Brooklyn duo, They Might Be Giants have been making quirky music for over thirty years. John Flansburgh and John Linnell have released an album Glean and are heading down to Australia for shows in all major cities. Our writer John Goodridge caught up with John Linnell to chat about their latest projects and touring down under.
Can we start with the “Dial-a-Song” theme and can you tell me about the history behind it?
Dial-a-Song began as a kind of experiment, thirty something years ago. In 1982, John and I were just beginning and we were looking for ways, not so much to publicize what we were doing but to exist in the world. We can try and get gigs in clubs, we can put out music in various forms, but it occurred to John that we could put an ad out, with a number to call and you could listen to one of our songs. It might be kind of mysterious, but also intimate and personal. So that’s where it began and it existed in that form for most of the eighties. It was just a regular phone line. Dial-a-Song became a marginal part of what we were doing.
We continued to publicise the number but eventually we had technical issues that prevented us from continuing with the Dial-a-Song format. We always liked the idea but we had a real problem with keeping the phone machines working and it became a sort of a headache eventually. It kind of fell apart and I think that this past year, well in early 2014, we sort of revived the spirit of Dial-a-Song by putting out music in a weekly transmission in various ways: over the internet, via various radio stations that participated, and it was something that you could subscribe to. Indeed we also revived the phone number in the States, the same seven digits but we couldn’t get the Brooklyn number, but we did set up the Dial-a-Song as a number you call up.
The main thing is that we were writing a new song for every week, which was also in the spirit of the original Dial-a-Song that it was something that you could periodically check into and hear new material as opposed to waiting for one large album to come out. So it is very personal and very much in the philosophy of They Might be Giants.
The song “Prepare”, for example, is all about living in the now and it all seems like such a simple song, yet there is a Wiki on the interpretation of TMBG songs. Do you find people interpret your songs in ways you never imagined?
Absolutely! I think that’s one of he charming oddities of our audience is that they have pretty unusual interpretations. I’m surprised because the subjects of the songs are pretty straightforward. We’re pretty much laying out what the song’s about and there’s no hidden meanings or symbolism in our music at all, yet I think that the songs are just oblique enough that there’s something maybe under the surface and they want to delve in and come up with their own personal interpretation. Most of the time they’re going way past what John and I were thinking about.
I wonder what sort of a collector you must be. The song “Answer” with all the micro imagery; I imagine you with a scrapbook collecting things every day.
Haha, that might be a good way to work for song writing but we just normally try to come up with ideas on the spot when we’re writing. It would be more efficient to have an index I suppose, shuffle through them and write lyrics. I find lyric writing very difficult and it’s always a struggle for me. I probably should have a scrapbook, just to have more of a store of ideas.
What about your videos? Are you responsible for them yourself or do you have someone interpret the songs?
We almost always have somebody else do it, but we’ve been doing so many videos: one video for each song. I think they look sort of exactly like what they are, which is a video shot on a phone, just to have a visual component. I think it’s the journalist coming out in me. As long as you’re humble in your work process, it’s possible to get a three-minute video with simple material.
With your upcoming tour to Australia, how do you decide which songs to play from the massive back catalogue you have? Do you decide on the night?
No! We have to rehearse. If you haven’t played a song recently, and especially now, John and I, as you get older it’s just not possible to remember and bring back hundreds and hundreds of songs in our catalogue. We have a lot of stuff. We’ve been doing a lot of shows in New York and a lot of variety. I think we have a pretty big list of songs to pick from. We have to have played a song in the last two months in order to deal with it on stage and not embarrass ourselves. It’s vital for me to rehearse.
It’s interesting that the Australian tour photo is of Wave Rock in Western Australia. What do you think Americans think of Australia?
Well it’s like some kind of crazy mash up between Britain and Southern California. I think that’s probably the simplest stereotype image that people have. People spend all day in the sunshine, but they have funny accents and eat slightly different, possibly greasier food.
Have you ever had strange things sent to you from fans?
We occasionally get things slipped under our door or handed to somebody in our group, and they’re often very charming or strange. The things we often get from fans are baked goods. Of course, being professionals who have to work hard and be focussed when we’re touring, we are somewhat concerned about possible chemical substances that wind up in the brownies or cupcakes or whatever, so we try to be cautious in that. We don’t actually have a Royal taster. That would be good. Someone to eat the stuff before we do to check that it doesn’t have drugs in it.
What about the shows you’ve got coming up in Brooklyn? Horntoberfest. Tell me about that.
We’re playing at the end of every month in Brooklyn and we’re doing a different show every month. The coming show is with a horn section, so the songs are going to feature brass. Then a month from that at the end of November we’re going to do something we haven’t tried in decades so it will be just John and I with a reel to reel tape recorder like we used to play. That was the original incarnation of They Might Be Giants. I have no idea how it’s going to work or if we can pull it off or not.
How long do you thing They Might Be Giants can go on for?
John’s wife asked him how long he’s got touring and he said probably until he breaks his hip. I don’t know. It gets harder every year. It’s not just the playing; it’s the travel and being in such close quarters with everybody. We’ve managed to keep it together and I think we’re still doing a respectable show. John and I are in our mid-fifties and the rest of the band members have passed forty, so it’s still doable. It’s a good question, actually. There might come a time where we say we can continue to do this but it’s gotten a little too sad. A bunch of old people and it’s too weird and too sad. On the other hand maybe they come with the expectation, “Maybe tonight’s the night one of them has a heart attack on stage and we’ll be the ones that get to see it.”
Well let’s hope you have a great tour of Australia.
Yeah we’re looking forward to it. We had such a fun tour in 2013. It was great so I’m hoping that there’s more of the same.
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They Might Be Giants Australian Tour Dates:
Nov 02 | Astor Theatre Perth
Nov 04 | The Gov Adelaide
Nov 05 | Tivoli Theatre Brisbane
Nov 06 | Enmore Theatre Sydney
Nov 07 | Forum Theatre Melbourne
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