They Might Be Giants is one very unique and original band, although using the term band in the very beginning of their existence might be a little misleading. They Might Be Giants (TMBG) started out as just two guys: John Linnell playing accordion, keyboards, woodwinds, and doing vocals and John Flansburgh playing guitar and doing vocals.
The band started up in Brooklyn, New York, and had its first album released in 1986 with the two Johns doing all the instrumental work themselves in all of the studio production. That is quite a feat when you listen to their early work since the songs cover a such a wide range of music and instrumentation.
So how did they perform their songs live you ask? Well, when they would hit the road with their bag of unique songs they would extensively use both electronic synthesizers and background tapes to complete their sound. Their sound was so big that even though there was just the two of them they sounded like a huge band. That is most likely where the name for the two Johns came from - they sounded like giants!
It was during the tour supporting the 1992 "Apollo 18" album release that TMBG started to add some members. For live shows TMBG started using J. D. Feinberg on drums and Kurt Hoffman playing a variety of horns as well as keyboards. By the time of the 1994 Elektra/Asylum release of "John Henry" TMBG basically added a new rhythm section. The new TMBG members, in both the studio and on tour, included Brian Doherty playing drums and Tony Maimone doing bass duty.
By the time of the Elektra/Asylum 1996 "Factory Showroom" release, the band consisted of the original two Johns, Brian Doherty on drums. Graham Maby on bass, and Eric Schermerhorn playing lead guitar. In later concerts the band changed somewhat again with the addition of Dan Hickey replacing Brian Doherty on drums and Eric Schermerhorn leaving the band. Bottom line is that keeping track of the lineup changes of the band is about as complicated as understanding the lyrics to their songs!
Their latest release is an anthology of their songs, released in 2002 and entitled "Dial-a-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants". Their discography is rounded out by the 2001 "Mink Car" album, their latest release of new songs, and the 1998 album entitled "Severe Tire Damage".
It is extremely hard to describe TMBG's sound. Well, it is actually hard to LIMIT the description of TMBG's sound since it covers so much musical territory. It's been called kooky, strange, deranged, funny, complex, simplistic, colorful, funny, deep, weird, and just about any other descriptive notion of music that has ever been used. About the only thing it can not be called is dull!
And those adjectives only cover the instrumentation! The lyrics are a whole other bag of descriptors! This is truly one band that must be heard to fully understand just how indepth their lyrics and sound really are. It is this complexity of TMBG that makes them such a significant feature on the music scene and allows them to have such a diverse, dedicated fan base.
Bio written by: GrayBeard |
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