In today's post, we wrap up the links from Christmas to the new year's eve. Coming in just before the holiday is a new episode of Theynow. The installment features covers of TMBG songs as well as other songs you might like.
With They Might Be Giants playing New Year's Eve shows in Philadelphia, they have a few interviews in the city including some from last week. Philadelphia Weekly speaks with John Flansburgh and he comments on the disintegration of the music business and compares TMBG's children's music to The Sopranos.
NBC Philadelphia has a great video interview from the TLA with John and John. At a good 14 minutes long, the Johns discuss bands with bad names (even the Beatles, says Flans), the trouble of remembering lyrics, and the intentions of the group both starting out and starting children's projects.
Finally, we have an interview with Linnell and Flansburgh from Phawker. The interview is a fun read and the Johns give some good answers. Among other things, you can read which band member Flans hit in the face with a guitar, their thoughts on playing at the TLA, and how their "Boss of Me" Grammy win has helped their careers, among other topics. A worthy article to end the year.
December 31, 2008
December 19, 2008
Science images and Philly interviews
While the Grammy nominated Here Come the 123s is still on peoples' minds, people are looking for news on the upcoming Here Comes Science. Frequent TMBG collaborator Hine Mizushima has posted some stills from her new video for the upcoming kids album. (Maybe your guess of which video it's for will be the same as mine if you look closely.) The images were also featured in a recent TMBG newsletter.
These newsletters and MySpace postings of the past weeks have been ramping up the promotion for two purposes. First, to let us know of their new holiday bundles (which you can still order by Sunday to guarantee merch by Christmas via FedEx). They've also put some holiday themed songs on their MySpace profile page.
The second topic is, as always, shows; such as the pair of New Year's Eve shows at the TLA in Philadelphia. To help get the word out on upcoming shows, they've announced an RSS feed on their website that will update you of all upcoming They Might Be Giants shows.
Another promo gig the band had recently is an interview with Phrequency on these Philadelphia shows (via TMBW). John, John, and Marty sit in to tell the folks how they start writing a song, give their Grammy reaction, and tell of some interesting fan interactions.
Also in Philly, the group held an interview with Preston & Steve of 93.3 WMMR. You can hear the audio of the interview (via TMBW again), view pictures from the meeting, and watch video of the two songs performed on the show: "Particle Man" and "Why Does the Sun Really Shine?"
December 5, 2008
Grammy nod and Gigantic Q&A
Congratulations to They Might Be Giants for their Grammy nomination for Here Come the 123s in the category of Best Musical Album For Children. The winner will be announced February 8, 2009. They Might Be Giants won their previous nomination with "Boss of Me" (from the TV show Malcolm in the Middle) in the Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media category in the 2002 awards. The band has already sent out the appropriate notices via newsletter and MySpace.
Picked up via dog_on_fire from LiveJournal, a John and John Q&A after a screening of Gigantic at the 92YTribeca on Sunday has been recorded and posted onto YouTube in three parts by user NerdsLoveMe. The questions vary, from several Dial-A-Song questions to information about their next two albums. They also state that the rock album is planned to be released next fall, contrary to the "years" suggested by The Washington Post. It's a nice, informal Q&A that lasts about a half an hour long.
Picked up via dog_on_fire from LiveJournal, a John and John Q&A after a screening of Gigantic at the 92YTribeca on Sunday has been recorded and posted onto YouTube in three parts by user NerdsLoveMe. The questions vary, from several Dial-A-Song questions to information about their next two albums. They also state that the rock album is planned to be released next fall, contrary to the "years" suggested by The Washington Post. It's a nice, informal Q&A that lasts about a half an hour long.
December 3, 2008
Flansburgh on kids projects and rock albums
Thanksgiving week gave us a healthy amount of news on They Might Be Giants' current endeavors. Starting on Tuesday, TMBG collaborator Tony Millionaire mentions how he got involved with the band. The interview primarily concerns his new cartoon, for which They Might Be Giants wrote and performed the theme song. Tony says the Johns sent him five or six songs to choose from.
A string of interviews brought up by TMBG's performance of Flood in D.C. began with Express Night Out on Tuesday, which has John Flansburgh comment on Animal Farm-like metaphoric interpretations of their songs, hearing his music on TV, and keeping concerts fresh.
The next day, The Free Lance-Star spoke to Flansburgh as well. In the pull quotable-article, Here Comes Science is talked about and John states that they hired a scientific consultant for the upcoming children's album. Along with "more controversial issues like evolution," the article says "waves, states of matter and the sun" are song subjects on the album and confirms both "The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas" and the newly penned "The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma." The interview goes on to their next rock album, where John informs us:
Finally, on Friday, The Washington Post published an interview with Flansburgh. John begins with his early intentions for the band. Commenting on the New Wave and performance art movements' influence on the band, he says that it wasn't meant to become a job. The article focuses on the serious nature of They Might Be Giants' apparently lighthearted songs and hits on several elements that make them work. Perhaps most alarming, though, is news on TMBG's new adult album. While they have Flans quote that it's "a little bit more experimental," they also claim it "won't be finished for years." (The second is an article quote, not John.)
This might seem surprising, but I'd say it's not entirely unexpected. You may remember that an idea, as suggested by Flansburgh, was to release the kids' album followed by an EP before the next rock album. I'm sure they'd like as much space between the album releases as possible. Last year's The Else dropped in July with plans for Here Come the 123s set for three months later in October. The "album for children" was moved almost half a year to February, presumably because the initial date conflicted with touring and promoting the new "album for people." The band has undoubtedly learned from the experience, which may lead us to not receive the next rock album until possibly well into 2010.
A string of interviews brought up by TMBG's performance of Flood in D.C. began with Express Night Out on Tuesday, which has John Flansburgh comment on Animal Farm-like metaphoric interpretations of their songs, hearing his music on TV, and keeping concerts fresh.
The next day, The Free Lance-Star spoke to Flansburgh as well. In the pull quotable-article, Here Comes Science is talked about and John states that they hired a scientific consultant for the upcoming children's album. Along with "more controversial issues like evolution," the article says "waves, states of matter and the sun" are song subjects on the album and confirms both "The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas" and the newly penned "The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma." The interview goes on to their next rock album, where John informs us:
"I think this next rock album my ambition for it is to blend more of the home-recording techniques that we presented in the '80s with modern sounds. I'd like to make a more insane-sounding record, to be perfectly honest."Closing out the interview, you can read John tell that they were "basically cut out" of Coraline and what didn't work out in the experience.
Finally, on Friday, The Washington Post published an interview with Flansburgh. John begins with his early intentions for the band. Commenting on the New Wave and performance art movements' influence on the band, he says that it wasn't meant to become a job. The article focuses on the serious nature of They Might Be Giants' apparently lighthearted songs and hits on several elements that make them work. Perhaps most alarming, though, is news on TMBG's new adult album. While they have Flans quote that it's "a little bit more experimental," they also claim it "won't be finished for years." (The second is an article quote, not John.)
This might seem surprising, but I'd say it's not entirely unexpected. You may remember that an idea, as suggested by Flansburgh, was to release the kids' album followed by an EP before the next rock album. I'm sure they'd like as much space between the album releases as possible. Last year's The Else dropped in July with plans for Here Come the 123s set for three months later in October. The "album for children" was moved almost half a year to February, presumably because the initial date conflicted with touring and promoting the new "album for people." The band has undoubtedly learned from the experience, which may lead us to not receive the next rock album until possibly well into 2010.
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