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They Might Be Giants Gain a New Perspective With Their Swing-Lens

They Might Be Giants have been making music since 1982, a career that includes fourteen studio albums. In 2002, the band released their first children's album and has since recorded three more records for their educational series. The Brooklyn band is currently on tour supporting their latest release, 'Here Comes Science,' and singer John Linnell will be checking in with his thoughts and musings all along the way.

There are many occasions when life on the road with our band (the five main lads and several adjunct musicians that variously form They Might Be Giants) needs to be viewed as a whole, embraced as it were with both arms, swallowed in one gulp. To get the full picture, one normally has to take so many steps backward that there is a very real danger of falling off the stage or crashing into some obstacle behind you. Another way to take it all in is to get multiple views and stitch them together to make a crazy quilt. Most appealingly, you can take a picture of everything at once with a swing-lens, which turns like a lighthouse glass to sweep across the field of vision and produces a deliciously long image without any edge distortion. Enter the Horizon, an inexpensive swing-lens camera invented by the Russians in the 1960s and still being produced.

Need for such a wide perspective arose recently when the band hired not one, but two euphonium players in addition to a baritone saxophonist to execute a low-horn-heavy track called 'Seven' from our [cough, Grammy award-winning, cough] children's album 'Here Comes the 123s.' Left to right we see Dan Miller (guitar, peeking out from behind euphonium #1), Dan Levine holding euphonium #1, John Flansburgh (guitar, vocals), Stan Harrison (baritone sax), Marty Beller (drums) and the euphoric Kurt Ramm on euphonium #2.


Another gig that called for the broadest possible view was one in which John Flansburgh required guitar playing assistance from some of the throngs of kids who came to see us in Kansas City. Budding guitar distortion enthusiasts are shown here to extend beyond the curvature of the earth.


Next week: Stereo realism

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4 Comments

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Jeff Goodman

John -- Dude, why didn't you tell me that you needed euphonium players when you were in Denver??? I used to be a professional euphonium player (yes there is such a thing) and that is how Marty and I met and became friends back in the '80's. Our euphonium-drum duets were epic!

November 21 2009 at 12:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
walk_n_wing

Any chance this was shot with a Lomography Horizon?

November 12 2009 at 2:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Pixeldot

How were you able to get the swing lens to capture something that high in energy without any motion blur or awkward seams?

Great shots. As a concert-goer, it's nice to see some photos from a stage perspective once in a while.

November 11 2009 at 9:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Emmalee

jealous! I wanted to touch Flansie's guitar! Well, I got his knee in my face!

November 11 2009 at 8:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply