Wow, 1997 seems forever ago. My first exposure to the Cherry Poppin' Daddies (CPD) was hearing "Zoot Suit Riot" on the airwaves as they were gaining traction on the radio. The sweet swing/jazz groove of CPD stuck with me in the same era as releases from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. And though I'm a huge fan of swing, one way or another I managed to lose track of CPD over the last ten years.
It seems that the band took a break in the early 2000s after their fourth album Soul Caddy didn't do as well as they'd hoped. During the downtime, singer Steve Perry completed a degree in molecular biology and the rest of the band spent time with their families, always trying to figure out how to bring swing back out of the shadow of pop music.
In 2006, "Zoot Suit Riot" was used during a dance number on So You Think You Can Dance and interest was once again sparked in the band. In 2007, they started work on a new album, Susquehanna, which was originally released on the band's website in 2008 and CPD started touring again. The album features primarily West Coast and Latin influences — flamenco, greaser rock, swing, ska, glam and soca — once again mixing things up and adding new qualities to the band's swing/ska sound.
If you listen to the song subjects, these are not cheery - but focus on a coming-of-age story. As Perry says, "The goal of the theme was to give the impression of various relationships in decay (in particular a male-female one) with memory, time, and personal isolation being important touchstones." It provides an interesting structure to the musical landscape of the album.
Before I dig into the songs a bit, I just want to state for the record that it's amazing to have these great, talented musicians once again on the scene. If you've not yet experienced CPD, but enjoy swing, I recommend you pick up their Zoot Soot Riot album at a bare minimum. There's something about the energy - the feel - of the music from these guys that brings across the best qualities of swing without being old-fashioned.
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