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John Linnell - For the English artist born 1792, see John Linnell (1792)
John Linnell (b. 1959) is a member of the pop/rock duo They Might Be Giants; he does vocals and plays accordion, saxophone, and keyboards, among some more unusual instruments, for the group. Since 1994, Linnell has done solo work: in that year he released the State Songs EP, his first solo project since joining the band in 1986. He followed with 1996's House of Mayors EP, and then, in 1999, State Songs, an album-length follow-up on the title concept of the 1994 EP. He is slender with brown hair and brown eyes and appears in person to be about 5'9". He is farsighted, but often doesn't wear his glasses on-stage. As of 2005, he was married and had one child, a son named Henry. Henry has appeared as a performer on Linnell's most recent album with They Might Be Giants, the February 2005 release "Here Come the ABCs." Mr. Linnell's distinguishing characteristic as a performer is his habit of making eye contact with members of the audience while he is playing - not smiling as he does it, but staring at them for a few seconds, then looking away. Serious fans report finding this flattering and fun; casual concert goers may be disconcerted and want to position themselves at stage right or further back to avoid the uncomfortable situation of being peered at from stage left. His musical efforts tend to have absurdist lyrics, often telling the listener what he sees and experiences from the personal point of view of a particular object or being. Major themes include being controlled from outside your own mind, unreliable narrators, despair, the inanimate as animate, factual information, aging, crashes, bodily injury. He seems to be fond of unusual or archaic musical instruments, collecting them and using them in recordings, and to enjoy adding strange sounds or lyrics imperfectly rendered in another language. He sings not very well in the higher registers, but can sing baritone parts nicely, and, along with John Flansburgh, enjoys adding silly fake accents to songs or other parts of performances. He has the startling quality in interviews of being oddly devoid of vanity about himself as a performer, once telling an interviewer that he was the member of the band with the nasal irritating voice. External links Linnell, John Linnell, John Linnell, John Linnell, John
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