Scott Steen, trumpet player for Royal Crown Revue, never thought he wouldfind himself on a stage in Omaha, Nebraska, opening up for KISS. But, aftermeeting the arena rock veterans a few weeks earlier in Denver, that'sexactly where he ended up, staring at the largest crowd he'd ever playedfor.

"It was so bizarre and surreal," says Steen. "I had no idea how theywere going to respond. I was afraid they might rush the stage or startthrowing things." He and his bandmates not only got off the stage alive,but saw their record sales spike for weeks after the gig. Much to theirsurprise, their horn-driven swing was a big hit with midwestern metalheads.With a little luck, it might soon be popping up on radio stations and inmusic halls coast to coast.

As the Nineties wear on, a sense of "been-there-done-that" pervades popularmusic. Bands and record labels look to the ever more recent past forinspiration; the success of a band like Bush strengthens the will of A&Rexecutives, who scour the cities of America, hoping to find the next nextNirvana.

Meanwhile, artists with an ear for music first made popular a half-centuryago are gaining fans without large record deals or significant radioairplay. Royal Crown Revue, the Mighty Blue Kings, and the Squirrel NutZippers fall under the umbrella of swing, a musical movement whose revivalhas been building since the late Eighties. These bands, and others likethem, are selling out clubs across the country and building an enthusiasticfan base through non-stop touring and word-of-mouth.

But despite what you may have seen in the movie Swingers, this is noCocktail Nation redux. These bands have not ironically donned the trappingsof a by-gone era; they take the stage with a deep respect for jazz, blues,and big band music. As pre-millenium tension mounts and the idea of"Alternative" music becomes more and more suspect, these groups arepresenting a true alternative. With swing bands slotted on this summer'sH.O.R.D.E. and Warped tours, they will spend the summer bringing theirmusic to a wider audience.

One of the pioneers of the scene is Royal Crown Revue. Formed in LosAngeles in 1989 from the ashes of failed jazz and punk bands, they soondeveloped a rabid following as a result of their tireless live shows. Theymixed their love of big band and jazz music with the energy of the LosAngeles rock scene, and came up with a new take on swing.

"The first stuff we did was influenced by Louis Jordan and Louis Prima, thelate 40s and early 50s pre-rock stuff," says trumpet player Scott Steen."We also have jazz influences, like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and JohnColtrane. Our lead singer grew up listening to Duke Ellington, Sinatra, andstuff like that, because his dad had a big band in Vegas in the Fifties."Steen joined the band after moving from San Francisco, where he was in thepunk band St Vitus' Dance.

Yes, punk. It's not as far from punk to swing as you might think. Stickrockabilly in-between, and the gulf narrows significantly. Western swinggave rise to rockabilly artists like Gene Vincent, echoes of whom can beheard in modern-day artists like Brian Setzer and Social Distortion. Skaand swing share horns, and quite a few punks (including former members ofthe Dead Kennedys) have found their way into swing and ska bands. SaysSteen, "For a lot of people, the progression was punk to rockabilly toswing." Squirrel Nut Zippers frontman Jimbo Mathus says he got the idea towrite new music that sounded like older music when he first heard TheCramps, who were doing a similar thing with rockabilly.

Chicago's Mighty Blue Kings don't have punk in their past, butcofounder and bassist Jimmy Sutton did cut his teeth on Chicago's rockabilly circuit.The Kings consider their sound the natural extension of what they grew up listening to (they list T-Bone Walker, Count Basie, and Sonny Rollins among their influences) and playing. "It wasn't somuch that we came together and decided that, 'okay this is what we're gonnado,'" says Mighty Blue Kings lead singer Ross Bon. "It's simply all ourinfluences coming together. We range from playing jump R&B, to jazz, toblues standards."

The Squirrel Nut Zippers arrived at their sound, which is a mix of jazz,swing, Dixieland, and big band, after their members toiled in a variety ofobscure alt-rock bands in their buzz-bin hometown of Chapel Hill, NorthCarolina. "For us, swing music is a progression from blues and early jazz,"muses Mathus. "It's just a slicker version of jazz and blues."

Though they pay homage to the same jazz and blues titans, don't try to tellthe Kings or the Zippers that they're part of some burgeoning swing scene.To hear them tell it, the only thing they have in common with Royal CrownRevue, or each other, is the fact that they don't rely on a distortionpedal. "We're unique. We're not like everything else," proclaims the MightyBlue Kings' Bon. "You can't really put a label on us. Let the Squirrel NutZippers and all those people keep doing what they're doing. I don't comparemyself to them. They're doing great, but we have our own idea of what we'reabout." Mathus, who plays a variety of instruments for the Squirrel NutZippers, has no idea what other bands might be about; he claims he hasn'tlistened to new music for twenty years.

Royal Crown Revue is a bit more in touch with who's playing what. Alongwith their L.A. cohorts Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, they have been at theforefront of a close-knit swing scene for close to a decade. How do theyfeel when they see bands like the Kings or the Zippers achieving fame,playing variations on what they've been doing for so long? Scott Steen isdiplomatic, and hopeful. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.There are lots of bands out there now doing what we've been doing foryears. Which is not to say we were the first band who ever thought ofplaying swing music, but we've been doing it for a while. The nice thingis, with all of these swing bands popping up, it means that there is muchmore cool music out there."

