"Giants
shoot for the stars on current tour"
by Averil Guiste
Detroit Free Press
Thursday, June 25, 1992
Apollo 18 has touched down. And, musically, that's good
news.
"Apollo 18" is the latest collection of wacky
lyrics and quirky melodies from the Brooklyn-based pop
duo They Might Be Giants. Their aim: an album that's truly
out of this world, a musical space mission of sorts.
Who better, then, to be the musical spokesmen for International
Space Year? And what exactly does that mean? "It
doesn't mean anything, actually," says guitarist
John Flansburgh. "We're like the musical equivalent
of Tang."
Flansburgh and accordionist John Linnell have been together
for nine years, the first four of which was spent "partying
in obscurity," before a record company signed them.
The two grew up in Lincoln, Mass., where they shared
interests in underground comics and punk rock, both major
influences. Flansburgh's harsh, blunt guitar work, a style
drawn directly from punk, is a hallmark of much of the
Giants' music.
The videos from their self-titled first album, released
five years ago, hurled them into MTVdom. Still on an indepedent
label, they released "Lincoln," after which
they were signed to Elektra Records. Their first single
for the major label, "Birdhouse in Your Soul,"
went Top 10 in Great Britain.
"Apollo 18" offers more of the short, melodic
songs found on their last three albums. But it avoids
being monotonous because all 18 tracks have individual
moods and sentiments.
While their sound can be compared to a number of genres,
it is still very much a They Might Be Giants sound - the
collegiate, Beatlesque melodies of the '60s but with modern
and far more alternative instrumentation. On "Dig
My Grave," for instance, they use a guitar fuzz box,
resulting in a tinny, hollow and morbid sounding ditty.
Flansburgh resists any efforts to identify a message
in the duo's music. They're just having fun, he says.
They songs are lively and cleverly amusing - but that's
all.
"If we wanted to do just one kind of thing (musically),
we would have put 12 songs on the album instead of 18,"
he explains. "We really like variety and range in
the material."
Flansburgh is excited about the group's current tour.
It's the first time he and Linnell have played with a
full band after touring for the past five years with nothing
but tapes and drum machines.
The band - which includes a drummer, sax player, keyboardist
and bass player - is so good, Flansburgh says, it puts
he and Linnell to shame.
"It's really loud," he said. "It's a wild
trip into the vortex of drumming."
One small step for Flansburgh and Linnell; one Giant
step for popular music.