John Linnell (left) and John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants.
(Joshua Kessler)
G FORCE | THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
Time to make the music
John Linnell (left) and John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants.
(Joshua Kessler)
Since 2002 the quirky pop-rock band They Might Be Giants has been alternating its regular albums with ones aimed at kids, including recent Grammy winner "Here Come the 1,2,3s." The duo - John Linnell and John Flansburgh, who grew up together in Lincoln - plays two shows on Saturday at the Berklee Performance Center. We chatted with Linnell by phone from Brooklyn last week about kids' music and those funny Dunkin' Donuts commercials - "perhaps Fritalian?" - that They Might Be Giants scored over the past couple of years.
Q. You're performing a double-header Saturday - a show for kids in the afternoon, grown-ups at night. Do you do anything to prepare for the change between shows?
A. We don't and, in fact, doing the kids' show is a great preparation by itself for the grown-up show because it's really just a matter of warming up. We play a little bit louder when we play for adults, but we're doing some of the same material, and I think we have a not dissimilar attitude that we take to both shows.
Q. Do childless They Might Be Giants fans ever confide a love for your children's music?
A. We can spot those people at our shows, actually. They're often in the front row. They're clearly not with kids, so we know who they are.
Q. The response to the Dunkin' Donuts commercials was pretty positive.
A. It was really fun making them for something that was supposedly uncool to do.
Q. Who told you it wasn't cool?
A. I think we told ourselves that it was uncool to do something mercenary like that where clearly the main incentive was getting paid.
Q. But you did something creative and funny for that money.
A. We were not getting pushed around too much by the ad agency, so that made it interesting. We were certainly not endorsing the product. My son was wondering why we couldn't just march into Dunkin' Donuts and get free stuff.
Q. No coupons? Nothing?
A. We got paid a lot. [laughs]
Q. You've been together for more than 25 years. What's the secret to a successful partnership?
A. We all know that the general tendency is for bands to explode acrimoniously until the triumphant reunion tour when they realize how unbelievably lucrative it would be to get back together. John and I for some reason have been friends for the whole time. We agreed on the value of our relationship, we certainly have overlapping abilities, and we also have complementary abilities.
Q. So are you kicking yourself now for not exploding acrimoniously since you could be on a lucrative reunion tour right now?
A. Yeah, but we would've missed out on all the doughnut money.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
