THE B-52’S FRED SCHNEDIER TALKS SUPERIONS (EXCLUSIVE)

Posted by thebplot on March 4, 2010 in Arts + Entertainment, Celebs | 1 Comment

NOAH, DAN & FRED

The B-52’s (“Love Shack,” “Roam”) Fred Schneider is brilliantly back with a new group, The Superions, and a fun and funny dance album “Totally Nude Island.”

I called Fred, who grew up in the Long Branch area, to talk about a lot including his band who he says are “The most exciting group to hit the music scene since Elvis or Lady Gaga (or Susan Boyle for that matter). Absolutely love him.

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TBP: What are your memories of Long Branch?

FRED SCHNEIDER

Fred: I went to Shore Regional High School (in West Long Branch) which I call “Bore Regional.” I was teased mercilessly in school but could always win a war of words. I have always loved the written and spoken word. On my gravestone I want written “I’d rather be here than back in high school.”

As a child we went to the rides in Asbury. Today, I go to the Salvation Army’s thrift store to buy albums.

I was just back in the area Saturday for my mom’s 80th birthday.

TBP: People must lose their minds when they see you. FYI, there is another thrift store in Asbury – the ReStore.

You have been a rock star for three decades. Are you over people kissing your butt and having sex with groupies?

Fred: I am oblivious and people want to be friends with us, not have sex with us for the most part. The ladies in the band had more fun than I did.

TBP: I would love to see you replace Simon on American Idol.

Fred: It is like nails on a chalkboard watching that show and I hate half the songs they do – except for the B’s songs (laughs).

What I really want is to have my own show called “American Loser” and just have the craziest people sincerely trying to get acknowledged for their eccentricities.

TBP: That would be a phenomenal show. The Superions’ song “Who Threw That Ham at Me” is hysterical and brilliant. How did this all come about?

Fred: Well, my friends in the band Noah (Brodie) and Dan (Marshall) played a track for me in 2006 and asked me to write the lyrics. I just came up with “Totally Nude Island” – Tiki lounge music. We put it on iTunes and it went from there.

“Ham” is about a story I heard from a friend down South. He said he was in a grocery store and this lady was walking out and a canned ham fell out from under her coat. She turned around and said, “Who threw that ham at me?”

I wrote most of the album and we are writing two other albums, “Halloween” and “Christmas.” I have to get down to Orlando to see Dan and Josh and get them to stop playing Guitar Hero so we can finish the other two albums.

TBP: Do you play Guitar Hero (the music video game)?

Fred: I stink at Guitar Hero and got booed off the “stage” when I sang Love Shack on some other video game.

I am addicted to Book Worm on my iPod – can’t tear myself away from it.

Words are my entertainment. I feel like I am really into writing again for the first time in a long time. With the B’s, I would wait until we all got together to write and we would do it together.

I say I am “winging it and slinging it” – that is what I have been doing for years. That is where the ideas come from. I will be walking down the street and words will come to me.

I wrote a lot of poetry in Long Branch. I was also very lazy. Some of the ideas became B’s songs and maybe songs for Superions.