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Swing’s the Thing!
Thoughts from Sean Flannery and Dusty Lanker from CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES
A band with a
name like the CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES is likely to make heads turn, eyebrows raise,
and lips purse for those lacking either a sense of humour or an open mind.
"First of all, what happened in the beginning days of the band… we were listening to a lot of old race records, which typically had a play on words and puns and really dirty, sort of risqué lyrics and titles," Dusty offers. "There were a bunch of bands that lived in a house together, and it was right before the first gig, they were trying to come up with names. Somebody had heard this lyric in this song and said, "Well, what if you call yourself THE CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES?" Then everybody kind of laughed, and then lo and behold, that ended up being the name and it stuck. It was sort of a joke. I mean, we are NOT devirginizers (laughter all around), we’re NOT. So it really was a joke in the sense of calling ourselves that."
"It was an easy name, kind of designed for one show, at the beginning too. It kind of just exploded for them," Sean continues the thought, adding. "This is before Dusty and I joined, a long time ago. They couldn’t think of any other name after they thought of that one, because there was no name that was going to stick besides that one. It’s kind of like any word or any phrase that you say enough it really ceases to mean what it did before. I mean, CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES does not mean what people think it does anymore. Simply because we’ve become known enough it’s just a name. Just like CRYSTAL METHOD, they don’t all do crystal meth."
Dusty pipes up with, "THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS?"
"Well," Sean concedes. "We don’t know about THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, but I’m going to guess that not all of them are butthole surfers."
"Yeah, exactly. Or the B-52s… or anything. Pick any band and usually they’re not actually self-descriptive."
True enough… and it’s nice to see the boys have maintain their sense of humour throughout the tour and the heat.
There’s a group of about six media huddled around the chairs. Most are from fanzines or college papers… and we’re left to feel like the geriatric wing of "The Gallery" as Sean as dubbed the press surrounding him. It makes an almost comical scene. The heat is becoming a little oppressive and Randall’s Island is slowly morphing into a dust bowl… the only reason we’re huddled is that REVEREND HORTON HEAT has taken the stage directly behind us and Sean’s comments are in danger of being swallowed by the rantings of the good Reverend.
Dustin and Sean are not founding members—they are "late additions" to the CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES. Still, amidst the caterwauling guitars, Dustin and Sean feel no shame at divulging another band member’s first gigs with the band… quite a claim to fame…
Dustin leans forward, "Our drummer, Tim, like about a year and a half ago, his first show was to fly down to LA and play the grand opening of the Bloomingdales store down there. And it was this sort of star-studded, Entertainment Tonight type of affair. Demi Moore actually went up and spoke and everything (laughter all around). And she went up and spoke and after that she came right by us, and we went up on stage. So Tim had it all right then. We stayed in the penthouse of like the Beverly… something… Beverly Hills… spectacular hotel.
Sean adds, "My first gig was at a local bar in Eugene, Oregon called "John Henry’s" and there was like 300 people there. It was pretty uneventful. Dustin, what was your first gig?"
"My first show was at a place called the "Crystal Ballroom" in Portland. We did two nights there, and one night we played with INDIGO SWING, and then the next night we played with SAVE FERRIS and LET’S GO BOWLING. That was a really cool experience for my first couple of gigs. They were really, really good shows and everybody was really into it."
Sean admits, "Doesn’t beat Tim’s first gig, though.
And why put out a swing album?
Sean smiles through the multitude of tape recorders, "I think the original story is when we go on tour a lot of people are interested in the swing stuff that we play during or sets, so they come up to merch[andise – ed,] table—to our manager Howard—and say, "Which album has the most swing stuff on it." And he would have to go, "Well, this one has five swing hits, and this one has four."
"We didn’t know some of this [swing revival] was going on. We knew about bands, we played with like ROYAL CROWN REVUE and BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY before, and we knew that there was a scene that was starting to groove but never did we think that it would blow up like this. So we put together a swing album. We recorded four new songs, actually, that we’d been working on… and we put it out as an album. It got picked up by MoJo Records about two months after that… and the rest is history… I guess…"
The rest is history? It might be a little early to call it history…
IP: Over the years that the CPD have been together, was it very difficult to gather that many different musicians of that talent together?
S: Yes, absolutely. We’ve been around since 1989. Over the course of that ten years, there’ve been several, several musician changes.