Los Angeles swings at clubs like the Dresden Room and The Derby, both ofwhich have been mobbed since the success of the movie Swingers. The band isambivalent about what has happened to their scene since the film's release.They turned down a chance to perform in the movie (a role that went to BigBad Voodoo Daddy); after their on-screen performance in the Jim Carreymovie The Mask, they were reluctant to appear in another film. "We didn'treally want to be known as 'the band that does the movies,'" explainsSteen.

Now, thanks to the film, the clubs where they once played to small,exuberant crowds are overrun with new fans, often making it impossible fortheir long-time fans to see them. Steen sees the popularity of Swingers asbeing detrimental to the club scene his band helped create. "To see a scenethat didn't exist and to watch it grow, and then to see the movie come outand all these people are swing dancing and drinking martinis and smokingcigars, it's strange. People go [to swing clubs] and don't even care who'splaying. So many people are going out just to be in a scene. I've hadpeople come up to us after a show and say 'I saw you at The Derby, and wentout and bought your album, and I love you guys,' and I realize that theyhave us confused with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy."

While Swingers may have hurt the L.A. scene by overhyping it, the moviealso helped by spreading the music to cities around the country. As aresult, however, when Royal Crown Revue hit the road, they often findthemselves pigeonholed as ironic artifacts of the cigar and martini culturerather than a serious group of musicians. "There are still people who goout and partake in the cocktail scene, but I really don't see it until Iget out on the road and we're playing clubs that are having 'Cigar Night,'or 'Martini Night,' or whatever," says Steen, with a trace of bitterness."The people in those places aren't there for the music. We played a placein the Chicago suburbs [Frankie's Blue Room], and we walked in and thought,this is such the wrong crowd, it's all yuppies with cigars."

The band remains optimistic about the publicity Swingers brought to themand their music. As Steen says, "If the worst thing that happens is thatpeople are getting back into real American music and dressing up to go outand dancing with each other, then great. I always complain about going toVegas and no one gets dressed up. I love it when people take the time andeffort to get dressed up to go out." The Kings' Ross Bon agrees. "Image isimportant. That's where our dress comes in. If I go up there in tatteredclothes, I feel defeated. You put on a suit, you feel good. The energycomes through."

The days of playing to small crowds in intimate clubs may be just aboutover for these bands, though. The Mighty Blue Kings created quite a buzz atlast year's South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Royal Crown Revueis booked on this summer's Warped Tour, and Squirrel Nut Zippers will behitting the road with the H.O.R.D.E. Tour.

Katherine Whalen, singer-banjoplayer for the Zippers, is pragmatic when asked what her band expects toget out of their H.O.R.D.E. experience: "It's not our ideal venue, but it'san honor to be asked to play it. Hopefully, we will turn more people ontoour music, and sell some records. We can't disregard something like theH.O.R.D.E. tour. For a lot of people, that's the only way they get to seemusic. Maybe they'll see us there, or hear us on the radio, and remember usand see us next time in a theatre." Both the Squirrel Nut Zippers and RoyalCrown Revue will have new material released by the end of the summer.

While South by Southwest, the Warped Tour, and H.O.R.D.E. may help turnmore people on to the unique sound of these bands, chances are the radiowon't. One thing these three bands do have in common is a lack ofsignificant airplay. With the exception of the Squirrel Nut Zippers song"Hot," which enjoyed some popularity thanks to Los Angeles alternativestation KROQ and an appearance in MTV's Buzz Bin, one would be hard pressedto hear any modern swing on the radio or television. Royal Crown Revue'sSteen hopes the success of "Hot" will change that: "This whole swing dealis bubbling under, and it's frustrating. We haven't really gotten anyairplay, and I'm not sure why. Hopefully [the Zippers] will break theground a little bit for other swing bands." Despite interest from majorlabels, the Mighty Blue Kings haven't signed to one yet. They still handletheir own PR and are waiting for the deal that will be right for the band."We are responsible for where we're at right now. We've developed our ownmachine, and put ourselves out there. We've met with a couple of labels, butyou need to find the people that are sensitive to your needs. You don'twant to grab the first bone that's thrown to you," says lead singer Bon.

The bands may be frustrated by their lack of airplay and commercialsuccess, but they try not to let it bother them. Instead, they focus theirenergy on their live shows. All three bands spend most of their time on theroad, and would continue to do so even if the major label and radiointerest went away. They're happy going out and connecting with their fansin clubs across the country, where they can feed off the energy that theaudience gives them. Bon talks glowingly about reaching an audience:" I love it when people come out andpush up against the stage and they're just digging it. The energy's there.You can feel it." Katharine Whalen describes the typical Squirrel NutZippers crowd like this: "It's all mixed: alternakids, people from theswing scene, people who bring their parents, people in their 70s. Everyonecomes and enjoys it. It's nice to look out and see people who wouldn'tordinarily come together coming together."

CHRISTIAN RUZICH