Giants shoot for the stars on current tour

Detroit Free Press, June 25, 1992
by Averil Guiste

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.

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