Avren Keating flies from Oakland to scenic Lafayette to record in studio with me, and record a cover of John Postal with guest Dana Williamson. At the top of the show, check out an important announcement about exciting things happening with the pod!! Episode edited and mixed by Avren Keating!
Musician Eric Gaines makes his first podcast appearance to talk about the Glean sleeper hit "Good to Be Alive." With two percussionists chatting, of course we get into the weeds on percussion and percussion technique in response to the arrangement of this tune. We break down the song throughly, and also talk about how much more poignant this song has become in the past year for Mr. John Flansburgh.
Sophie McKenna joins us to discuss the song "I'm All You Can Think About" from The Spine Surfs Alone EP. Sophie tell us about the insane amount of TMBG shows she's chalking up in 2023, then we ponder the song's odd titling, gush over bass saxophones, and barley attempt to talk Proust.
Strap yourself in for a 7-song (plus bonus songs) episode with two members of the band Catscan!, Mason Shelby and Paul Tsiaperas. We discuss the entire Planet of the Apes song series that was included at the end of Severe Tire Damage, as well as ape-related songs found elsewhere. We talk about the movies that inspired the song and chat about songwriting and The Simpsons.
Bruce Triggs, author of Accordion Revolution: A People's History of the Accordion in North America and host of the Accordion Noir radio show/podcast, is here to talk about "The Day", an accordion-based track! We discuss Linnell's unique playing style, Flans' different vocal deliveries for this tune over the years, and learn a ton about accordion history. Find Bruce at accordionrevolution.com
Michael Valencic introduces himself to the show with an episode on the best introduction song ever, "Theme From Flood." We investigate the musicians who play on the track, hear the band's evolution on its live performances, and find a wealth of amazing covers.
Michael King makes his first appearance on the show to discuss this Phone Power cut. We talk about the amazingly obnoxious guitar pedals featured in the song, try to decipher these bummed-out lyrics, and find the only cover in existence.
Acey Nickel returns to the show to talk about one of the most fucked up TMBG rarities, Clowntown. Hear a debatable dial-a-song track, a McSweeny's version, and three custom covers- the only covers of this song in existence - to finish out the episode.
Matt Miller of Homeless Gospel Choir and Endless Mike and the Beagle Club visits the show to talk capitalism, whip cracks and choir patches on keyboards. We discover the inspirations of the sonics of this song, play a wide-spanning selection of live versions, and covers that are all over the map.
Santa came a little late to TMBP this year, so Stephanie Cummings visited to talk about "Santa's Beard" from Lincoln. We check out the Dial-a-Song, the live debut, and try to figure out exactly what's going on with the relationship portrayed in the song.
Pat Ford of the amazing band Colossal is on the show to talk about Lincoln's "Piece of Dirt." We get y'all hip to Colossal then dive into the song, talk Television, and play an incredible cover from Pat's new band Romanesc.
Joseph Devens returns to the show to talk about the Mink Car banger "My Man." We discuss the dark and odd lyrics, changes from the infamous "leaked tape" demo, and Joseph's band United Shapes rocks a cover.
First time guest and White Sox journalist and podcast host Brett Ballantini is on the show to talk about "Token Back to Brooklyn," originally found as the secret track to Factory Showroom. We discuss the different vibe of its Dial-a-Song, the political folk tune that inspired it, and get a couple sweet Covers Crüe covers.
Tim Shoppa makes his debut on the show to talk about the Book track "Lord Snowdon." He's done his research and read the book 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret to learn about her and her husband, Lord Snowdon, and is here to fill us in and talk all about the track.
Bestests friend and artist of the pod Abi Bash returns to the show for the dozenth or so time to talk about "Ondine" from the Back to Skull EP. This is a fan-favorite deep cut and we try to parse through the old lore that may or may not play a part in the lyrics, we listen to dial-a-song and demo versions and the live debut, and get a bunch of awesome covers from the Covers Crüe.
