Fred Schneider is a busy man. Besides touring consistently with the B-52s, he's now part of a goofy (and prolific) electropop band called the Superions. The trio's debut EP on the Athens, Georgia, label Happy Happy Birthday to Me (which is also the home of our own Bunnygrunt) features high-energy originals and remixes from Ursula 1000 and Casper & the Cookies, with the highlight being the song "Who Threw That Ham at Me." Just try to stay stoic when Schneider indignantly asks the titular question in the chorus or introduces the song's dance craze: "Disco garbage can — yeah, flip your lid!" Sonic Prozac, that's for sure. B-Sides caught up with Schneider via phone, in a rare moment of sitting still.
B-Sides: How did you originally meet [Superions bandmates] Noah [Brodie] and Dan [Marshall]?
Fred Schneider: My friend has a record store, the biggest record store in south Florida. I visited him a lot, and he introduced me to Dan and Noah. I started hanging out with them too, and eventually I'd stay with them when I went to Orlando. One day they had music, and I put words to it, and that was [the Superions song] "Totally Nude Island." We just took it from there.
How is the full-length coming?
Well, we're gonna come out with a "regular record" next summer, but we have a full-length Christmas album this year and a Halloween single. The Christmas record's about 95 percent finished, we just have to add a few more vocals and master it. [Dryly] It covers all the Christmas themes: yetis, avalanches, fruitcake. It's not traditional.
I read a recent interview in which you said that you wished more people would ask you to be on their record. And that surprised me that more people don't.
Well, now I'm so busy — actually. [Besides Peaches and Shunda K], I just did something with Ursula 1000. Now I'm getting all these requests, and I don't have the time. Then I have to do the band, too.
Do you have any dream collaborators or anyone you'd want to work with?
You know what, right now, I just want to do the Superions. I haven't even had time to listen to a lot of new music. Well, probably, uh, uh, um — LCD Soundsystem.
I read somewhere that the B-52s are putting together a live album?
Well, we have one, we just have to get it mastered and mixed. We have three shows to mix, so it takes awhile. But hopefully it'll be out this year.
