John Flansburgh says more than 40 years of working with John Linnell as They Might Be Giants (TMBG) has been \u201cjust a crazy lifetime of doing it\u201d — but is not entirely surprised they still are. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe went into it very ambitious about what we could do, and what we had to say,\u201d noted Flansburgh, 65, who met Linnell, 66, when both were teenagers in the Boston suburb of Lincoln, Mass., and joined forces musically after both moved to Brooklyn in 1981. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what\u2019s happening with us individually, we come at this with very heightened expectations about what\u2019s possible, and it\u2019s a very optimistic project.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s led to 23 studio albums — most recently \u201cBook\u201d in 2021 — as well as five children\u2019s albums. <\/p>\n
As TMBG, Flansburgh and Linnell have only had one outright hit single, 1990\u2019s \u201cBirdhouse in Your Soul,\u201d but they\u2019ve won three Grammy Awards, including for \u201cBoss of Me\u201d from the TV sitcom \u201cMalcolm in the Middle\u201d and for their \u201cSpongeBob SquarePants: the Broadway Musical\u201d score, which was nominated for a Tony Award. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would say midway through our long career we decided to start doing stuff other than just albums for our adult fans,\u201d Linnell said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo we made a children\u2019s record and we started doing a lot of commercial work and we did television and movies. So we very much branched out at that point, and that opened up a lot of avenues for us as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re kind of generally feeling like we\u2019re not just about any one thing. We don\u2019t think of ourselves as a particular kind of band, or that we have a specific, set audience. We\u2019re willing to go wherever we\u2019re welcomed, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
TMBG\u2019s current \u201cThe Big Show Tour\u201d — which plays twice this weekend in Cleveland, at the Agora and Globe Iron — is the duo\u2019s latest stretch. It\u2019s actually shows, plural; each stop is more than one date in each town, giving the band a chance to flex the show from night to night and make each very different from the other. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big change for us,\u201d said Flansburgh, who takes the leading in crafting each night\u2019s setlist — a process he calls a \u201ckind of 3-D chess.\u201d The concept, meanwhile, came to he and Linnell during the pandemic pause, which Flansburgh said \u201callowed us to rethink\u201d our show.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s \u2018An Evening with\u2019 show, so we\u2019re doing two sets which is more elbow room to change up the repertoire from one night to the next,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re doing a two-night stand in a city, we\u2019re probably only doing 20 percent, 30 percent overlapping material from one show to the next. In general, we\u2019re people pleasers and we try to keep the ball rolling. But with this, it\u2019s sort of an interesting extra professional challenge to create two fully entertaining shows.\u201d <\/p>\n
Linnell considers the exercise to be \u201cthe same creative impulse we\u2019ve always had, in that we don\u2019t define what it is\u201d they\u2019re doing. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of longtime, very dedicated fans and then we also have people who have never heard of us and are maybe seeing us for the first time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re trying to balance those aspects of the audience and make sure it serves everybody and is… a very fun show in terms of the audience\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s touring also marks the 35th anniversary of TMBG\u2019s third album, \u201cFlood,\u201d its major label debut and its most successful, the only platinum album in its discography. Its flight was propelled by \u201cBirdhouse in Your Soul,\u201d which reached No. 3 on Billboard\u2019s Alternative Airplay chart and \u201cTwisting,\u201d which made it to No. 22.<\/p>\n
TMBG had actually planned to commemorate \u201cFlood\u2019s\u201d 30th anniversary in 2020, which was curtailed by the pandemic. The group continues to dip into it as a matter of course. Linnell said it remains \u201ca beloved album\u201d in its canon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat one just took us to a different label, playing internationally and everything,\u201d Linnell said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom our perspective now it\u2019s an album of the relatively young guys that we were at the time, so when we play it I kind of feel a bit like we\u2019re covering another band \u2018cause it was so long ago. I identify much more strongly with the new stuff we\u2019ve done in this (21st century).<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s great that people still like it, and we can go out and play those songs. We just try to keep it interesting and do fresh versions of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
There will be more of that new music soon, too. Linnell said TMBG has its follow-up to \u201cBook\u201d \u201cin the can\u201d and due for release in 2026. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a TMBG album,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sounds exactly like us, but we\u2019re trying to keep it fresh and interesting each time we do it.\u201d <\/p>\n
One of those elements this time is a cover, one that will endear them to Cleveland — the Raspberries\u2019 Top 20 1975 single, \u201cOvernight Sensation (Hit Record).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it was particularly hilarious and ironic for us to be covering that one,\u201d Linnell said, \u201cbecause we\u2019ve never really had a bit hit in the U.S., and obviously there\u2019s no risk of us becoming an overnight sensation. But I just love that song so much, and we thought we could do a good version.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flansburgh, meanwhile, is confident this will hardly be the last twist he and Linnell have in store for fans. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think what\u2019s really fortunate about our situation is we\u2019re a duo at the core of it and we\u2019re friends and we have a shared aesthetic that\u2019s very strong,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think if one of us sort of gets beaten up by reality, the other one is there to buoy them along — that goes back and forth. I feel like it takes a lot of weight off of us and really keeps it interesting at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
They Might Be Giants perform Friday, Nov. 21 at The Agora, 5000 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. 216-881-2221 or agoracleveland.com. The group performs again Saturday, Nov. 22 at Globe Iron, 2325 Elm St., Cleveland. 440-775-2194 or globeironcle.com. Doors at 7 p.m. for each. <\/p>\n
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