They’re not real doctors but they are real worms: The Johns of They Might be Giants — John Linnell and John Flansburgh.
It has been 33 years since its first live show, and 25 years since “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” but this will not be the year that They Might Be Giants slows down.
In 2015, the Brooklyn rock duo plans to play a show every month at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, write at least 52 new songs, and release at least two new albums. John Linnell, one half of the Johns, said that constantly producing is the only way they know how to be.
“Everything is still coalescing, but we have so many things we want to do this year,” said Linnell.
Linnell and co-member John Flansburgh will perform their Music Hall of Williamsburg residency in between tour dates all over the country, and each month’s show will have a different theme, with some shows focusing on old albums and some on the new material.
“It will be a great combination of woodshedding and performing,” said Linnell. “It has always been impossible for me to write while on tour.”
The twosome also plan to write and record at least one song a week for a revival of their Dial-A-Song project, in which fans call a number and listen to the band’s tunes over the phone. Linnell and Flansburgh first created the project on an analog answering machine in the mid-1980s. For the new incarnation, the band has brought back the old phone number — with a new area code — but the songs will also be on its website.
“It was a lot of fun to do back then, so we decided to bring it back,” said Linnell. “Back then, we would have John’s landlady go upstairs to change the tapes on the answering machine when we were on tour. This time will be a little different.”
So far, the band has written at least seven new songs for the project, some of which will also be on its new, currently unnamed album. And just so they don’t get bored, Linnell and Flansburgh also plan to produce another kids’ album before the year is up.