They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants

BIG FUN

Just Say Yes! to the First Kids Record from They Might Be Giants
They've long been kingpins of the indie underground, but leave it to They Might Be Giants to take the road less traveled. Just as their rock career received a seal of approval from the establishment -- in the form of a Grammy Award for "Boss of Me," the theme for TV's Malcolm in the Middle -- the Brooklyn-based group took on the task of introducing the littlest of rockers to the world of music with the infectious No!, their first album for children. The disc is sure to enchant its new audience with tunes that rejoice in rubber guitars, robot parades, and balloons. While the Giants -- who also perform the theme for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and are currently creating one for America's Most Wanted -- will continue making music for big people, they've opened up a new creative outlet with the fun-filled No!. Barnes & Noble.com's Children's Music editor, Amy Barkat, chatted with Giant John Flansburgh about No!, the current state of rock music, and the joys of imagination.

Barnes & Noble.com: So how did it feel to win a Grammy?

John Flansburgh: It felt good. It was kind of a dreamlike moment. I can't pretend that I'm used to that kind of thing. It's not like anything we anticipated or aspired to or even dreamed of. We didn't even know we were up for it. So, yeah, it was exciting to win.

B&N.com: You guys have done so many themes and songs for TV shows, and each song really captures the mood of the show. Do you approach those songs the same way that you approach your other songs?

JF: Well for "Boss of Me" it was something that we pulled out of our song pile, and it was cherry-picked as something that would be perfect for the show. Most of the time it actually requires writing a song to really make it custom fit. But because the Malcolm show had so much boy energy to it, it seemed obvious that that song would work.

B&N.com: What inspired you guys to write a kids' album?

JF: Well, it seemed like we were finally in a place in our careers where we could do it without being misunderstood as to what our broader intentions were. We didn't fear that people would think we were completely changing careers -- not that completely changing careers would be such a bad thing. But we actually have a very successful rock career that we want to continue pursuing. I think that at this point if we can't stretch out, I don't know if we'll ever be able to.

B&N.com: Was music a big part of your life when you were a little kid?

JF: Oh, I was obsessed with music as a kid. The one thing about writing a children's record that's so strange is that kids aren't all the same. And when you embark on something like this, all of a sudden everybody has all sorts of good advice to give you. A lot of people subscribe to this idea that every single thing that kids get should have some kind of nutritional value. After hearing all the advice, it kind of left us feeling the way we feel about our entire career, which is that we want to pursue the stuff that works for us. I feel like so many things in the children's culture are either candy or they are things that propel them towards being better kids. This record is very positive and is certainly not going to make any kid worse. But it's not particularly about education. I think it's about enjoying your imagination and letting your imagination run wild a little bit.

B&N.com: When you guys were recording the album, did you preview any of the songs with the kids in your family?

JF: A little bit. We know a pretty wide age range of kids, and the songs the four-year-olds responded to were very different than the songs the seven- and eight-year-olds responded to. You know, there were no consultants involved. We didn't have a clear focus on the specific age group. I think there are a lot of songs that will appeal to kids who are going through that period where their vocabulary is growing exponentially because there are a lot of list songs that celebrate the joy of synonyms and antonyms. They are very simple and about language.

B&N.com: The enhanced CD is so cool! Kids are on computers at age five, and they will love it.

JF: Yeah, when we were previewing the project for kids, the thing that was strange and a little bit scary is that we did some interactive stuff with the enhanced portion of the CD that was kind of impressionistic. And kids are so trained to be goal-oriented with computers that inevitably the stuff that was not game-oriented kind of confused them. The spirit of our project was very much about keeping imagination going and not making it so goal-oriented.

B&N.com: Do you have any favorite tracks on the album?

JF: I really like "Clap Your Hands." It's such a simple song and it's really good for little kids. I grew up with a record called Comfort to Sing, which was a bunch of Cambridge folkies doing traditional American folk songs. The song "Fibber Island" is kind of homage to that style. There's not too much music around like that these days.

B&N.com: And the 1970s PSA "In the Middle" is very Schoolhouse Rock.

JF: Oh yeah, that's my wife, Robin, singing, and she did a really great job with it. It's very true to the original version, which really only played in NYC on local television. Any New Yorker is familiar with it but probably hasn't heard it since then. So when we play the record for some locals we've gotten some really surprising responses, because it's just so familiar but so long forgotten.

B&N.com: Have you listened to any current kids' music?

JF: I'm largely ignorant of it, but I've heard Raffi records and Barney records and some kids' radio on NPR. There's a show called New York Kids [on the local NPR station] that plays a variety of stuff. I can't say we did a lot of research into other people's stuff. I've been made aware that there is a creative regional children's music scene in New England and on the East Coast. And it sounds really interesting to me -- it reminds me of punk rock or something. There are all these people kind of doing it for themselves. It seems unaffiliated with corporate America, and that seems very exciting to me.

B&N.com: Is there anything else out there now that you consider new and innovative?

JF: There's always interesting stuff going on on the fringes. I think the White Stripes are a super-high-quality rock outfit. The guy's got an amazing rock voice. I'm sure they are going to be much more famous soon. We've been working with a band called Okay Go. They've been opening our shows for the past year, and I think they are definitely on the way to much greater things. It's an unusual moment in rock, with boy bands and nu-metal and the general pop and hip-hop scene all blowing up and then playing themselves out. It seems like there might be a return to simpler more immediate kinds of music.

B&N.com: You're celebrating your 20th anniversary as a band this summer. With so much time in the music business, what advice do you have for kids who want to pursue music?

JF: I would say, don't be too calculating about it. Don't worry about people stealing your song. Don't worry about whether or not what you're doing is presentable. Just do what you want and get it into the world. It's the fastest way to get better, the easiest way to have a good time. I think a lot of people deny themselves the immediate pleasure of just singing and playing. And they immediately get caught up in trying to be a professional. If you don't enjoy actually playing, it's not going to get any better if you get successful. Get in the mix and don't try to see too far down the line, because there's nothing to calculate. If you have a song that people like, they'll find it.

June 11, 2002