In the last 20 years, the former University dropouts and self-described virgin killers the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies have emerged from the late ’80s Eugene hardcore punk scene with a genre-colliding sound that has taken them all across the United States and the world 10 times over. After the height of commercial and pop stardom, the band is returning to the humble stages of county fairs and local outdoor concerts. Now, a generation after their commencement, The Daddies have returned home to play the WOW Hall in honor of the release of their first album in nearly eight years.
Everybody remembers the song from childhood. “Throw back a bottle of beer/ Zoot Suit Riot/ Throw a comb through your coal black hair.” For a second, the stars aligned, the laws of physics reversed and it started snowing in hell as a swing music revival took over the airwaves and became a hit in the mid-’90s. And right there to cash in were The Daddies, whose provocative name and catchy song made the group an overnight sensation, selling more than two million copies of their compilation “Zoot Suit Riot.” As the swing movement began to dwindle, so too did the spotlight for the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. By the end of the 1990s, the band released five full albums and spent more than a decade touring, doing nearly 300 gigs a year.
“I went back to the U of O to get my degree. It was one of those things that was sort of left undone, so I went back and finished up my undergrad in molecular biology,” said frontman and scientist Steve Perry. “We’ve been on the road since the late ’80s, and we got pretty tired. Nobody had a life all through that time ’cause we’d just been working. We thought, you know, we’ve made some money and we need some rest; it just turned out to be a longer rest than we thought.”
Freshly rested and musically recharged, The Daddies will premiere their brand-new album, “Susquehanna” at the WOW Hall this Saturday, their first album since 2000’s “Soul Caddy.” Many casual fans might expect the typical rock and ska sound they have grown to expect, but Perry and the Daddies have always prided themselves on pioneering, reinventing and transforming genres. Named after a river in upstate New York where Perry spent most of his early childhood, “Susquehanna” embodies an eclectic combo of Afro-beat and Latin percussion, garage rock and greaser attitude, and glam and rockabilly groove. There’s a little swing thrown in the mix, but this certainly isn’t your daddy’s Daddies.

“What I was interested in trying to do with this album is have a sort of narrative. I don’t want to say a ‘rock opera,’ but in a way there is a story that goes through all 13 songs. And although the genres change, the story goes straight through it,” he said. “It’s kind of a memories-of-lost-relationships record, you know? That’s what I wanted to do; to see if I could pull something like that off as much as possible.”
The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies return to the WOW Hall this Saturday for the first time since their reunion. For much of the late ’80s and early ’90s, they performed at the WOW Hall just about every month and almost always sold out their shows. The band’s homecoming show should ignite the night in tremendous energy and debauchery and turn the WOW Hall into a crazed dance hall. The release show will also have copies of the new album available more than a month before its formal June issue. So bring a date, buy a drink and cut a rug.
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