever could have imagined. Uh, entertainers, we’ve already achieved that…uh, well, the thing is…oh, just ask me something else.
GNG: Do you draft out your shows or are you really doing everything spontaneously?
JF: Oh, we just throw all the songs together, that we want to play and that’s it. It’s not actually much of a show.
JL: We do crack a few little jokes here and there.
JF: We just sort of chat and try to liven the mood, but we don’t try to be idols for the audience. We don’t like that sort of thing, like “It’s Jesus and his twin brother Jesus!”
GNG: You’re just a couple of fun-loving jokers then (like the Interviewer, d.Tipper)?
JF: We’re not funny or fun-loving whatsoever. We hate fun. We’re just two normal people who just happen to have the entire range of human emotions. We’re not here for cheap entertainment. We take our work very seriously. But when you’re on stage and you have the opportunity to present your songs the way you want them to, then it’s not necessary to always put on a serious face. We just appear as ourselves, completely unironically. Which is further emphasized by our light show.
GNG: Did you cry at ET?
JF: I actually did cry when I watched ET and I was pretty annoyed about it afterwards. I felt very taken advantage of.
JL: I didn’t see ET, but my mother had the same reaction.
JF: I think it’s really hard not to cry at ET, you’d have to be really cold hearted. I have this issue with movies, my eyes just always start to water, so I also cry at movies that are anything but sad.
JL: We saw Robocop and he cried the entire time.
JF: The screen was so bright that the tears were just flowing the whole time. Everyone wanted to console me at “Breakfast Club”. Imitates in a soothing voice. It's alright John. You’re still a man, let it all out.
GNG: What’s your biggest music business dream that has yet to come true?
JF: Do we even still have any dreams that haven’t come true yet?
JL: Since you were talking about hype: It would be nice if people would stop trying to constantly figure out why you’re “in” right now. When you’re a new band everyone wants to know if you’re going to be the next big thing, everyone wants to discover you. We never really wanted to be in. We just make our music, and it doesn’t matter to us if every person in the world knows who we are, or whether we draw in the largest audiences.
GNG: Do you agree with the fact that “Flood” is being labelled as more conventional as the other albums?
JL: There are a few things that are different. “Lincoln” is edgier, more gritty.
JF: No, it’s more. There’s more noise on Flood. Like on “Hearing Aid”. Really ugly.
JL: It’s a different type of ugliness. It could be that the Flood is a little tamer. We recorded it in a really nice studio and we were less fearful. But we aren’t particularly interested in being conventional, that’s not something we’re worried about.
JF: Can I ask you something? That thing you have there, is that an Assman?
GNG: Oh yeah, it says it here on the name plate, Assman, our recording device.
JF: We wanted to buy something like that too and then show the people at home, “Hey, these Germans don’t have walkmans, they have Assmans! (The reason this is soooo funny for the Americans is because Ass is the word for Arsch over there - just to be clear, so that every idiot gets the joke. We don’t print our best gags here just for no one to get them!)
This is followed by some incomprehensible jokes and giggles.
GNG: Okay, that’s enough. So you changed labels, you were with Rough Trade before. Other bands, like The Smiths, said they felt cheated and exploited by RTD. Did you have similar experiences?
JL: The people from RTD are very nice people, and we never felt exploited. We licensed our albums individually up until now, and never signed a record deal for multiple albums. RTD knew after the first album that we weren’t going to stay with them forever. They released the album, and later we asked them if they wanted to release Lincoln, and they said “Hmmm...yes!”, and that’s it.
GNG: Can you tell us your favorite joke?
JL: Well, we aren’t really great professional joke tellers. I only know one. What has 8 arms and killed its girlfriend? -????- Squid Vicious! (Squid, dear reader, is what the Americans call a Tintenfisch. I’m dying of laughter.)
But that’s not really a good one, it’s just the only one that I know. I only know one more but it’s terribly obscene…
JF: We only know horrible, sick jokes.
GNG: This is the perfect magazine for that kind of thing.
JF: Yeah, but we want to cheer you guys up.
GNG: Thank you, that’s very nice of you. If there was a movie made about you, who would play you?
JL: Weird, we were actually just talking about this yesterday. Actually I wouldn’t want to become the subject of a film at all. You get more well known and have a certain reputation, good or bad, and then they make a movie about you. I don’t think the movie actually brings you closer to the person in question. You can hear a thousand things about Liz Taylor, and you still don’t know if she’s a nice person or not. Some people you meet for 5 seconds and you’re in a bad mood and scream “AAAARGH! I’m not going along with this!” and then that person is going to think you’re crazy forever and that you were always screaming at people like that. But I think we would go with Mr. MC Search [sic] (Surge? Soerrdsch is what it says on the recording, but we’ve never heard of him.)
JF: James Woods looks like me. Or Marlon Brando.
GNG: Can you tell us about the making of your videos?
JL: We work with the director Alan Bernstein [sic] . We discuss different ideas before we start, where we’re going to film and how and what. Sometimes he comes to us with an idea like, “Okay guys, you’re gonna wear clown costumes…” and then we say “NOOO FUCKIN WAAAY!”
JF: And then we beat him up. That’s how we make our videos.
GNG: How many people call your Dial-A-Song service daily?
JF: About a hundred or so, it’s hard to say.
GNG: On your album there’s this telephone call thing. The woman calling, who is she? (The TMBG-Hotline presents the newest songs from the duo every day and can be reached any time at # 001-718-387-6962). The aforementioned woman wonders loudly on the phone why someone would advertise for something like this that you obviously can’t make any money with, and what these guys are even thinking.)
JF: No idea, it was a conference call, which means that she called someone, and then they called our hotline together. When the song was over, the beep sounded and the tape started recording. What you hear on the album is the reaction of the two of them.
GNG: How is the tour going so far?
JF: Oh, really good. We’ve been travelling since January and we’ve been very fortunate. England was exciting, we had a top ten hit and the crowds were really thrilled to see us.
GNG: What is this photo on the Flood cover?
JL: It’s a picture of a flood in Kentucky in the 30s. The people had to fashion boats themselves, because they weren’t used to water (Typical yankee logic…) and hardly had any boats. Doesn’t the Mississippi flow through Kentucky?
GNG: What are your forecasts for the music of the 90s?
JL: It can’t get much worse… the 70s were a million times better than the 80s. I’m a little afraid of all the crap that’s yet to come. (The manager comes into the room, wildly gesticulating, and blows the whistle).
GNG: What are you doing when no one, not even that guy (points to manager) is watching?
JL: Nothing…
JF: Eating, and not just a little bit. I don’t like eating in public…now I’m really huuungry!
The Modernes is packed. About 60% of the audience is between 14 and 18 years old, strange for a band that doesn't necessarily belong in the teen category, but maybe today's youth isn't completely lost after all. The in-house special effects expert briefly opens the roof to let out the smoke, and then John & John stumble onto the stage. For 60 minutes, the two entertain the cheering audience with their idiosyncratic songs. But the spark just doesn't seem to catch.
Even during the interview, the duo seemed stressed. Touring on a large scale seems to have taken its toll on them. John Flansbourgh remains stationary with his accordion, while John Lintell, strapped to his guitar, tries to inject some movement into the concert [sic]. Interrupted by brief announcements, the two play through their program. The minimal interaction with the audience seems mechanical and artificial, and even the occasional chuckle doesn't save the gig. A small, independent band has become a big name that easily fills larger concert halls, and the two New Yorkers don't seem particularly happy about it.