IP: Lots of personnel?
S: Yeah, it is tough in the sense. You need to get eight people together that are willing to give up, basically, what they’re doing with their lives and everyone has to be on the same page, everyone has to understand how it works, how songs are written. You know, to get eight people together took a long time and I think we finally got a unit that’s gonna be together for a while.
IP: How’s your reception been on this tour? Considering most of the bands out there are pretty punk.
S: That’s a good question. It’s been mixed. We get really good crowds every day, but there is a contingent of people who are anti corporate, monster rock, you know, and that’s kind of what we’ve become. Which is good and bad, of course. We’re not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and say, "We gotta stay punk… you know… we shouldn’t have signed with a major label." You know, we’ve been around for 10 years, I think it’s time to try to get something out of it.
There are some bands, I’m not going to name any names, but there are some bands that are a little bit anti… but when we signed on to do the Warped Tour, we had no idea that this was going to happen. None. It was like six months ago… nothing had happened… the single hadn’t even been on the radio yet. But by the time we got here we were climbing up the charts. We are we going to do? We totally respect these guys, too. We’ve played with a lot of them, history, run into a bunch of them in different towns. "We’re playing down the street Wow! It’s great! How are you all doing? We’re doing good. We’ve gotta new album coming out." They’re all chasing the same thing as us, you know. There are some hypocrites, but they’re very small. Most of the bands are very cool, and there are some great bands on the tour, too.
IP: When you approach the writing, is it just one or two people or is it more of a group effort?
S:
It’s a complex issue, but Steve… Steve, our singer over there, actually
(gestures to Steve speaking with MTV). He writes all the lyrics and he writes all the
chord changes. So he comes in with tune ideas and so he’s kind of like the master of
ceremonies, you know. When it comes to putting the tunes together into completion,
he’s like in the center of the room… horns over here, rhythm section over here,
keyboards…
and we get the basic parts down, then we kind of fill in as we go. We talk about form and everyone throws out ideas, and the horn players are in charge of arranging our part. He’ll come in with a lead line a lot, seriously, he’ll be like, "I’ve got this line, it goes [imitates with a dut-dut-dut]." And we’re all like… we figure it out and we’re like, "Okay, now we’ve got to make it sound good." So we’ll harmonize it and all that stuff. He’ll say, "Okay, that sounds good" or "how about… this note sounds weird." So we’ll make a change. So he’s the one who makes the final decision about music.
IP: I notice on the album that the lyrics are… interesting. Do you know what the inspiration for the lyrics is?
S: I think it’s just a lot of real-life issues, across the board. He’ll either put himself into someone else’s shoes, talk about what they’re going through and all the issues they’re going through, or it’ll be an issue that’s personal. But for the most part, I think it’s just trying to write about real-life issues. I don’t know at this point, I’m sure talking to him, he’d give you a much more in depth answer. It’s not just, "I love you, this girl’s so hot" or "oh my god I got beat up at school today."
IP: How was it doing the Viva Variety Show on Comedy Central?
S: Oh, it was fun. Those people are hilarious. I don’t know if you saw that show.
IP: I did.
S: It was hilarious!
Enter stage right, the publicist and Dusty. He’s come to join the interview, but there’s no chair at first, he looks at Sean.
D: I’m going to refrain from sitting on your lap and just crouch.
S: Dusty, the gallery. The gallery… Dusty.
["Hellos" all around]
IP: What other musicians would you like to work with?
S: Working with, touring with, or just any of the above?
IP: Any of the above.
D: You know who I really want to work with? I would love to fucking collaboration with WYCLEF. That would be the most awesome thing that ever fucking graced this. I hate to say it and I know it sounds egotistical, but that would be the best.
S: No, that would rule!
D: As far as producers, whoever produced that last FOO FIGHTERS album, I would love to work with him. I definitely would. Do you know his name?
S: No.
D: Just sounds amazing. I’d like to work with someone like Todd Rundgren, who did a lot of XTC stuff, or Steve Lillywhite, or Butch Vig. There are actually a lot of incredible hip-hop producers that, too, that you don’t hear a lot about that I think would be really, really fun to work with. But people who do work for WYCLEF and for DIGGABLE PLANETS, those records are produced in an incredible way. I would like to work with people like that. People who are totally outside the genre of music that we play, that would have a totally different take on it.
