TMBG Podcast 38A

They Might Be Giants Podcast 38A just went up yesterday and it's spreading the word on a fantastic video. Elliot Cowan's video for "Employee of the Month" has been cast through the internet and is placing itself in your iTunes or other feed reader. You can also listen to an interview with Elliot talking about his career and touching on his "Employee" video over on Spoiler Alert Radio.

Conan video, hand-painted ukulele

A few days after winning children album of the year at the Grammys last week, They Might Be Giants performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Playing "The Mesopotamians" from The Else, this was their 13th appearance on the show and their last before Conan takes over The Tonight Show.

The band has been keeping us informed of their endeavors with several updates via MySpace/Facebook, their newsletter, and the theymightbegiants.com blog. Be sure to check out their MySpace and Facebook pages for updated songs, videos, and pictures in their respective players and pages.

Lastly, John Flansburgh has hand-painted a ukulele with images of his cat for the Humane Society of Berks County to be auctioned off in an annual event. The auction takes place on Saturday, March 28th but advance bidding is offered. Head over to their website for all of the relevant information.

They Might Be Giants awarded Grammy

Congratulations to They Might Be Giants for their second Grammy win in as many nominations! Here Come the 123s won Best Musical Album For Children on Sunday night. While this award wasn't shown on TV, it was streamed live online before the show at the Grammy website. If you missed it then, you can still watch the entire pre-show for the next month. (TMBG are awarded about 41 minutes in.) Words from Linnell from the post-award interviews are already making their way online via Billboard.com and the NY Daily News.

Keeping up the pace, remember that this week on Thursday TMBG will be performing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The show airs at 12:30 on NBC but the musical guest portion of the show will probably be around 1:15. I'd start viewing earlier to not miss it.

Finally, They Might Be Giants have put out a call for videos from their fans of everything from live footage to homemade videos. If you've got the goods, send them over their way and share it with your friends!

Coraline released, Grammys Sunday

February is a month with multiple They Might Be Giants related events. Today is the release of Coraline into theaters. Based on the book by Neil Gaiman, the film includes a short song by TMBG. The song is also in the soundtrack which has already been released on digital music services with the physical CD release coming on Tuesday the 10th.

Before Tuesday comes, Sunday must. And on Sunday night They Might Be Giants are up for a Grammy award for their second children's effort Here Come the 123s. Nominated in the Best Musical Album For Children category, this would be their second Grammy as the first was for "Boss of Me." Be sure to tune in at 8 o'clock on the 8th on your local CBS station to see it all go down.

Here Come the 123s has been out for a while though, so if you are looking for the latest from Here Comes Science, stop-motion artist Hine Mizushima has posted a new screenshot from her contribution to the upcoming children's album. Check it out on her site or featured on the They Might Be Giants Facebook page.

Coraline soundtrack info, guest DJ spot

Coraline happenings are noteworthy in the week before the film's release. Director Henry Selick spoke to Gothamist in an article published yesterday about the film and describes how They Might Be Giants became involved: The music video for The Spine's "Bastard Wants to Hit Me" was created by the fine folks at Laika, the same animation house that created Coraline, and a director on that award-winning video connected Selick, a fan of their music, to the band. Despite being "basically cut out" of the film (which really shouldn't become the go-to quote), Selick called their preliminary work "brilliant" and "beautiful" (he states he'd like to create a Yellow Submarine with the band) but the project ended up not going the musical (a la Nightmare Before Christmas) route and all songs but one were cut.

That one remaining song still ended up on the film's soundtrack which has been formally announced with a date of February 24th. You can already pre-order the CD on sites like Amazon or go for the the MP3 version which will apparently be made available on the 3rd, even before the film comes out. If you're that desperate to hear the song before release, the entire 28 seconds, yes, that's all of it, can be seen on the film's website.

