They Might Be Giants are about to embark on a book tour of the US. They have teamed up with author and McSweeney's publisher Dave Eggers to stage a series of events dubbed ‘Dave Eggers Vs. They Might Be Giants’ - a combination book reading and concert. "It definitely shakes things up," the band’s John Flansburgh told Billboard. "Having been to a lot of readings, there's this notion that it's a very polite environment. It naturally shifts that to being a rowdier time. And a lot of the writers for McSweeney's have a really solid kind of comedic underpinning to what they do. They actually are real entertainers. There's definitely a relationship between their aesthetic and ours that's real. The point of view of a lot of the stories, and the point of view of our band, is in sync. It's not just a compare and contrast thing."
The tour follows TMBG’s inclusion on a CD on the cover of a recent edition of McSweeny’s literary journal. At the launch of that journal the band played tracks in between author readings, which gave them the idea for the current event. "We played in between stories and did a little set of our own,” Flansburgh continues. “It was such a great night, and such a different kind of experience. A lot of these writers are really great performers and storytellers. I think everyone in the audience and on stage walked away with the feeling that we should do more like this."