The B-52s have been together 25 years and have sold more than 20 million albums. Returning to Chicago after years to the House of Blues, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland and Cindy Wilson will be here soon. But Windy City Times spoke with Fred Schneider on the road about the "greatest party band in the world." Photo by Pieter M. van Hattem
Windy City Times: When was the last time you were in Chicago?
Fred Schneider: I never know where I am. I think I was there last year twice. I love Chicago.
WCT: How is the tour going?
FS: So far really well. We are basically never off tour. We just take breaks. [ Laughs ]
WCT: You are performing all the old hits this time out?
FS: We sing six or seven new songs and the rest are the old ones.
WCT: I saw you play in Nashville on the "Cosmic Thing" tour. You played in Nashville again this year at the Country Music Awards.
FS: Yes, with Sugarland. For the past couple of weeks it has been the number one video on the country-music video channel. Thank you, Sugarland! They are really great people.
WCT: When I was reading up on your hits, I didn't know that the song "Debbie" [ refers ] to Debbie Harry.
FS: Yes, it's a tribute. Without her there wouldn't be Madonna and people like that.
WCT: Tell me about the Funplex album.
FS: It has been out a year already. Doesn't seem like it. We wrote it the same way that we always do, with Keith writing the music. Cindy, Kate and I come up with ideas and lyrics. Then we all arrange it and put it together. We paid for the record ourselves and, luckily, Astralwerks really wanted us. We got a deal with them and they have been stellar to us. We made all of the money back and broke even. With downloads and piracy, it's going to be hard to do more albums.
WCT: I was just talking to Donna Summer about how hard it is to have a hit these days.
FS: No one has a memory so the latest hot thing is going to be cold mashed potatoes in a year or two.
WCT: You recorded some of it in Athens, Ga., where the band was created, correct?
FS: Yes, half in Athens and half in upstate New York. It was really great to do it there. Of course, it was the height of the allergy season. Our producer had to go to the emergency room because he had such a bad reaction to pollen!
WCT: I grew up in the South so I know about the allergy season.
FS: Yeah, I lived there for 10 years and never experienced anything like that.
WCT: Did you ever think after playing at a friend's house on Valentine's Day in 1977 that you would still be doing this 25 years later?
FS: No, because we did it as a hobby; it was like the snowball effect but we were inside the snowball itself. We were not watching; we were in it. It just happened and we did something that no one else was doing. It was original. People didn't know what to think of us. So they thought we were a novelty act but we never thought of anything we did as a novelty. We have a sense of humor and we are pretty surreal. I like to use the Dada method of writing, which is not totally commercial, but who gives a shit? It works. We write about love but usually it's in outer space or something.
WCT: What I have always liked about the B-52s is that gay and straight people can come together and make a fun party record. In college, my theatre friends wanted to be like you guys and make a gay/straight band!
FS: We were just a bunch of people hanging out because in Athens there was nothing to do.
WCT: You have put out two solo albums and did a side project called "The Superions." Tell me about that.
FS: Well, I like to do my own thing, too. It's things the band wouldn't do. "The Superions" got started with friends of mine who had a track for me with tiki music—lounge music—and just went full throttle with it. They had the music. I had a couple of glasses of wine and recorded it in the bathroom because their lovebird, "Mr. Bird" made such a racket when I was in the room. I did it in two takes. I just made it up off the top of my head.
WCT: I meant to ask you: Why did you drop the apostrophe from the name of the band last year?
FS: Because it's not punctually incorrect. We are all about punctuation.
WCT: No matter what your name is, we are looking forward to seeing in Chicago.
FS: The best thing about being on tour is seeing old friends.
WCT: And you actually get to have your friends on tour in the band as well.
FS: Oh, yeah; they're a hoot. We have been doing this since 1977 or, actually, 1976. We are very patriotic. We did our first shows in 1977 and first album in 1978. We were all like four years old!
WCT: Talk about a "Love Shack." You must really love what you do!
FS: We do.
For more information, visit www.theb52s.com .
