AS ‘LIKE’ BUTTONS ACROSS THE INTERNET THUMBED THEMSELVES INTO A LATE-2013 FRENZY OVER MILEY CYRUS’S ADVENTURES IN TWERKING AND THE RELEASE OF NEW MATERIAL BY ARCADE FIRE, CROYDON SINGER-SONGWRITER BEN PARKER – SUPERMAN REVENGE SQUAD – QUIETLY SLIPPED OUT AN ABSOLUTE GEM OF AN ALBUM.

THERE IS NOTHING MORE FRIGHTENING THAN THE PASSING OF TIME flew under the wider radar (save for a couple of welcome spins for lead track LATELY I’VE FOUND MYSELF REGRESSING by Lamacq and Robinson at 6Music). But the word-heavy album was loaded with witty, worldly-wise and self-deprecating humour – and occasional poignancy – which would have been familiar to listeners of Scroobius Pip, Daniel Johnston and early Billy Bragg.
Parker – a former member of the excellently named Nosferatu-D2 – had been writing and performing his new songs as a solo project, though recruited a band for the release of his album on label Audio Antihero. With modest commercial ambition (“… I’m probably never going to be on Desert Island Discs, but that doesn’t mean that all of this is a waste of time”) and an artistic sure-foot, Parker delves into his youth. Popular culture of the late 1980s / early 1990s is mined to take listeners of a certain generation on a reflective journey stuffed with an arch, knowing, nostalgia.
On the spindly, downbeat, FLAVA FLAV he compares a potential lost love to REM’s album AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE (“… and if you leave me, I’ll be left like REM in 1993 – there’s good stuff ahead but the best records are behind me”), Public Enemy minus its hype-man, and Morrissey “almost weeping” back at the old house. THERE IS NOTHING MORE FRIGHTENING THAN THE PASSING OF TIME is an album unlikely to challenge any bankrolled twerkers or Bowie-endorsed scene-setters at the business end of the charts – but Parker seems happy enough just to have his music out in the public domain. What it is, however, is a record which could pick up serious cult status among those tuned in to whiplash wordplay.

TO THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH YOUR WORK, WHO ARE THE SUPERMAN REVENGE SQUAD BAND?
Essentially, The Superman Revenge Squad Band is an extension of my solo acoustic thing – so it’s Superman Revenge Squad but with a band. The band consists of my brother Adam on drums, Martin on cello, Gavin on piano and accordion and Jon on saxophone. As a band, we’ve played two gigs – one on my birthday about 4 years ago and another one on my birthday a year or so ago. The gigs went well so we recorded what we’d played, and the label Audio Antihero were interested in releasing the recordings.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE SOUND?
The sound is the sound of regret. Jon described my style of singing as Misery Rap once. So I guess it’s the sound of misery rap wrapped up in the rather pleasant warm sound of a band. Years ago, me and my brother used to be in a two-piece band called Nosferatu D2, which was a lot more angry and shouty. When we stopped doing that I started playing an acoustic guitar and doing gigs on my own as Superman Revenge Squad. A bit of an inspiration for this was seeing Jeffery Lewis for the first time. Very wordy and great.

YOU ONLY ACTUALLY PERFORMED ONE GIG LAST YEAR – WHY WAS THAT? ARE THERE PLANS FOR YOU TO CHANGE THAT AND DO MORE IN 2014?
If anyone wants to offer me a gig I’ll have a think about it! I used to play a lot on my own doing these songs, but last year I was preoccupied with doing things like writing plays which a local theatre group performed… Really, the band only gets together for special occasions, so it feels more special. Actually, as I said earlier, the band have only actually got together to play on my birthday…

THE NAME… WHERE DOES THAT COME FROM?
When I first played on my own – with the acoustic guitar and three songs at an open mic night in Croydon – I thought I’d give myself a name that suggested it was a full band and not just one person. I saw the name of some super-villain group from DC Comics, and I thought it would be funny to call myself a squad. We added the word band to the name when I recorded with the full band… It does sound a bit of mouthful though.

