The eight-piece ska/swing band, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, is coming to the McDonald Theatre to perform during the Benefit for Buckley House Friday at 7 p.m. after the opening show by Eugene’s Yeltsin. Buckley House is a drug and alcohol program that provides help for substance abuse in Lane County.
People will remember the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies from its 1997 hit single “Zoot Suit Riot,” from an album that went multi-platinum. The funky, danceable music the band presented to a rather stagnant music scene caused a revival of swing music during a time when Hanson and the Spice Girls topped the charts. The group formed in Eugene back in 1989 and released its first album, “Ferociously Stoned,” in 1991. The band’s most recent album, “Soul Caddy,” received modest success after its 2000 release through Mojo Records.
“Deep down inside, I’m a sentimental guy,” lead singer Steve Perry said, according to the band’s official Web site. “And I’m disappointed with a lot of what I see nowadays. That’s what this record is about. It’s a bittersweet record about loneliness and disillusionment. And I don’t know of anything more universal than that.”
Since the album’s release, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies has been off the mainstream scene, and some would call the group a one-hit-wonder. But the band has a cult following in Eugene, composed of fans who have been around since the beginning.
“(The Daddies) aren’t a retro thing,” Perry said in an interview conducted by Rolling Stone magazine. “I mean, we’re influenced by (swing), but we’re not part of some scene.”
Tickets are available at Safeway TicketsWest outlets for $15 and $10 for students. Tickets can be purchased the day of the show beginning at 5:30 p.m. or online at www.mcdonaldtheatre.com. Doors open at 6 p.m.
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