It's a bit short-notice, but news by way of TMBW informs us that John and John will be guest DJing today for WBRU, 95.5FM in Rhode Island. If you don't happen to be in the area of a signal, you can listen online at the station's website. The guest slot is slated for noon today and will presumably run for at least an hour.

"Employee" video and "Electric Car" preview

Catching up on the past week or two of happenings online, we'll start with the most recent. Animator Elliot Cowan has created a video for They Might Be Giants' "Employee of the Month" using his Boxhead & Roundhead characters. The video grabbed the band's attention and is now being featured in their MySpace and newsletter updates. On Cowan's blog you can read his "interesting" perspective of his exchange with the band.

The Star-Ledger spoke with John Flansburgh for an interview. Topics of discussion included the transition to performing for children, Tommy Lee interviews, and how their unclassifiable music still brings in an audience.

Via TMBW, TMBG manager Jamie Kitman spoke with NPR in a seemingly unrelated interview about electric cars at the Detroit Auto Show. The audio interview ends with the debut of a new song by They Might Be Giants called, appropriately enough, "Electric Car." Only a portion of the track is played, but it's mentioned that the song comes out in the fall, likely with the release of Here Comes Science.

Interview, extended Coraline clip, TMBG on Conan

Starting off the new year right, Stay Thirsty Media has an interview with John Flansburgh on their site. The lengthy interview has John compare They Might Be Giants to Jethro Tull, describe how performing in the play People are Wrong! differs from playing live with TMBG, and list a few of his musical inspirations. The article also has short audio clips of the conversation. You may remember that early last year Stay Thirsty spoke with John Linnell.

A helpful editor over at This Might Be a Wiki pointed out that the Coraline website is showing clips from the upcoming film. The editor notes that a longer version of our previously known song has made it onto the site as well (click the record player). TMBG's role has been unfortunately diminished since the project began and we don't know how much of their input remains, but we will know when the movie comes out next month (February 6th, two days before the Grammys).

Finally, a new TMBG newsletter was sent out today. In addition to reminding everyone to catch the Grammys, the band gives up a heads up on a different TV appearance. They Might Be Giants will be performing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Thursday, February 12th. This is the same week as the Grammys and a week before Conan's last show on Late Night. Apparently TMBG has appeared on the show more times than any other rock band so be sure to catch their final appearance before the host moves. You can subscribe to the TMBG newsletter over at tmbg.com.

Shows in 2009

Happy 2009! They Might Be Giants are continuing their monthly residency at (le) Poisson Rouge, so if you're in the New York area be sure to get to a show! Check out This Might Be A Wiki's shows page for more info or stay up to date with TMBG's official shows RSS feed.

January 2009

17 - Montclair, NJ - Alexander Kasser Theatre, MSU (4PM Kids/8PM Adult)
30 - Providence, RI - Lupo's
31 - New York, NY - (Le) Poisson Rouge (3PM Kids/7:30PM Adult)

February 2009

28 - New York, NY - (Le) Poisson Rouge

March 2009

28 - New York, NY - (Le) Poisson Rouge

Final interviews of the year, new Theynow

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.

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?"

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.

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:

"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.

New T-shirts for the holidays

The most recent TMBG newsletter starts spreading the holiday cheer with new They Might Be Giants shirts and bundles! The new designs, which have already made appearances at concerts on shirts and as backdrops, include an illustration by Hine Mizushima. (You can see the full-color original on Flickr.)


Last month, Spare the Rock interviewed John and John in Northampton, MA before a show. Pictures of the meeting were taken and appear on the radio show's Facebook page.

John Hodgman, who stars in the upcoming Coraline with some music by They Might Be Giants, gave an interview to the Oxford Town recently. At the end of the interview, John tells how he came to work with TMBG and, also, that he recorded a version of TMBG's Coraline song himself. But it appears that his voice will not be used in the film.

