This post was submitted by Zack Rosen

The Superions‘ “Who Threw That Ham at Me,” if you ignore it’s title, starts out like any other FischerSpooner-influenced electro track. It would be easy to ignore it altogether until that voice kicks in. It’s not quite talking and not quite singing. It makes you think of rock lobsters and joining the deadbeat club. That’s because the vocals are helmed by none other than The B-52′s frontman Fred Schneider. After their 2008 career renaisance restarter “Funplex,” Schneider has focused his energies onto his side project, The Superions. Though they don’t have the fanbase (or budget) of his better-known outfit, and record mostly on ProTools, their debut EP has that offbeat (and pro-vegetarian) sensibility that distinguishes the elder statesman of eccentricity from the rest of the lot.

Fred was nice enough to give us some time on the phone to answer questions about queer culture, musical timelessness, and potential ill will towards Paula Dean.

Zack Rosen: What brought about this new band? How is it different from your past projects?

Fred Schneider: I’ve known [fellow Superions] Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall for ten years, I stay with them after B-52′s shows whenever I’m in Orlando. I turned them onto lounge music and all that stuff. Once when I was staying there five years ago they had a Tiki track and they asked if I would put words to it, and I said why not. I went into the bathroom with a mic because it has a good echo, they also have a love bird who will rattle his cage until you open it, so off the top of my head I came up with “Totally Nude Island” and it worked with their music. I didn’t know what I had said so I wrote it all down and did it again. We put the first half and second half together, did it all on pro tools, and our friends listend to it and liked it and said “put it out.”… There’ll be a Christmas CD, a Halloween EP and a full length at the end of year. I’m enjoying myself, I’m finally getting to write the crazy stuff I like.

ZR: Is this your main project now? Is that it for The B-52′s?

FS: They are on autopilot. It is my first commitment, but I will give attention to The Superions. This is taking off, I’m not gonna let it languish. This is a jolt of fresh energy for me. Or crazy energy, I should say.

ZR: I think that you have a way of making relatively timeless music, or music that is out of time, sound new. How do you accomplish this so regularly?

FS: We’ve gotten a lot better over the years. We collaborate, write and arrange everything ourselves, we do what we like and then we hope our fans will like it and they usually do. That’s the way to approach it. We don’t sit down to say, “time to write a number one hit.”

ZR: Is it hard to work with an “of the moment” sound like electro and still be yourselves?

FS: It’s an added element. It is still guitar driven, it’s just to spice things up. It’s the kind of music we listen to. It made sense to bring those elements and they worked. We still have our sense of humor and craziness. We write about love and outerspace, and love in outerspace.

ZR: What are your favorite bands right now?

FS: Right now I like Peaches and Scissor Sisters, I can’t wait for their next one. I’m always asked this and remember after I hang up. I listen to all kinds. When I listen to the radio I listen to NPR, and when I travel I watch CNN, but that’s depressing. I have thousands and thousands of records. I play those and read and goof off. Right now I’m trying to write four or five things a week for The Superions.

ZR: Just out of curiousity, did your song have anything to do with when Paula Dean got hit in the face with a ham?

FS: How could I have it out the next day? We wrote that four years ago, and the day after it came out she got hit in the head with a ham. Some people think I threw it.

ZR: You might’ve disrupted the universe enough when you wrote it…

FS: That’s true, a butterfly did shake its wings twice and cause chaos. She liked the song though, she played it on the radio.

ZR: It seems like white trash is kinda trendy in the mainstream right now, with Paula Dean and the like. That’s always been something that B-52′s seem to traffic in. Do you think you had anything to do with that?

FS: It’s still on the fringes, it’s not Justin Timberlake or Britney. We just do what we do, that’s what we like. It’s not white trash. I think we’re surrealist, we’re dada. I don’t care if it makes sense, it makes sense to us. I would prefer pop dadaists. It’s a surreal form of writing, just let you’re subconscious take over. In my case its pretty silly. It’s really visual, especially The Superions.

ZR: Do you have a special writing routine?

FS: I’m really lucky, I’ll be driving and things just pop in my head. Something just came to me last night, it was an idea I had for a really supid song, and I thought “Well I could turn this into a Superions song.”

ZR: Any touring plans for The Superions?

FS: Right now Noah and Dan are on ProTools and I’m singing. We don’t have enough material for a tour. Nowdays if you do something its on YouTube and people download it for free. It’s expensive to tour. With B-52′s there’s a big demand. Superions is a side project, but I’m definitely putting tons more time into it. We’re having a great time, we record something and just start laughing, so we know it’s good.

ZR: So you’re good at not taking yourself too seroiusly…

FS: My last solo album was pretty dark, they said it was more punk than Rancid. I was angy and upset about certain things, but that was 13 years ago.

ZR: What are your thoughts on contemporary queer culture?

FS: Everyone nowdays seems to be a drag queen. I like the really smart ones like Lady Bunny and RuPaul. I don’t care for the muscle muffins, no one talks to you at the gym and I don’t care because I dont have the body. I have lot’s of gay friends. We’re silly as anybody. I don’t really follow it that much. I do reap whatever benefits that I can. I don’t really watch tv that much. I watch movies but don’t like to go to the movies.

ZR: But between what things were like when you started, and now…

FS: It seems like someone becomes rich and comes out, but [B-52] Keith and I were out in the ’80s, though some stupid magainze said I came out to them in the ’90. If asked we tell the truth, if not asked… It was pretty hidden back then. Everyone was bisexual. Elton John was bisexual. Nobody would admit to being gay, but it wouldn’t matter except to the right wing Christian nuts.

ZR: I think it’s still a big deal to be out.

FS: It’s still a tough decision, especially for a lot of kids. you see how they’re gay bashed, especially in bumfuck America, and right wing religious nuts are utterly intolerant and hateful. Celebrities, you know who’s gay, and when they come out you say “Um thanks for finally doing it, aren’t you brave.” Most come out after they make their millions. They’re really strong advocates, whatever. We’ve done AIDS chairites for the past twenty years or more. We’ve been working really hard. But… we dont blow a trumpet and “say look what we’ve done.” All along people knew we were gay, but it wasn’t something you just trumpet when you’re on the road. People are still intolerant, even in New York City people are killed. Look at Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, though why would you wanna join the military in the first place?

ZR: Any parting words for our readers?

FS: Stay in school?

ZR: Anything else?

FS: Words of wisdom? If youre going to be a musican, do what you know best and be yourself. Don’t try to copy another person’s style. If you’re serious, stay serious. If you’re a nut like me give it a try. The Superions are really lucky, it just snowballed into something we never expected.

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