B52s fly their freak flag

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STILL FLYING HIGH: Kate Pierson, together with Cindy Wilson, Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland shot to fame with party-friendly hits like Loveshack and Lobster Rock.

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Kate Pierson from The B52's talks to Tracey Bond about letting your freak flag fly and why it took the band sixteen years to make a new record.

Pierson, together with Cindy Wilson, Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland shot to fame with party-friendly hits like Loveshack and Rock Lobster.

"We started out to amuse ourselves and started out because we loved to dance," Pierson told stuff.co.nz.

Pierson is in no doubt as to why the band is still popular three decades on.

"Our greatest asset is we make people dance and have fun and they let their freak flag fly!"

Although the band has been touring constantly since they began in 1976, Pierson said it came as a shock to realise that they hadn't recorded a new album in 16 years.

"We wrote a couple of bonus tracks for compilations but we didn't really tackle a whole album and we just felt it was time for our fans to have some new music and for us to have some new music."

The result is Funplex, an album with plenty of the band's signature feel-good dance tracks and a political undertone.

"That's something you don't want to hit people over the head with. We write by jamming, we write collectively so a lot of stuff comes out that we read about and talk about."

Pierson says she likes the fact that fans interpret the song lyrics differently.

"I like people to reinterpret things and sometimes do the lyrics their own way, its fun to see what people come up with."

One of the craziest assumptions people have, she says, is that the lyrics to party anthem 'Loveshack' have a hidden meaning.

"People have somehow gotten the notion that 'Tin Roof Rusted' means that you're pregnant, and we have no idea how that started or where that comes from," she said.

But there is no sinister meaning behind the song.

"It's just a visual of what the love shack looks like; it has a rusted tin roof."

The B52s are in New Zealand to play a series of concerts over the weekend.

Pierson has this advice for anyone planning to attend: "Wear something really comfortable that you can dance in and bring your freak flag with you!"

The B52's, The Proclaimers and Dave McArtney and the Pink Flamingos play Mudhouse Winery, Christchurch on December 11, Alana Estate Winery, Martinborough on December 12 and the Villa Maria Winery in Auckland on December 13.

- © Fairfax NZ News