Interview and Podcast 37A

Over the weekend, the folks from Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child had an interview with John and John before a show. After a round of questions on Benjamin Franklin, we find out that Here Comes Science will concern itself with ideas in science and not famous scientists themselves, though Flansburgh reveals that at one point he was working on a song about Nikola Tesla. Also revealed in the interview is the story of "Doctor Worm"'s origin.


Released yesterday is They Might Be Giants Podcast 37A. This special Halloween themed episode has some scary poems, some scary songs, and some songs related to Homestar Runner. Along with the recent "200 SBemails", a new song titled "Crystal Fortress" is played, which will appear in a future Homestar Runner project.

Included in this episode is the topical "Vote or Don't," a new song exclusive for the podcast. As US election day is upon us, the most recent TMBG newsletter includes a healthy "guide to voting" which you can re-forward to all of your friends. (And why not keep in the info on the podcast and show dates as well?)

Speaking of show dates, news is that the November 29 show at Le Poisson Rouge will be an Apollo 18 show featuring a full play-through of They Might Be Giants' fourth album.

Flansburgh interview, MySpace Music

This week They Might Be Giants sent out news through their usual channels (e-mail, MySpace) on their string of Flood shows, which has already begun. In anticipation for today's show in Northampton, MassLive.com ran an interview with John Flansburgh yesterday. Read the article to hear John talk on the preparation for the Flood shows, early career aspirations, and which band they opened for that he recalls as "intimidating ... guys from a pirate ship."

Finally, an odd end on the business side. BusinessWire has news that IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance), of which recent TMBG label Rounder Records is apparently a part of, has made a deal with MySpace Music to bring their artists' music to the social networking site. So what does that mean for you, me, and TMBG? It's likely that it just means their music will be promoted and sold through the site, but MySpace Music is also involved in hosting concerts. I find that one a long shot, but we bring you the small stuff here folks.

Info on past and future videos

This Might Be A Wiki, that wonderful, user-created guide to all things TMBG, has the good info this week. First is an insider's look at the "Dallas" (aka "Trees") Venue Song's video by the folks at Asterisk Animation. The blog post details how they got people involved in the project and includes video and images of the work in progress. It's an interesting read into the process of getting things done by working with who you know.

If you are wondering with the rest of us what Here Comes Science will bring, TMBW also found a blog post that suggests Tiny Inventions, creators of the "Davy Crockett" video, is working on a new video for the upcoming CD/DVD set. The post tells us that the video will be a "collage of all different mediums: cut paper, After Effects, stop-motion, and 3d CGI," much like their previous video for the band.

Upcoming show and podcast details

A post to TMBG's MySpace on Wednesday and a newsletter today spill the details on some upcoming shows on the schedule. Sunday's free kids show in NYC at the New York Times book festival will feature Hannah Levine and a horn section to get the full power of their recent kids songs.

The next day They Might Be Giants will be playing a short three-song set at a benefit for Barack Obama in a sold out event. The updates state that Yo La Tengo and Marshall Crenshaw, among others, will also appear at the event.

Lastly in show sneak peaks, TMBG will be performing Flood in its entirety for three shows on this circuit: Oct. 24 in Northampton, Oct. 25 in NYC, and Nov. 28 in Washington DC. Some shows may be have a Flood set while others may disperse the songs throughout their normal set.

Rounding out the news is word on Podcast 37A. The TMBG Podcast has recently been updated with new episodes and these are a good way to feature recent work. 37A is said to include Homestar music. This most definitely means the recent "200 Sbemails" will make an appearance, but if they want to make it a theme they might also include "Different Town," from another Strong Bad e-mail, and possibly "Experimental Film" and "Figure Eight," for which the Homestar creators made the music videos for. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast feed on either iTunes or the web to hear what gets played when it comes out.

Strong Bad, Podcast, and NPR

The two Johns have collaborated with the chaps behind Homestar Runner several times before in projects from music videos to jam sessions. This week, they provide an opening number for Strong Bad's monumental 200th e-mail video. You can download the song by clicking the 'A' in "Emails" at the end. You might also remember that a song was provided for the e-mail "different town."

