Sub Pop Records

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS

Flight of the Conchords couldn’t be here today. So they sent this bio—with their warmest regards—instead.

Oh, they wanted to join you in-person. Honest. But pop stardom requires non-stop commitment. One minute you’re launching a new signature fragrance or malt liquor, the next sharing tidbits of hard-earned wisdom with this season’s crop of American Idol contestants. Film a TV commercial, vaccinate a few sick children as the paparazzi hover like vultures, grab forty winks—right, if you’re lucky—and start all over again. Golly, it’s a wonder pop stars ever find time to, y’know, make music.

But Flight of the Conchords do. And their efforts have not gone unnoticed. We’re sure that’s why one critic observed, “Rarely has a band accomplished so much with so little.” High praise, clearly, for the duo’s keen time management.

Of course, lots of people have an overfull Day-at-a-Glance—that doesn’t make them musical icons. Nor does winning a Grammy Award. (At least not when it’s in a non-music category, like Best Comedy Album of 2007.) Good looks, fashion sense, a terrible secret… all these things are rungs on the ladder of success. But they are not the very top step, the one manufacturers warn you not to stand on. No. The truest measure of a pop star’s worth is his or her music. After sales figures, of course.

That is why Flight of the Conchord—Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement—are pop stars. Because they still write and record music. Original music. Different kinds, too. Judging from the range displayed on their sophomore full-length, I Told You I Was Freaky, Flight of the Conchords have yet to unearth a genre which can withstand their artistry. True, they hammered out…