Erin Rose O'Brien returns to the show to talk about "They Got Lost," with its different versions from Severe Tire Damage and Long Tall Weekend. We debate which is the superior version, discuss melody vs. story in songs, and dig into the background of our covers artists.By Greg Simpson

Tara Trate returns to the show to talk about an early TMBG b-side, "The Biggest One." We discuss the song's importance in the band's early history, dirty diners, and songs with beats missing.By Greg Simpson

Alex Nemeroff makes his debut on the show to talk about the chill cut "Your Own Worst Enemy" off of Factory Showroom. We discuss 70s soft rock bands, Friedrich Nietzsche, and weird old midi hardware.By Greg Simpson

Ben Byrd returns to the show to debate the merits of the Mink Car song "Finished With Lies." We explore a few different interpretations of ours, follow the song's journey from demo to album track, and hear a new We Are Number Three cover, which includes Ben himself.By Greg Simpson

Podcaster and author Rob Harvilla of 60 Songs That Explain the 90s: The 2000s, is here to talk about the Apollo 18 classic "Spider". We attempt to deconstruct the song to guess the origins of its parts, comment on live versions from a 30 year span, and jam out to 4 amazing covers from our Covers Crüe. 60 Songs That Explain the 90s: https://open.spo…

Jaya Crites returns to the show to talk about "No!" from...well, No! She gives us insight of what she thought of the song hearing it as a child, and how it has evolved to hearing it as an adult. Also learn how to sing the song in several languages thanks to a cover by Noah Daniel.By Greg Simpson

TMBG's saxophonist Stan Harrison returns to the show to talk about two songs he did horn arrangements for, "Cloisonné" from Join Us and "Let Me Tell You About My Operation" from Glean. We also talk about his new album, Some Poor Soul Has a Fire, which you can check out and buy on bandcamp! https://stanharrison.bandcamp.com/album/some-poor-soul-has-…

Olivia Felo returns to the show to talk about TMBG's cover of The Pixies' song "Havalina." This episode was edited by Olivia herself! Thank you Olivia!By Greg Simpson

Amber Chaney returns to argue the merits of The Spine once again and more specifically, its song "Au Contraire." In an episode that was many reschedules in the making, we discuss French accuracy, famous figures and swingin' drum machines.By Greg Simpson

Dessa Asp makes their weekly show debut with an epic episode on the Pamphlet EP song, "Buckle Down, Winsocki." Many people might not realize this is a cover, and even fewer will know the history behind it. Dessa does the hard work in researching the song's journey through musicals and movies. In addition, despite this being such a deep cut we are g…

Part 2 of our two-song episode with TMBG artist and video director David Cowles. On this episode we focus on "Rock Club", another My Murder Remains track that David animated the video for.By Greg Simpson

Artist and director David Cowles is here to talk about two songs he directed videos for, and here's part 1 - "The Summer Breeze" off of My Murdered Remains.By Greg Simpson

The one, the only, MARTY BELLER of TMBG is here to talk about his song "Alphabet Lost and Found" from Here Come the ABCs. He explains the songwriting process for this song, how exciting it was to perform live as a frontman, and we learn all about his soundtrack career outside of the band.By Greg Simpson

Part 2 of the epic conversation between former TMBG bassist Hal Cragin and myself about their cover of Cub's "New York City."By Greg Simpson

Hal Cragin toured with TMBG on bass in 1997-1998 and played on some Factory Showroom tracks, and was the bassist for John Flansburgh's Mono Puff project. Listen as he tells us about his chance meetings with Flans and how he became the bassist in Mono Puff and TMBG. Then we delve into TMBG's cover of the Cub tune "New York City." Part 2 to come next…

Having appeared on a BOOK-themed Patreon episode years back, Ian Hutchings is finally appearing on his first regular weekly episode. We talked about the Book single "Moonbeam Rays", discussing which version of the tune is better - the album or music video version. I play audio of the song from the Covington, KY show I went to, we play four covers -…

Joel Shaughnessy is here to talk about the TMBG & McSweeny's collaboration compilation track "R U Together." Chances are a lot of you are unfamiliar with this track and perhaps the project as a whole, but Joel will get you caught up, telling us about the album and the book that accompanies it. Is this song any good? Listen to find out, and hear two…

My BFF Steve Clark returns to the show after long last, to talk about the divisive TMBG Factory Showroom single, "S-E-X-X-Y." Let's discuss why this song doesn't deserve the hate it gets as we hear many remixes, live versions of different arrangements, and fun covers.By Greg Simpson

Matt Meyer makes his debut on the show to talk about the Apollo 18 classic "Hall of Heads." We talk at length about the interesting introduction and the oddly placed key change, and ponder why they've barely played this great song live.By Greg Simpson

Our good friend Noah Daniel returns at long last to talk about the More Murdered Remains song "Tractor." We attempt to figure out the metaphors of this odd, catchy song, and hear great covers from a bunch of friends, and Noah himself.By Greg Simpson

Moth Moroz returns to show after a long absence to talk about the Phone Power favorite "I Love You for Psychological Reasons." We ponder about the narrator of the song, examine the amazing rhyme schemes, and hear the Johns critique their own live performances.By Greg Simpson

Kamuela Kaneshiro makes his debut on the podcast to talk about the Lincoln favorite "Mr. Me." We talk about ghosts and pirates, while checking out the kitchen-sink-percussion demo and brass-filled versions of this classic tune.By Greg Simpson

Alex Sanchez makes his debut on the show to talk about one of I Like Fun's most experimental tracks, "McCafferty's Bib." We talk about microtones, ring modulators, and hear one of the most insane remixes ever.By Greg Simpson

Tyler Colton of Goodbye Viking joins me to talk about a fan-favorite deep cut, "Tiny Doctors," which never even made it to the Dial-a-Song machine, finally being released on TMBG Unlimited. We ponder about how deep to read into the lyrics and whether this song should have been fleshed out and put on an album, and then we hear a crazy amount of cove…

Gabby Crouch is our guest this week to talk about the Robin Goldwasser-lead track "The Poisonousness," the closing song for The Escape Team. We talk about the lovely Hand Witch, ask "where are the guitars?" and discuss the importance of "woo woos."By Greg Simpson

Robert Writhe of The Writhers is here to talk about an often-overlooked Flood track, "Hearing Aid." We discuss the sample-heavy arrangement of the track, guest guitarist Arto Lindsay, and the controversial 2022/2023 tour version.By Greg Simpson

Seth Hershman makes their TMBP debut to talk about the closer of Apollo 18, "Space Suit." We talk about how its origins are tied to the origin of the band, hear the song's original form under a different title, and hear live versions through the years, some more successful than others. Seth's friends plugs: Christine: patreon.com/ballardiangorse Ch…

Continuing our streak of bizarre early songs, Lauren Davis returns to the show and brings along a friend, newcomer Matt Molaro. We talk about old synths, John C. Reilly, and try to figure out what the hell is up with this song.By Greg Simpson

On our 250th episode (!!!), music professor and co-author of the Flood 33 1/3 book, Alexander Reed, returns to the show to talk about another wild early song of the band. We talk about Linnell's guitar playing, Mr. Ed, and the importance of downbeat placement, as well as hearing it live and a surprising amount of covers.…

My Exquisite Dead Guys bandmate Jerome Hemersbach is here to talk about TMBG's collaborations with Homestar Runner, "200 Sbemails" and "Crystal Fortress." There is much Homestar fan service and voice impressions, and we commissioned the only Sbemails cover into existence.By Greg Simpson

Laura Eagle makes her debut on the show to talk about the Book hit "Brontosaurus." We discuss the actual dinosaur, Monty Python, and get call-ins to discuss the trans interpretation of the lyrics.By Greg Simpson

Isabel Banks, our youngest guest to date at 16 years old, makes her debut on the podcast to talk about a song she's loved since she was little, "Can You Find It?" from Here Come the ABCs. We talk about her early fear of the John puppets, hear her and her dad do a cover, and discuss how this song doesn't have any right to be as heartstring-tugging a…

Fellow teacher Suzy VanSchenck joins me to talk about "Climbing the Walls", one of the biggest bangers from The Else. We talk shop as teachers, one of her kids joins in for a bit, and we hear a wide swath of covers.By Greg Simpson

My first South American guest, Alejo Gacioppo from Argentina, is here to talk about the My Murdered Remains track "Applause Applause Applause." We talk about some Argentinian film and music, get into American politics as applied to the song, and talk cymbal technique.By Greg Simpson

Phil Dickey and Grace Bentley of the band Dragon Inn 3 (Phil was also in the band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) are here to talk about this parody song found on Here Comes Science. We talk about the original song, Phil and Grace's son Davy, and then they play a cover of the song live on the episode.…

The members of Cartoon Violence are here to talk about this Mike Doughty / Elegant Too collab with TMBG, a Mink Car b-side. We ponder the origins of the song's writing, try to decipher the lyrics, and hear a couple very unique covers.By Greg Simpson

Elizabeth Adams is back on the show to talk about the Mink Car live staple "Cyclops Rock." We talk about the demo, Nixon vs. Chucky, and find a lot of wild covers.By Greg Simpson

We're bringing you a Here Come the 123s two-for-one episode! Andrew May returns to the show with more parodies in hand, after we talk about these two awesome kids songs. This is part of a crossover with his podcast, Andrew's Daily Five, with episodes where we discuss my favorite bands I rank #11-20. Find his show here!…

Ky Gilmore, at the time of their first episode was the podcast's youngest guest. Now, Ky is all grown up and in college and here to talk about what is perhaps Lincoln's strangest track, "You'll Miss Me." We listen to several demo and live versions that get weird in all kinds of ways, and we enjoy some covers "live" on air capturing our first reacti…

Gracie Davies is here to talk about the classic b-side "I'll Sink Manhattan". What's with the narrator of this song? Let's try and figure it out, hear some live versions throughout the years and find some cool covers.By Greg Simpson

Lou Reid returns to the show after long last to talk about the Mink Car tune "Hovering Sombrero." We examine the confusing jumble of demo versions, a wacky ABC's one, some live takes and various awesome covers including one from TMBP favorites We Are Number Three.By Greg Simpson

Laser Webber, solo artist formerly of The Doubleclicks, joins me to talk about "Madam, I Challenge You to a Duel" from Glean. We go back in time to watch some Johnny Carson and learn about the inspiration for this song... you'll see. We also hear Flans botch the story hilariously in its live debut, and find a bunch of kickin' covers. Check out Lase…

Kim Lumpkin makes her debut on the show to talk about the TMBG kids song classic, "Lazyhead and Sleepybones" from No! We debate a possible demo, hear a rare live version, and partake in a wide variety of quality covers.By Greg Simpson

Brian Haigh joins me to talk about two "fake" songs, the early dial-a-song classic "Counterfeit Fake" and Long Tall Weekend's "Counterfeit Faker." We get deep in the trenches with these tunes, talking about their weird connections and song history, and we got an amazing amount of covers for this strange couple. Episode edited and mixed by Daniel Ka…

David Baker returns to the show, this time live from Velour Underground Studio, as we attempt a YouTube live stream episode for the first time. Hear (some of) our struggles with the streaming software (cut out most of the most annoying tech issues lol) as we discuss the unwarranted dissing of Mr. Xcitement by certan groups of the TMBG fandom. We wi…

Carmen Montoya makes her debut on the show to talk about one of the best tracks off The Spine, "Stalk of Wheat." We examine what makes this song special on this album and their discography as a whole, find a whole slew of live versions, and a wealth of fan covers.By Greg Simpson

We're back with Josh Pilch and myself talking "Bird of the Bee of the Moth" from The Else. We go through some different live performances, a wealth of covers of all styles, and score the song.By Greg Simpson

This one was such a doozy it'll give you TWO weeks full of TMBG fan content. You'll see why this got so long right away - our guest Josh Pilch is an animator who has worked on WEIRD: the Al Yankovic Story as well as the music video for "Your Horoscope for Today" so you'll get some solid inside info on Weird Al stuff, THEN the TMBG stuff! On part 1 …

Eve Gasse visits TMBP from that Frenchie part of Canada to bump the ranking of "Renew My Subscription" way up the TMBW song charts (be prepared to go score it on the wiki, for real). The song started as an exclusive from The Spine and then got a physical release on Venue Songs, but still has been relegated to deep cut status. Together we show you h…

Julie Klausner, actress, writer and comedian who created and starred in Hulu's Difficult People, appeared on the recent The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season, and has stacked up writing credits to amazing shows from the ongoing Apple+ show Schmigadoon to Kids in the Hall, Billy on the Street and SNL, is here to tell us about her love for TMBG and this J…