Ekelemchi Okemgbo returns to the show to talk about "Bed Bed Bed" from No! as well as the "Bed Bed Bed Bed Bed" version from the Bed Bed Bed book's CD... we say "bed" a lot in this episode! Listen to us debate which version is best, talk about punk bands no one else has heard of, and hear great covers with Ekelemchi taking part in two of them.
Fresh-faced fan Belle Steiert joins me to talk about a song she heard a lot as a kid, "Here in Higglytown," the theme TMBG wrote for the Disney show Higglytown Heroes, and collected on Here Come the ABCs. We chat about this silly show, nesting-doll Johns, and even get a custom cover for the song!
Contributor to both McSweeny's and the Onion (amongst other things) Maura Quint is on the show to talk about "Prevenge" from The Spine. We lust for that sweet prevenge and wonder what a "headfo" is, while checking out the live debut and getting a custom cover, the only "Prevenge" cover in the world.
Dan Leary makes his third appearance on the show to talk about the Apollo 18 classic, "My Evil Twin." We try our damndest to get to the bottom of this song, and along the way hear live versions from decades apart, some drastically different covers, and a Dan-engineered mashup.
Tom Miller makes his debut on the show to talk about the Join Us track "Never Knew Love." We attempt to figure out if this is a happy or sad song, find a live version with a twist and play a couple of unique covers.
Fresh off her first TMBG live experience, Jaya Crites is here to talk about a song they did not play and have never played live, "The House at the Top of the Tree" off of No! She tells us about her concert experience and her rad dad getting her into TMBG as a kid, and then we talk about this fun, winding tune which has inspired quite a few covers for being a relatively deep cut.
Jacob Freer-Balko is here to talk about the Stone Pony, immortalized on the Venue Songs track "Asbury Park." He tells us all about the venue, and we give many props to Marty and Danny as we discuss this swingin' tune.
Thomas Tutt makes his debut on the show to talk about TMBG's cover of the Meat Puppets "Whirlpool" from the Why Does the Sun Shine? EP. We talk bari sax models, the Mountain Goats, and about embracing your true nerd self.
On episode 200 (!!!) Cristina Fernandez makes her first appearance on the show to talk about "Daylight" off of Phone Power. We discuss Don Quixote, hear a duo performance of the song, and get a percussion question answered by Flans.
Jonathan Strickland of the iHeartRadio podcast Tech Stuff joins me to talk about "Atlanta," a song he was lucky enough to see debuted. He tells us all about that experience and the amazing venue The Variety Playhouse and we also talk Yoko Ono, and one not-so-pleasant TMBG live experience of his.
Mike Buffington returns to the show to talk about the Here Come Science track "Computer Assisted Design. We talk about what works and what doesn't work with this track, and Mike schools us on the Joseph Gerber and some of the history of computer assisted design.
Seymour Schmitt returns to the show for the Bed Bed Bed book/CD song "Impossible." We try to get to the bottom of this kid's tune and it's weirdness, touching on Captain Beefheart, Zappa and Ween along the way. Hear a few classic live recordings and a cover from Argentina.
It's a crossover! Optometrist and podcaster Andrew May is on the show to talk about "Dr. Sy Fly" from The Escape Team to coincide with my appearance on Andrew's Daily Five where we talk about my top ten bands of all time throughout this week. Here on TMBP we manage to get into lots of TMBG-related lists before we break down this little Linnell ditty, and hear a parody cover from Andrew himself. To hear the first episode of my appearance on Andrew's Daily Five click here! To hear Andrew's cover p...
Scott Greenberg makes his debut on the show to talk about "Mainstream U.S.A.", a deep cut collected on the Then double CD. Scott wrote a chapter of his master's thesis on TMBG, which has an accompanying podcast series and album, and tells us all about it as we get into the ins-and-outs of this incredibly bizarre tune.
On this monolithic episode of classic Lincoln track "Shoehorn with Teeth," Jared Pike and Alex Botkin team up and make their second appearances. We'll tell you the childhood story that inspired the song, and we talk shoehorns, glockenspiels, live versions crossing three decades and covers almost as vast, all in an attempt to do this epic song justice.
