Milwaukee's Telethon is a fun band. Their songs are unpredictable and often include left turns, full stops, or heroic rises. Their instrumentation is fun. There is a heavy use of glockenspiel, clarinet and seemingly every unloved instrument at Guitar Center that was left for too long that they must have felt they could use. But sometimes that sound of fun can be misinterpreted.
"It's never something we intend for. I like fun. Fun is good. But there is not that much joy on the record. it might sound like fun, but there is a lot of pain in there," lead singer Kevin Tully tells me from his hotel room outside of Disney World. He's there frequently he tells me. "It's a whole thing."
Saying that they don't intend on creating fun while being at Disney is very funny to me. Maybe they don't intend on creating fun, but they sure seem to find it.
" Swim Out Past the Breakers" is one of my favorite albums of the year. And here we talk about Disney, get into some niche Milwaukee stuff, and gush about a mutual love of Randy Newman.
Here's the Randy Newman song mentioned in the interview: