SOCIAL MEDIA

They Might be Giants

TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix and we are here with John from They Might Be Giants thank you for having this interview with us today.

JN - Thank you for having me.

TM - You are coming to Australia what can fans expect?

JN - I am a little bit scared of the plane just because the flight is so long, but the rest of it is going to be a blast. I am looking forward to it.

TM - You are playing Flood in its entirety, what else can fans expect?

JN - We are doing an evening with They Might Be Giants we could even play Flood in our first set and then we could even move into our normal show for our second set. We started doing it between album Cycles and it was so popular that we have been doing album things like this for a long time. We used to do whole albums and people were like ok that will be an interesting show and now people are like this as an event. This is something to see. It has flipped over the course of the last 20 years. The first place we started doing the Flood shows was in Australia, we were trying to sell out a second night at smaller venues, so we could slowly to her down and get personal tourism in for ourselves.

TM - Is there anything you would like to see in Australia?

JN - I love the restaurants and the coffee shops everything is great in Australia. I just hang out in this City but everything is just a blast there.

TM - What's your favourite song to play live?

JN - We perform the song Dr Worm in our show a lot and it's often a show closer because it feels very final and has a great beat to it. A lot of people in Australia know the song because it got a lot of AirPlay. It never got that much airplay in America so it makes it that much sweeter when we play it in Australia.

TM - Are you working on any new music?

JN - We have a whole album that we have almost finished and when we get back from Australia, I think we are going to have a listening party so we can figure out how the album will be organised and see if it needs any other additional tracks it will probably come out in the new year.

TM - What was the first band you saw live as a kid and can you tell us a story?

JN - The first band I saw was a garage band across the road from my house and that blew my mind. I don't think they have a name but they were loud and I was probably about 10 years old. This was in 1970 the gear was big and very imposing but the first show I saw for free was in Harvard Square and I saw Pete Seeger. The first real show I saw was Frank Zappa with Captain Beefheart, we were in the last row in the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. Then a couple of years later I got a fake ID and started seeing bands at the Rat in Boston, it was the the destination for New York bands and Boston bands. I saw The Car's second show, The Ramones, Blondie and The Darts as a teenager. I got in on the ground floor of new wave and punk rock stuff I saw a lot of great shows.

TM - What's your favourite memory of watching someone else perform live?

JN - I saw Elvis Costello, it was the very first London show and they did three songs in front of the CVS record convention in London in July of 1977. Then Elvis Costello had a public show that you could buy a ticket for at the Nashville room and at this point and he had a 7-in single out for a week of 'The Angels wanna wear my red shoes'. I bought a vinyl and The tickets to the show because of his name I had a suspicion he was going to be great and he was much greater than I thought he was going to be. It was probably a 200 person room he played, some songs from his first album and some songs from his second album he played 'Watching the Detectives' which was a real barn burner of a song and I thought this guy was going to bring something that will last I'm shaking things up when people find out what he's all about.

TM - Did that inspire you to play music?

JN - I think I have been given a guitar by a friend at that point. By the time I came back from that trip music till then went in a rock Direction with a lot of jamming and complicated guitar riffs bands like Yes and Genesis were popular when Punk started it was an open invitation for anyone to get involved and I definitely felt like there was a place for me.

TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be what song and would it be in your style or their style?

JN - I was thinking The Cars as they have so much style. It was almost like a preset to the music industry I would be excited if they did one of our songs.

TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?

JN - I am very grateful that our fans have hung with us because a lot of fans have ideas of how band should sound and what direction they need to go in. We have never gotten that from our fans have always been up for anything. We have done and it's kind of a given sometime the world politely invites you to stop but that's not the case with us I am internally grateful.

TM - Thank you for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.

JN - Thank you for having me.