Call them anything, and if you want, all at once: geek rock, quirk rock, plain old alternative rock. Double Grammy winners They Might Be Giants are ready to shake the scene tonight. The band is well known for its catchy tunes and unconventional track record including songs for The Daily Show and adult swim show The Drinky Crow Show, not to mention San Francisco-based publishing company McSweeney’s (for which they did a joint multi-track literary-musical work) and Malcolm in the Middle. They Might Be Giants will grace the State Theater downtown at 8 p.m. tonight, as part of a tour spanning multiple months and covering the distance from New York City to Los Angeles … twice.

They Might Be Giants has an illustrious and lengthy history. The original duo, ‘the two Johns’ — John Flansburgh and John Linnell, originally met in high school in their hometown of Lincoln, Mass. There, they wrote music but did not perform it, waiting to make their big debut after reuniting post-college in Brooklyn. Therein began their curious musical career.

Taking their name from a ’70s movie, the duo began playing and recording music, taking advantage of cassette tape background music, with which they had previously recorded themselves.

For one reason or another, be it a true ‘starving artist’ moment or a dazed epiphany, the band once even recorded a song on their own answering machine and advertised their phone number in rags such as The Village Voice. If you hate listening to Bach as you wait for some nameless corporation to take you off hold, consider They Might Be Giants as the pioneers of phone music.

Despite enjoying commercial success (their albums Flood (1990) and Here Come the ABC’s (2005) have gone gold and a theme song they recorded for Malcolm in the Middle won them a Grammy), There Might Be Giants continues to expand its repertoire to a degree that few other acts can match. They Might Be Giants has jump-started a few genres along the way, such as the aforementioned geek rock (their latest set of albums focus on academic subjects like science and English), and expanded others such as kid rock (self explanatory), creating a not-nearly-ended and eclectic musical career.

Confusing Istanbul with Constantinople? Interested in the band that gets covered not by music rags like Spin and Pitchfork, but by geek-meccas like Wired magazine? Doubtful that an album called Here Comes Science will even be about music at all? Have a thing for that Dunkin’ Donuts commercial that your older siblings and parents sing along to? Then bring your history-buff, technology-addled brain to State Theatre tonight at 8.

Yet another gem in the Dan Smalls Presents line-up, They Might Be Giants is for you — whether you’re an over-the-decades, die-hard fan, or an “Is this even my generation?” college kid looking to roll down the hill for a little bit of something different. Show up because this is no Maroon 5. And because — you can’t go back ...

Tickets for They Might Be Giants with Peter and Zoe Stampfel can be bought at the State Theatre for $25 until showtime and are also available online at www.stateofithaca.com.