Twink, the Toy Piano Band! Twink, the Toy Piano Band!

Interview from The Noise by Kevin McDevitt, July, 2008

Searching for something fresh may bring you to a far off land. If you're lucky, you may enter the magical realm of Mike Langlie's band Twink. Mike composes all of Twink's music on toy pianos then layers it over tight beats, synthesizers, and a host of percussion. The toy piano is a wonderfully flawed instrument and an unlikely leader of the band. But the genius is how joyfully unaware the toy piano is of its weaknesses.

Twink is a celebration of all things shiny: a joyous parade of bunnies on cloud floats throwing candy in the sunshine. The accompanying artwork is perfectly apropos and beautifully arranged. It is one part "Candy Land," one part "Care Bears," one part "Good Night Moon," and one tiny part acid trip. It's up to you to decide if the combination of a toy piano led band and dreamy rainbow art work is a good or bad trip.

As Mike will tell you, many people are unable to accept the sheer "gleefulness" of the project. They keep waiting for the white clouds to part so the rainstorm can wash over. The truth is that Twink is what it appears to be on the surface.


Could you briefly describe your musical background? What instruments do you play?

I had a typical grade school introduction to music, starting with recorder (simple wooden flute) and then picking an instrument to learn. I chose drums, but a surplus of drummers in my class pushed me to the outer fringes of percussion. I became the foley guy for school band concerts: ratchet, triangle, gongs, chimes, whip-crack, etc. It pretty much guaranteed an interest in people like Carl Stalling, Spike Jones and Raymond Scott, who value effects and novelty in their compositions.

In high school I got into synths and electronics, and started experimenting with tape loops and sound collage. My tastes ran from new wave to thrash metal to plunderphonics and everything I absorbed had some kind of influence.

That's a pretty broad spectrum. How did arrive at the toy piano?

In the early-to-mid-90s I played keyboards in college bands, mostly heavy and/or spectacle-based stuff. This was in Binghamton, NY, a town which seemed to spawn a disproportionate amount of clown-themed metal bands. (None were mine, thank you very much.) I had projects with some of the folks who eventually formed Somerville's Handstand Command. One band member even went on to become Governor Spitzer's alleged main madam. Talk about friends in high places.

The last major band featured my then-girlfriend-now-wife Karen playing electrified lead cello in a goth-industrial trio. It was a good project but by the time it ended I was disillusioned with the music scene and what I could contribute to it. After swearing off music for a while I stumbled across a toy piano in a thrift store and fell in love with it, like a lost baby bird. Suddenly I was making music simply to amuse myself and explore what I could do with such a seemingly simple instrument, and before long I started recording the tunes that became the first Twink album. The experience was a real refresher and I doubt I'd be making music today if things hadn't taken that turn.

How many toy pianos do you own?

I think I have about two dozen toy pianos, plus a few toy xylophones, bells, percussion, and lots of electronic musical toys (some bent, some broken). Quite a variety of weirdo piano brands, but the best are by far by Schoenhut and Jaymar. I try to use at least a few sounds from each, even if it's just shaking it for some jingles.

You mentioned that your wife is also a musician. What is her involvement with Twink?

Karen and I have very complimentary aesthetics but pursue different musical outlets. She plays a lot of different styles and techniques with a huge variety of acts, from indie rock to 1920s pop to experimental noise. We collaborate and contribute ideas to each other's projects and occasionally I twist her arm to add some strings and loops to Twink. Her sister Wendy is also a prolific local musician who I sometimes manage to draft into service as well.

Working with a limited self-imposed palette, I'm always looking for different people to collaborate with. The toy piano keeps the theme so I can try working with anyone from guitar and horn players to absolute noise-nics without sounding too schizophrenic. (I think so anyway.) A lot of collabs are back and forth through the mail and it's always a surprise to see how things evolve, like mixing weird jellybean flavors. Something I thought would be sugary sweet can turn out quite creepy, and vice-versa.

There is a crazy amount of collaborators on your albums. People really seem to rally behind Twink. Can you talk about this? Are you just amazingly tied in to the music community?

A lot of the extended Twink family are people I've known for a while and have wanted an excuse to work with. Some are people I'm a fan of and just wrote to ask if they'd want to try it, like Ralph Carney and Steve Cerio. Most have surprisingly said yes and even became new friends that I've returned the favor to.

Do you perform live or is this strictly a studio project?

It's just a studio thing. I like trying different approaches and instruments for each track which doesn't translate well into a standard stage set-up. Plus I'd have to somehow convince a dedicated band to back up my crazy ideas.

Have you ever smashed a toy piano?

You may have just given me the blueprint for an actual live show...

Do you have kids? Are you targeting children with Twink?

No kids of my own, but my nieces and friends' kids are great barometers of what makes a successful song. I didn't set out to specifically target kids but I knew that children's ears would naturally gravitate towards my sound. I do my best to keep things kid-friendly without dumbing down for adults. It's a weird balance to try and strike but a fun challenge.

What type of evolution has Twink undergone?

In the beginning I was really fumbling in the dark, seeing what happened with weird combinations of sounds and styles. Now I'm fumbling around with more practice. For each album I come up with a different underlying theme to give myself some direction and try to keep from repeating myself. I really just to write and record the kind of stuff that I would like to hear and hope someone else likes it too. I hear Twink tunes used on programming for MTV, Nickelodeon and even the Colbert Report, so I guess I've touched a nerve. Lots of new toy bands seem to be popping up the last few years, I kind of feel like the elder Sonic Youth to a bunch of Playskool Nirvanas.

Have any of Twink's original fans accused the band of changing/selling out?

I haven't had the opportunity to sell much of anything yet! The people that encouraged me early on have luckily stuck by me. But if American Express gives me an offer that lets me quit the day job, we'll see what happens.

"Catnip" is a pretty dope song. Do you feel that you have a masterpiece?

Thanks, I owe every track's success to my collaborators. I hear the mistakes in each song louder with every listen, but also the unintended serendipities. I thought a bunch of things on Ice Cream Truckin' may have reached personal masterpiece status, but a couple on the new one (A Very Fine Adventure) make me proud. By the next album I'll be wincing at them though.

"Asleep in a Snake Basket" is a somewhat dark song. Is Twink ever evil? Could it be?

You've got to examine those dark crevices to understand the world and yourself better. I'm a good goth at heart and wouldn't fall to the dark side. Twink has been called evil by plenty of people that just can't take the unapologetic gleefullness of it though.

I enjoy the vocals by Ajda the Turkish Queen on "Beautiful World." How do Twink and vocals generally get along?

That was the first experiment with going un-instrumental and I love the results. All owed to the amazing Ajda of course. I've been wanting to do an album with different vocalists for each track, like Stephin Merritt's The Sixths. Eventually, if I can trick enough singers into it.

"What the Dickens" is a different song. It's like the toy piano is working through a problem. Could Twink be getting more experimental? Is that possible?

Ha, I'm always trying!

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