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Zoot suit loot shot >> Jive talkin' with the Cherry Poppin' Daddies by ARISH KHAN
After a gruelling nine years, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies have gone from playing in seedy hole-in-the-wall dives for a few hardcore hepcats to large arena venues for a bunch of Birkenstock-wearing pussies. They claim to play an eclectic mix of ska, country and swing. Whatever sound they do achieve has gone platinum and made them America's flavour of the month. Mirror: What exactly is a cherry poppin' daddy? Jason Moss (guitarist): It's a term we got from a race record. Before the music industry was the efficient machine that it is today, race records were records recorded by and produced for black people. Radio was kind of ghettoized and they played race records on black radio. M: So it has nothing to do with the fact that inbreeding is very popular in the swing circuit? JM: It doesn't have anything to do with that. It's just a name that's kinda swingy, a little raunchy and risqué. M: Do you guys consider yourselves purists? JM: No, not at all. We're more like non-purists. I think our best songs are where we mix swing with rock and R&B. Purists kinda look down on that, but we're really not into being a '40s retro band. M: How much jive talk goes on between you cats, or are you a bunch of salty crackers? JM: You know this is 1998, not 1943, so we talk like regular guys from 1998. M: Do you think America should wage another war against someone to make this whole swing fad more authentic? If so, what country would you like to nuke the most? JM: Well, Canada's the nearest one, so I guess we can attack Canada. That's a good idea. M: What's the wildest show you've played to date? JM: I remember a show in Salem, Oregon--which incidentally is the capital of Oregon--a security guard assaulted a fan right in front of the stage. Steve (Perry, singer) stopped the show in the middle of a song and basically told the guy to fuck off. The audience went really crazy and it was a near-riot. The security guard got fired that night. That was pretty wild. M: Do you find it hard to swing after a couple of drinks? JM: Yeah, actually I do. It's a lot harder to swing dance when you're drunk. M: Have you met any swing legends that you admire? JM: Not really, not any musicians. But our whole band had a friendship with Jazzbo Collins, who was one of the pioneering radio DJs in the 1950s. He had a show in New York City called "The Purple Grotto." He died a couple of years ago but he was a real big supporter of our band. He had a show in the Bay Area and he'd play our music alongside the classics, like Duke Ellington. He was like the prototype for Wolfman Jack, and he was a real pothead. Kind of a seminal beatnik character. He was our window into the jazz world. M: What can Montrealers expect from the Cherry Poppin' Daddies? JM: Well, it's basically sights and sounds for the whole family. At Metropolis with Pietasters, Springheel Jack USA and Ozomatli, Wednesday, November 4, 8pm, $17.50+taxes
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Due to recent breakthroughs in trendsetting technologies, the kids are throwing away their fat pants and Filas for shiny shoes and dance lessons. Everybody from Jimmeny Lummox to Leslie Roberts is suddenly swinging. The days of shiny dancehalls and throwing ladies between your legs is being reborn for the masses to jazzercise to at the local YMCA.