The Superions are an American

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

band formed in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, in 2006 as a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize ...

the B-52s The B-52s, originally presented as the B-52's (with an errant grocer's apostrophe, apostrophe; used until 2008), are an American band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate ...

frontman

Fred Schneider Frederick William Schneider III (born July 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and frontman of the rock band the B-52s, of which he is a founding member. Schneider is well known for his '' sprechgesang'', which he developed from reciting ...

with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall.

History

The band, originally named the Del Morons, was founded in 2006 by Fred Schneider and friends Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall. Schneider first met Brodie and Marshall,

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

nuts like him, in 2002 through a mutual friend who has a record store in Orlando, Florida. Eventually, whenever in Orlando, Schneider began staying with Brodie and Marshall at their home and turned them on to

lounge Lounge may refer to: Architecture * Lounge, the living room of a dwelling * Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby * Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar * Airport lounge or train lounge (e.g., Amtrak's Acela Lounge), a premium ...

and tiki music. During a stay in December 2006, Brodie and Marshall played Schneider a track they had composed using

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

and asked Schneider if he would put words to it. Schneider came up with the lyrics for "Totally Nude Island" off the top of his head and, because of Brodie and Marshall's noisy pet azure

lovebird Lovebird is the common name for the genus ''Agapornis'', a small group of parrots in the Old World parrot family Psittaculidae. Of the nine species in the genus, all are native to the African continent, with the grey-headed lovebird being native ...

, Mr. Bird, recorded the vocals in the bathroom in two takes. It started out as Schneider, Brodie and Marshall just having a good time, but friends who heard the song suggested they put it out. The trio changed their name to the Superions and self-released "Totally Nude Island" as a digital single on October 31, 2008. The Superions then asked Ursula 1000 to do a remix of "Totally Nude Island" and released "Totally Nude Island (Ursula 1000 Remix)" as a digital single on December 18, 2008. The reaction was such that Schneider spoke to Mike Turner, founder of the

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

, independent label

Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records is an American independent record label based in Athens, Georgia. Its catalogue features indie rock, indie pop and hip-hop music, with several of its artists associated with or influenced by The Elephant 6 Reco ...

, about putting out a limited edition vinyl single. A deal was hatched and it was decided to do a full EP release with the addition of two reworked songs from the Del Morons period, "Those Sexy Saucer Gals" and "Who Threw That Ham at Me", and remixes by the Lolligags,

Casper & the Cookies Casper & the Cookies is an American rock and pop band from Athens, Georgia, United States. History Multi-instrumentalist and singer Jason NeSmith (pronounced "KNEE-smith," no relation to Michael Nesmith of the Monkees), began using the pseudo ...

and

Marshmallow Coast Marshmallow Coast (also formerly known as M Coast), is an indie pop band associated with the Elephant Six Collective. Background Marshmallow Coast began in 1996 in Denver, Colorado, with a self released cassette recorded by singer/songwriter An ...

. "Who Threw That Ham at Me" was released as a digital single on November 24, 2009, and ''

The Superions The Superions are an American comedy music, comedy synthpop band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 2006 as a side project of the B-52s frontman Fred Schneider with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall. History The band, originally named the Del Morons, ...

'' EP was released as a digital download on January 19, 2010. ''The Superions'' EP was released on CD and limited edition

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

on HHBTM Records in the US on February 23, 2010. In April 2010, Brodie and Marshall completed work on a remix of rapper

Shunda K Lashunda Nicole Flowers, better known as Shunda K, is an American rapper whose songs are noted both for their use of spiritual and sexually explicit lyrics. Current With her release of "The Return of Shunda K" EP in 2019, Shunda K is set to dro ...

's single, "I'm Da Best". From April until June 2010, the Superions held a remix contest for their song "Those Sexy Saucer Gals", the Swedish band WeHaveLove was chosen as the winner and "Those Sexy Saucer Gals (WeHaveLove Remix)" was released as a digital single on August 24, 2010, and the video by Tom Yaz was released on YouTube on August 27, 2010. The remix was later released on the digital bonus track version of ''The Superions'' EP. The Superions began recording new material for a full-length album in January 2010, but during a nine-day session in May, they switched gears to focus on a full-length Christmas album, '' Destination... Christmas!'' They put the finishing touches on ''Destination... Christmas!'' during another recording session in June and completed mixing in July. The Superions signed with New York-based record label Fanatic Records distributed by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Caroline Distribution Virgin Music, known as Virgin Music Label & Artist Services until 2022 and originally as Caroline Distribution, was a music distributor of independent artists and record labels, most prominently Death Grips, Weezer, and Radiohead. Virgin Music ...

for the release of ''Destination... Christmas!'' Schneider says the 11 original tracks "cover all the Christmas themes: yetis, avalanches, fruitcake. It's not traditional." The digital single "

Fruitcake Fruitcake or fruit cake is a cake made with Candied fruit, candied or dried fruit, Nut (fruit), nuts, and spices, and optionally soaked in liquor, spirits. In the United Kingdom, certain rich versions may be iced and Cake decorating, decorated. ...

" was released on September 21, 2010, followed by the release of ''Destination... Christmas!'' on October 25, 2010, on CD, LP and as a digital download. ''Destination... Christmas!'' debuted at No. 13 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Comedy Albums chart on December 18, 2010. "Fruitcake (

Yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

Remix)" was released on December 20, 2010, as a free download on Yacht's website. In February 2011 the Superions continued working on songs for a proper full-length album during a week-long recording session, they then resumed recording in May 2011. " Batbaby", a song which was recorded in May 2010, was planned as the group's next single for Halloween. The '' Batbaby'' EP, released September 13, 2011, also features remixes by DJ Beekeeni, DJ Butterface, Phylr and Umpff. In an interview with ''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

'' magazine, Schneider attempted to explain his lyrical inspiration: "Oh, I don't know. Some songwriters come up with incredibly smart commercial things and I come up with 'Batbaby'." The music video for "Batbaby" pays homage to B-movies, and was filmed on the birthday of

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novelist. In the 1950s, Wood directed several B movie, low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult c ...

. "Konnichiwa" was released as a digital download on May 12, 2014, the first single from ''The Vertical Mind'' which was released June 23, 2017, on

Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records is an American independent record label based in Athens, Georgia. Its catalogue features indie rock, indie pop and hip-hop music, with several of its artists associated with or influenced by The Elephant 6 Reco ...

Members

– vocals * Noah Brodie – keyboards, electronic drums and guitar * Dan Marshall – programming and keyboards

Discography

Albums

* '' Destination... Christmas!'' (2010) * ''The Vertical Mind'' (2017)

EPs

* ''

'' (2010) * '' Batbaby'' (2011)

Singles

* "Totally Nude Island" (2008) * "Totally Nude Island (Ursula 1000 Remix)" (2008) * "Who Threw That Ham at Me" (2009) * "Those Sexy Saucer Gals (WeHaveLove Remix)" (2010) * "Fruitcake" (2010) * " Batbaby" (2011) * "Konnichiwa" (2014) * "Glitter Gulch" (2018)

Remixes

"I'm Da Best (The Superions Remix)" (2010)

References

External links

thesuperions.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Superions, The Electronic music groups from Florida American comedy musical groups American synth-pop groups