They Might Be Giants Separate Their Audiences by Age, Sobriety

Posted on Sep 17th 2009 3:30PM by Dan Reilly
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As long as bands have toured, musicians have complained about the rigors of life on the road. It's completely understandable, what with the odd hours, being away from loved ones and the grueling travel. But if anyone has a right to be burnt out, it's They Might Be Giants. Thanks to their success with children's albums like the recent 'Here Comes Science,' the oddball rockers have to play way more gigs in front of very different audiences.

"A lot of times, we're doing doubleheaders where were play in the afternoon for families and then play in the middle of the night for drunks," co-frontman John Flansburgh tells Spinner. "That's just completely exhausting because it's like we're really living, a double dose. The times are crazy -- four in the afternoon and 11 o'clock at night, playing full shows for both. You show me where the REM sleep cycle plays into that idea."

Obviously, the age discrepancy bars the quirky rockers from consolidating their shows to entertain all their fans. "Most of the shows we do are in bars for adults so we kind of encourage people, our audience to keep those things separate," Flansburgh says. "We don't want people to expect it's going to be an adult-oriented show when we do a family show. It's already complicated enough doing kids shows with the parents there. We don't want to have to serve too many masters."

That said, They Might Be Giants have no plans to focus solely on adult or children's material in the future. "We're working on a new adult album right now. When that's going to get released is sort of an open question," Flansburgh says. "Winning the Grammy [for 2008's 'Here Come the 123s] kind of reshuffled our schedule. It seems like this kids stuff has really taken off in a way that has to be acknowledged. It has a life of its own, so we're just trying to keep up with that."