Putting the ROCK in 'Geek Rock'…

They Might Be Giants with OKGo
The Roxy • Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, March 28, 2001

They Might Be Giants have always been synonymous with quirky, eclectic rock & roll. From their origins as a couple of guys named John who played accordion & guitar to a canned rhythm track, all the way through to their current live incarnation as a 5-piece (2 guys named John + 3 guys named Dan), TMBG's music has always promised generally upbeat rhythms which contrast nicely with their imagery dependent, sometimes obscure & frequently disturbing lyrics. Going to a TMBG concert, you would expect to see two of the smartest, strangest songwriters active today soaking up the adulation of their admittedly geeky fans. And to some extent, you'd be right.

Except you'd be missing the fact that these guys can really @#$%ing rock!

In the studio, They Might Be Giants are consummate craftsmen, layering in various instruments to fill out their sound. Put them on-stage & it all boils down to rock & roll. All of their songs took on an amazing, edgy quality that I hadn't expected. Yes, we still had the upbeat rhythms, the idiosyncratic lyrics, the accordion—all the trappings of extraordinary geek rock. But add to that a much more frantic pace & overdriven guitar and you'd be hard pressed to find any geeks on-stage. That is, until you looked at them.

Now, that's not to say that TMBG's stage show lacked at all—quite the contrary, in fact. The lighting was good & effective. But John Linnell (the accordion playing John; the little one with the longish hair) has won a prize in my book for being the strangest looking man in rock & roll. This guy can't weigh more than 120 lbs. Even when he's playing the accordion, he slouches. He sings with his head cocked at an angle, rolls his eyes expressively and seriously reminds me of Tom Waits, if he decided to sing AND reprise his Renfield role at the same time. He insisted that people in Atlanta must be as sick of hearing their city referred to as "Hotlanta" as New Yorkers are of hearing that city referred to as "The Big Apple." So he decided to call Atlanta "The Big Apple."

And John Flansburgh (the guitar playing John; the big one with glasses) simply couldn't stand still. He played his guitar behind his back, he rolled around on the floor, he kicked, he leapt like Eddie Van Halen before the much needed hip replacement. He was also responsible for most of the between song patter, proving himself to be a witty & engaging MC. Did I say MC? Scratch that…he proved himself to be a witty & engaging frontman/rockstar. However, there's something incongruous about a tall, heavyset guy with short hair & specs getting the role of rockstar/guitargod dead on perfect. I found myself laughing a lot: not at Linnell, who looked like he was into it; not at Flansburgh, who looked like he was having a good time, or even at the incongruity I've already mentioned. I was laughing because I was having FUN, a quality which often seems to be lacking at rock concerts.

So, besides edgy & fun, how was the music? In a word: awesome. The Three Dans (on guitar, bass & drums) are an amazing bunch of musicians, interpreting the entire gamut of TMBG songs with a skill & respect that belies the fact that they are, essentially, backing musicians. If I didn't know any better, I'd think they'd been an integral part of the band from the beginning. On TMBG's older stuff like "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," "Particle Man," "They Might Be Giants," "Angel," "Ana Ng," "Meet James Ensor" & "Birdhouse In Your Soul," they provided musical interpretations that differed enough to keep the music fresh & the audience aware that they were seeing a live show, not just listening to the album at home, but didn't differ so much that longtime fans would feel alienated. On more recent stuff like "She's Actual Size," "Dr. Worm," "I've Got a Fang," "Robot Parade" and "Cyclops Rock," the band was tight without being oppressively so. These are, after all, the songs written since TMBG began touring as a full band, instead of just two guys & a drum machine. All of these songs went off without a hitch, blending the practiced chops of a bunch of musicians who've been playing together for quite some time with the spontaneity of people who still really enjoy what they're doing.

Finally, the crowd. TMBG fans defy any easy, stereotypical description. I saw punks at this show. I saw the hairlines & cellulite that signify rapidly encroaching middle age. I saw tragically hip kids, young professionals out for a night &, no kidding, people there with their teenagers. EVERYbody had a good time, nobody got killed or stomped on & the ringing in my ears that usually plagues me when I leave a concert was gone by the time I crashed for the night. All in all, a good night & a great concert that I can highly recommend to those who like their rock smart & their shows polished, but not without surprises.

OKGo: What a magic combination…

Speaking of surprises, the big surprise of the evening was OKGo, TMBG's opening act. How to describe these guys? Well, I suppose if you took The Kinks & bred them with The Who, took the offspring & raised them on Queen, then taught them how to approximate every genre of music from doo-wop to metal, rap to punk, Dixieland to folk, & got them to cut an album with Beck sitting in & Prince producing, you'd have a pretty accurate idea of what OKGo sounds like. But it still doesn't approximate what these guys are like live.

Hailing from post-Smashing Pumpkins Chicago, OKGo (pronounced just like it looks: "Okay Go") are the most exciting new band I've encountered in a long, long time. Their influences are unabashedly eclectic, their chops are excellent, their energy is high & their sense of humor is ironic & earnest by turns. Honestly, I viewed the thought of the opening act for They Might Be Giants with a bit of trepidation—who could possibly serve to warm up a TMBG crowd? OKGo were perfect: just as smart & talented, but coming from a different musical space entirely. Highlights of their performance included their cover of "Crimson & Clover," "Heavy Metal High-School" (their improv instrumental while Damian, the lead singer/guitarist changed a string), the incredibly long-titled song about "the train & the symphony," "We Dug a Hole," "It's Tough To Have a Crush When the Boy Doesn't Feel the Same Way as You" and their cover of "Kiss Me, Son of God" by, who else, They Might Be Giants. If you go to see OKGo, & I strongly urge you to, encourage the guys to do their rap act for you: I promise you, you'll like it. Also, pick up their CD single, on sale at the T-shirt stand. It's only $3, & worth twice that, easy.