New FAQ In Progress : Look + Comment
myke
Here's the new TMBG FAQ: This is a FAQ for The Early Years as opposed
to Relph's "normal" FAQ. This FAQ has been written independently of Relph's
text and any similarities are accidental/coincidental. This is only the
first few questions; if there are any more things you'd like to see in it,
feel free to write me or post here.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS: THE EARLY YEARS -FAQ- (1982-1989)
=======================================================
Written, Compiled by Myke Weiskopf (ga0...@jazzmin.vnet.net).
While the facts contained within this document are not copyrightable,
the style, organization, and content of the document is (c) 1994 Myke
Weiskopf. Please do not reprint or quote without permission.
This document features information previously published in OBSCURE
Magazine, No. 5 ("They Might Be Giants"), which is (c) 1994 Obscure
Publications / Myke Weiskopf.
This document answers questions (obscure and common) about the music,
life, and spirit of They Might Be Giants from the years 1982 to 1989,
collectively known as The Early Years, encompassing The Bar/None Years
(1986-1989) and The Krauss Years (1983-1988).
Special thanks to Bill Krauss, John Flansburgh, and John Linnell.
=================================================================
The Questions:
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
1. When did They Might Be Giants first:
a) meet?
b) begin recording together?
c) play out?
d) release recordings?
e) meet Bill Krauss?
------------------------
a) John Linnell and John Flansburgh met in Lincoln-Sudbury High
School (Lincoln, MA) in the early 1970's. Flansburgh had heard
about Linnell due to the latter's famed comic books and strips and
his love of avant-garde music such as Frank Zappa. Linnell says,
"John was always calling me up, and I didn't know who he was
really. He'd call and go, 'So. Linnell. What's happenin'?'
Before long, the two were collaborating on minor experimental
tape projects using Flansburgh's tape machine(s).
b) The Johns began recording shortly after moving into the same
apartment building on the same day in New York City in 1982.
While at first the Johns recorded independently, they
eventually played on each other's demos regularly.
c) The Johns' first show was as "El Groupo de Rock And Roll" in
1982 (location unknown). The group, it is said, performed in
front of a group of Sandinistas who spoke no English (hence the
name). Another rumor (perpetuated by Linnell) goes as such:
"It was January 23rd. We played 23 songs, although we had only
planned to do 22. There were 23 people at that show. We each
made 23 dollars. I was 23 at the time."
d) They Might Be Giants' first official release was a one-sided
7" flexi-disc (round, not square) in 1985, produced by Bill
Krauss and engineered by Al Houghton (with drum programming by
Chris Taylor). The tracks were "Everything Right is Wrong"
and "You'll Miss Me", both of which resurfaced in drastically
re-arranged versions on THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS and LINCOLN,
respectively. The "Wiggle-Diskette" (as the record pronounces
itself) was released on TMB Music. Its cover features a photo
of a young girl at a wool machine threading wool, with a small
photo of the Johns (looking demented) at the bottom. At the
top, the simple yet elegant words "THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS" in an
elevated Helvetica. [Idiots such as myself have paid up to $100
for the limited-edition-500 flexi-disc, which is incredibly
difficult to locate ten years later.]
Their 23-song demo tape followed that same year, featuring
demos of many songs off of their debut album, as well as another
version of "You'll Miss Me". It featured several LINCOLN and
B-side tracks as well. It was re-issued in limited quantities
by the Hello Recording Club (John Flansburgh's pet project) in
1993.
e) John Flansburgh met Bill at Antioch, at which time Bill was in
a band called the Functionnaires with another high-school chum
of the Johns', Dan Spock. Flansburgh produced the Functionnaires'
first demo on his four-track recorder. Bill became the Johns'
soundman in 1983; their first show together was at CBGB's in New
York City.
2. Had the Johns been in any bands previous to playing in TMBG?
------------------------
John Linnell had played saxophone in a band called The Bags while
in college. "There was a moment when I'd step out and do a solo.
But I'd just bought the pick-up for my sax and when the time came
all I could play was the highest note! I moved all my fingers
around and nothing happened. The wire on my pick-up was holding
open one of the valves on my sax. I had just played a one-note
solo," he remembers. He also played keyboards for Rhode Island's
Mundanes.
John Flansburgh played in a band called the Blackouts when he was
20 years old. "I was wearing pyjamas. I was 20 years old," he
recollects.
The Mundanes allegedly demoed, but no one has come forward with
copies or recollections of these demos.
4. What is a "Pal Joey revival"?
------------------------
Bill Krauss says, "Flansburgh has a Sinatra thing. He's really
into Sinatra. I remember when the Kitty Kelly book came out about
Sinatra, he read it right away. He's just got this thing about
'what it means to be Sinatra'. He's very interested in the
phenomenon. So, 'Pal Joey' was part of that. He really liked 'Pal
Joey,' and he decided he wanted to do some of the songs from
'Pal Joey' one night. I don't remember how many of them he did.
He did 'There's A Small Hotel', and 'Lady is A Tramp', and I don't
even remember, 'cause I'm not a big 'Pal Joey' fan."
The Johns performed:
"There's A Small Hotel"
"Lady is a Tramp"
"My Funny Valentine"
"Bewitched"
<Jill Knapp> says that the middle two songs were actually taken from
a musical called "Babes in Arms", which is another Rodgers-Hart
production.
They have definitely performed "Tramp" and "Valentine" on numerous
occasions; they played all of the above except "tramp" at the
Knitting Factory (NYC) in June of 1989 during a special "Pal Joey
Segment". Whether or not this was the actual "Pal Joey" show is
not known, but the segment was referenced in _CV_ Magazine as a part
of the Giants "neo-Dada absurdist" early performances, indicating
that the first performance was of older vintage than suspected.
5. What does the sample at the beginning of "Rabid Child" say?
------------------------
"Lord, please don't take me away."
6. Where does the source material from "Snowball in Hell" come from?
------------------------
Bill Krauss says, "It's a dub off of something I gave Flansburgh
for his birthday in 1985. I bought it at a bookstore in my hometown
in New Jersey, and it's from a tape from some kind of series on how
to manage your time effectively. I saw it on a rack with a bunch
of tapes on how to make the most money in your life, how to relax..
It was just a bunch of 'how-to' cassette tapes. I was just flipping
through them, and Flansburgh's birthday was coming up; I came across
'How To Manage Your Time Effectively', and I thought, 'Flansburgh
will find a way to use this.' And so I gave it to him for his
birthday. And we ended up putting it in 'Snowball'."
7. Where / how did the Giants meet the Ordinaires?
------------------------
Bill Krauss says, "We met the Ordinaires at 8BC, which was run by a
couple of guys named Dennis and Cornelius. It was the greatest club
in the world for about two years. They had something like 3000
performances in two years. It was running non-stop. They had plays
in the afternoon and performance art at dinner time, and bands at
night. It was just a wonderful time. It may have been the first
time we played there. People liked to book TMBG with the Ordinaires
because there were nine people in the Ordinaires. Logistically, it
was really easy, because to have another full band when you had the
Ordinaires on stage meant moving a whole lot of equipment. We did
some shows at the Pyramid for them and the Village Gate. In the very
earliest shows, the Ordinaires had been around a bit longer and had
more of a following, so we opened for them. Later, they opened for
us. When we started doing Village Gate shows, we brought them along
because they're friends. When it was time to do recording, bringing
them in to do 'Kiss Me Son Of God' seemed like a natural idea.
8. How did Dial-A-Song start?
------------------------
In 1984, the Johns had been playing shows, writing, recording, etc.
However, the world was turned on its head when John Flansburgh's
apartment was broken into; all of his earthly possessions, including
his four-track, were stolen. That same week,bike messenger Linnell
fell off of his bike and broke his wrist, rendering him unable to
either perform or work. Since neither of them could do much of
anything, Flansburgh began putting TMBG songs on his answering
machine. This apparently caused a lot of problems at first; whenever
anyone would try to contact Flansburgh, not only would they have
to wait through the song, but they had to scream at the top of their
lungs to get Flansburgh to come to the phone at the end. "I tried
to talk him out of it," says Linnell. As all early Giants fans know,
the early Dial-A-Song was "message-capable", a quirk which gave
the Johns a lot of source material to use. One particularly
memorable message features a woman (Gloria) talking to her friends
about the mystery of "There May Be Giants". An "edit" of this
conversation was tacked onto the _HOTEL DETECTIVE_ EP (Bar/None
A-HAON 006), unmarked but referred to by insiders as "The Lady".
Several other conversations were saved and broadcast as bumpers
when the Johns guested on East Orange, New Jersey's WFMU (91.1)
radio station in March of 1987 ("Frank O'Toole Show").
--
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forever is a long time.
Johnny Call Home (718) 387-6962
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