The instant anyone mentions swing -- as in dancing, zoot suits, swingers and martinis-shaken-not-stirred -- the word "retro" is sure to soon follow. Among this game of pop-culture Password, the names Brian Setzer, Royal Crown Revue, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies are sure to pop up, and that's not altogether fine with Daddies frontman Steve Perry.

"The only thing that's been a drag about this year is that the personality of our band is more diverse, and that hasn't really come across [in the wake of 1997's Zoot Suit]," says Perry. "We're trying to develop, in a broader setting, an audience like the one we've built over the last ten years, one that's open to letting us try things.

"[The Daddies] aren't a retro thing," he continues. "I mean, we're influenced by [swing], but we're not part of some scene. At the same time, when people have bought only one of your records, and they expect a certain thing, it's only human to not want to disappoint them. So that's our compromise. We're just a buncha guys who write songs, and the songs have emotional impact for us, that's why we play 'em. We're not really about selling pants, ya know?"

The garrulous Perry goes as far to compare the Daddies to the incomparable in an attempt to make his point. "Remember when the Rolling Stones started out?" he asks rhetorically. "They were a rhythm and blues band, trying to play that style, but when they wrote their own music, it came out different, more like ... them. That's how we look at swing. We want to evolve in some way. Right now, we've got an audience that accepts part of our sound, and we want them to accept the whole thing."

While visiting the band's favorite watering holes on a recent trip to Eugene, Ore., the Daddies demoed new material that will eventually become their next record and, perhaps for the first time, the octet made musical overtures that should shrink some of their unwanted swing stereotype. "Actually, I think [the new album, tentatively titled Soul Cadillac] will be more of a cross between Zoot Suit and our old records," Perry says. "All sorts of things could happen between now and next October [when the album is due for release]. We don't want to pull the wool over our own eyes. We're just putting one foot in front of the other for now, soaking it all in."

The Daddies are currently in the middle of what can only be described as a breakneck schedule, touring the East Coast with L.A. acts Ozomatli and the Pietasters ("a really diverse bill, not a 'swing all night long' kind of thing," says Perry by way of explanation) before heading over to New Zealand and Australia for the Vans Warped Tour in January. "The month of December is us kind of flying weirdly around to do a bunch of different shows: Seattle, Boston, Denver, Las Vegas," he says. "And then New Year's Eve we're in Auckland. Then off to Australia for a month, then to Japan, and back to Europe. From March to March we will have played 340 of 365 days. Pretty fuckin' hardcore."

COREY DU BROWA
(December 1, 1998)