YOU SQUEEZE A QUITE UNBELIEVABLE NUMBER OF SYLLABLES INTO EACH LINE IN SEVERAL SONGS. THAT WORKS BRILLIANTLY ON THE ALBUM, BUT IS IT DIFFICULT IN LIVE PERFORMANCE?
I seem to quite like singing as many words as possible at gigs, so it doesn’t seem that difficult really. Not sure how many of the words the members of the audience take in though, as they do come quite fast…

YOUR LYRICS TEND TO DELVE INTO THE POP CULTURE OF YOUR YOUTH. WAS LIFE BETTER BACK THEN?
Like most people, I’ve been quite obsessed with popular culture for most of my life. I guess I was the most obsessed with it as a teenager – and so the stuff from that era has stuck to me the most… The days of AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE by REM are the days that I was a young teenager. So everything seemed a lot more exciting to me.

THERE ARE LYRICS FOR SEVERAL OF YOUR SONGS ON YOUR WEBSITE (here), BUT IS THERE MORE STUFF TO COME?
A lot of those songs are from the solo albums THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL WAY OF DEALING WITH IT ALL, WE’RE HERE FOR THE DURATION… WE HOPE! and HMMMMM… MEET THE ‘ALL NEW’ SUPERMAN REVENGE SQUAD. You can listen to them on the Bandcamp site (here). And some new stuff will be released when I have another batch of songs written. I’m not sure when this’ll be at the moment, though. I’ll see how many new ones I’ve got ready by the next planned gig (in March) and take it from there.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU BEYOND THAT GIG?
If I could play a gig every three months or so to a reasonably full little room above a pub then I’d be quite happy.

WILL IT REALLY ALL BE OKAY IF YOU NEVER DO MAKE IT ONTO DESERT ISLAND DISCS?
It will be okay. I suspect I actually won’t make it onto DESERT ISLAND DISCS. Although I would really like to be on it one day…

WHAT WOULD YOUR DESERT ISLAND DISCS BE?
The songs I’d choose would change all the time. But at the moment they’d be: THE WEAKER SOLDIER by Will Oldham; BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX by Isaac Hayes; GOT THE TIME by Anthrax; DO THE RIGHT THING by Leatherface; THE TRAPEZE SWINGER by Iron And Wine; DRIZZLING RAIN by Masabumi Kikuchi and Gil Evans; DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD by Van Morrison; and FLEURETTE AFRICAINE by Duke Ellington.

IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ARTISTS SIGNED TO INDEPENDENT LABELS TO EVER REALLY SUCCEED IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY THESE DAYS? OR HAVE TELEVISION TALENT CONTENTS LIKE THE X FACTOR COME ALONG AND FUCKED IT UP FOR EVERYONE?
Well, I imagine that they can succeed if they have the inclination – and the luck. But there has always been crap music about, though… I suppose the gap between the small amount of people making loads of money and those people who are doing it for nothing is pretty massive these days, though.

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GET ON A SHOW LIKE THE X FACTOR? 
I think I would probably be one of the ones that everyone laughs at in the first couple of episodes.

WHAT WOULD YOU SING FOR YOUR AUDITION?
I can’t really sing other people’s songs. The only covers I’ve ever attempted are BREAKING THE LAW by Judas Priest, which The Superman Revenge Squad Band actually played at the last gig, and 22 ACACIA AVENUE by Iron Maiden. Oh, and I did do a cover of GYPSIES, TRAMPS AND THIEVES by Cher at a gig once… I did think about covering Survivor’s EYE OF THE TIGER for a session the other week, so maybe I’d do that. A really slow, miserable version. I don’t think the judges on THE X FACTOR would like it…

{ interview by DW }

Download THERE IS NOTHING MORE FRIGHTENING THAN THE PASSING OF TIME from Audio Antihero here.
A limited edition CD version is available from the same link, at a bargain-price of £4.