After nearly 16 years, the B-52s, the New Wave outfit that has been dubbed, as the title to one biography put it, "The World's Greatest Party Band," is back with a new album.

The group arrives at Memphis Botanic Garden tonight as part of the Live at the Garden series.

"A lot of people say, 'Where have y'all been?', but we've been working," says vocalist Cindy Wilson from her Atlanta home.

The B-52s propelled to fame in the 1980s with such New Wave hits as "Love Shack" and "Rock Lobster."

Comments

• There are no comments yet. Click here to start the conversation!

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

RELATED STORIES

• Music review: B-52s not affected by age at Botanic Gardens concert

More Music News

• Musical birthday bash fit for The King
• Chris Bell's passion for music still rings true
• Hard-rocking Neckbones band together for annual reunion

Share and Enjoy [?]

"But we decided if we were going to keep going out on the road, we needed some new material," Wilson said.

That new material, collected on the recently released album Funplex, is something of a departure for the group. B-52s guitarist Keith Strickland, who handles all the music for the group, became interested in merging electronic dance with rock and roll. Abandoning the lo-fi, garage aesthetic that propelled hits like "Rock Lobster" and even more polished productions such as "Love Shack," the group hired English dance producer Steve Osborn, best known for his work on albums by KT Tunstall and New Order.

"We started getting into making the record and it brought in some new energy," Wilson says. "It was just what we needed, a kick in the pants to get us going."

Though the band has almost 30 years of material, Wilson says several of the new songs have already become personal favorites, including "Deviant Ingredient," which features lead singer Fred Schneider portraying a slightly naughty robot, the similarly futuristic "Love In the Year 3000" and the throbbing album-opener "Pump."

"It's got this great energy," says Wilson of "Pump," a song that opens most of the B-52s current live shows. "It's like a slap in the face, and it's really funny."

With Funplex, the B-52s stay true to the have-a-good-time ethos that has propelled the band since their forming in Athens, Ga., in 1979. Wilson, Strickland, Schneider, singer Kate Pierson and Wilson's brother, Ricky, concocted the idea of starting a band over an enormous Flaming Volcano cocktail at a Chinese restaurant. That night the quintet went on to a rehearsal space and improvised a fanciful blend of surf rock and exotica that would become their breakout hit, "Rock Lobster."

The band kept the party going in the '80s, even following the death in 1985 of Ricky Wilson, the innovative guitarist who had composed all the band's early music. With Wilson's demise, Strickland, previously the group's drummer, stepped up to handle guitar and composing chores.

Part of the same Athens scene that launched REM and the Indigo Girls, among others, the B-52s crossed over from being indie darlings to being full-fledged Top 40 music stars with 1989's Cosmic Thing, a record that featured the hits "Roam" and "Love Shack." In particular, the latter, a soulful track whose title was inspired by the social hubbub centered on Pierson's Athens, Ga., country house, has become a party anthem still heard today.

In 1990, shortly after the success of Cosmic Thing, Wilson took a break from the band.

"I was just burned out," she says today. "With Ricky gone, it was harder for me. I think I was still struggling with him not being there and other personal issues. About a year later, I was like 'What did I do?' I realized the band is part of my life, too."

With three vocalists and one guitarist, Wilson points out the obvious, which is that the B-52s are not like any other band.

"It gives a multi-dimensional aspect to the music," she says. "To me, it's much fuller than if I were, say, writing a song by myself."

Fans who haven't seen the B-52s in awhile may be shocked to see Pierson and Wilson performing without their signature mountains of hair.

"We're still doing hairdos, but not necessarily bouffants," says Wilson.

Preview

Live At The Garden presents the B-52s at 8:30 tonight at Memphis Botanic Garden.

Gates open at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $39, $67 and $89 at Ticketmaster, including by phone 525-1515 and online at ticketmaster.com.

For information, click here.