Just after the release of They Might Be Giants Podcast 36A is a special 36B. A "rare glimpse of the secret coolness that was Hello," says a newsletter announcing the installment, in this episode host John Flansburgh plays through his Hello Recording Club's 1993 Sampler which includes music from Frank Black, The Residents, Eugene Chadbourne, and others from the Hello catalog.

Finally, we have a double dosing of NPR as TMBW links to a segment from All Things Considered on music for kids and adults. Informed by Stefan Shepherd over at Zooglobble, the piece plays a few clips from bands including They Might Be Giants.

If you are looking for more TMBG than clips, the band's second appearance via the public radio organization this week may be just what you are looking for. Linked to by The Pitch's Wayward Blog, a They Might Be Giants live set on Mountain Stage was re-broadcast this week and you can listen online. [EDIT: An curious e-mailer asked me to clarify that this is actually a rather old performance, but it was played again on Tuesday.]

Podcast 36A, interviews, and more

I have so many links this week I may need to start updating more frequently again. Starting out from the weekend, TMBG's Sunday appearance on Out Of The Box on Q104.3 has been archived on the show's site for both streaming and downloading. John, John, and Marty were interviewed and played some songs live in the studio.

Plush You, a blog dedicated to handcrafted plush items, interviewed TMBG collaborator Hine Mizushima this week. The interview gives us some info on her creative background and explains how she got involved in making videos ("With the Dark," "The Secret Life of Six") for They Might Be Giants.

In movie news, it seems that there won't be as much TMBG in Coraline as everyone originally thought. ShockTillYouDrop.com visited the set of the movie sat down with director Henry Selick. Selick states that the film was initially going to feature more songs but it has since been limited to "a few moments of music." Chud.com, who attended the same set visit, lets us know that only one of the songs They Might Be Giants wrote for the film will ultimately make it on screen. You may remember that "Careful What You Pack" came from these unused songs. In addition to relaying some behind the scenes interactions with the band, Selick informs us that Bruno Coulais is scoring the film, in case you pondered if TMBG had involvement in that as well.


Coraline won't get wide release until next year, so if you're looking for a TMBG fix, hit up the They Might Be Giants Podcast. Released yesterday as an early preview on their MySpace page, Podcast 36A has been sent out. Songs from the podcast include a few from their ringtone projects, a Beatles cover, and more. The podcast-announcing newsletter states a 36B is on the way.

Wrapping up a post too long for its own good is the rumor mill. "Tippecanoe And Tyler Too" was played in today's podcast and Flansburgh reminds everyone to go out and vote (for the people they're going to vote for). It looks like John may be getting a little more active than that in spreading the good vibes for his candidate of choice. A Twitter post from a one Mr. Noah Carter indicates that They Might Be Giants will be making an appearance at a supporter-organized fundraising event for Barack Obama.

So who is Noah Carter? I have no idea either, but he's listed as one of the hosts of the event along with several relatively famous people from the New York area. The event itself is in Brooklyn on October 6th and TMBG has a show in New York on the 5th so this wouldn't be out of their way. It's also not noted if they will be performing or just showing face.

Newsletter notifies of radio appearance

A new TMBG newsletter and MySpace post were sent out this week with the latest from the band. In addition to listing upcoming shows from this weekend into the next year, John F. also mentions that they are "back on the road and back in the studio this month."

The e-mail also gives us notice that They Might Be Giants will be appearing live on New York's 104.3FM on Sunday at 9 pm. If you're not in the New York area, you can listen to the show live on the station's website.

Lastly, and this is an odd one, it appears that TMBG's music has found it's way into a kid friendly "operating system." The application is called KIDOS and it purports to be a safe way for kids to use a computer and communicate online and so on. They Might Be Giants' music, likely select tracks from their Disney efforts, will be purchasable via an iTunes-like online store. You can't make this stuff up folks! Don't expect this to make a splash.