S: Yes, I agree. That way it would just sound (imitates the Y. CLEF sound, laughter all around).
D: I really want to work with Bette Midler, though (laughter all around).
S: Okay, next question.
IP: What are your post-tour plans?
S: Tour. You mean post-Warped Tour plans?
IP: Yeah.
S: Okay, well… it ends in about a week and we’re going to go home and record some stuff. And we’re going to do three more tour dates on the 20th through the 22nd [of August – ed.], and then we’re going to go to Europe for the Warped Tour leg over there. That lasts until about October 1st. Then we start our own U.S. tour that last until about December 1st. Then we do a bunch of radio shows in December, and then fly to New Zealand and Australia for New Years and the month of January. And then we come back and do another U.S. tour on our own and it’ll probably end about March or April.
IP: Now when you say you’re going to do your own U.S. tour, is that going to be small clubs?
S: It’ll be a 2 to 3000-seat venue and theatres mostly.
Sean immediately broaches the subject of "audience participation" at their shows. Fans can be, and often are, demonstrative to the extreme and it’s obviously a topic he feels strongly about…
S: They [audience] give us energy. The only thing I don’t like is when kids throw heavy objects at the stage, because it endangers us and it endangers our instruments. You know, anything that’s non-destructive that lets out energy, gives us energy, so it gives us a better show.
D: Absolutely. As long as they’re not jumping around on stage and ruining our stuff, I don’t care what they do.
S: For the most part, my take is: security guards need to relax. They need to recognize which situations are dangerous and which aren’t and relax.
And what can fans expect to hear on the next record?
S: It’s going to sound a lot like ABBA (laughter all around). We’re really going to that ABBA feel.
D: Yeah.
S: And a little Jim Croce, too.
D: Yeah… yeah…
S: Gordon Lightfoot?
D: Yeah, right… definitely…
IP: John Denver?
S: Hey, there’s some good shit in there, you know? Excuse my language.
IP: You both were added into the group later on. How was it to come into an established band with a little bit… well, a lot of prehistory behind it?
S: It was extremely exciting. I was 20 years old and I had just completed my second year of college and this spot opened up. And the band, we were still just playing around northwest… mainly a northwest band, at that point. Still, lots of history, lots of respect You know, I was a total fan before I joined. Like when I first heard the band I was 16 years old, so that kind of gives you an idea… I’m almost 24 now. And they were like my favourite band for five years.
IP: So you were a fan before?
S: Oh yeah! Totally. (to Dusty) You were too, right?
D: Absolutely.
IP: You (Sean) play the sax, and you (Dusty) play –
D: Keyboards.
IP: What was your musical training prior to… did you always want to be a rock star?
S: Not a rock star, but a musician… yeah. I think I took to it pretty early. Well, I didn’t start as early as Dustin, I was 11 and I just took to it, you know. I didn’t expect to be here with four tape recorders stuck to my face (laughter all around).
D: I started when I was 5 playing classical piano and then moved on to jazz piano. Then I learned all about small group jazz and instrumental jazz and vocal jazz… big band and swing… and everything. Taking jazz training will really teach you everything about all the related styles of that genre. Then I went to music school and I dropped out and… now I’m here. I’m a drop out.
S: Yeah, we’re both drop outs.
And is there a future for swing?
S: I think there’s going to be a big drop off… in probably about a year. In a way, I think that it is going to be a fade, but there are certain elements, hopefully, that will stay with pop music. People fusing swing with other styles of music to make something new. You know, that’s all we can hope. But it’s definitely this revival of 40s zoot suits, martinis, dance and swingers, and 40s night club settings is going to pass. There’s no question about it.
D: It’s [the swing movement] good company. All of the bands that are at the top of this field are really good. BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY, ROYAL CROWN REVUE… ROYAL CROWN REVUE are friends of ours… really nice guys and great…
S: Smokin’…
D: Smokin’ band… but at the same time we’re really not trying to do the same thing as those bands. They’re going for more of an authentic style, and we’re going to more of a 90s punk style. I think it’s great to be in that company, but at the same time all those bands are trying to do very, very different things. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t see that. They see it all as just one thing. Man, I tell you what, you put on the SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS record next to ours and it doesn’t sound the same at all.. Totally different type of feel.
S: Same with ROYAL CROWN REVUE. Their three albums are so different… you just won’t even believe it.
Someone makes mention of the nearly all-male line up with the Warped Tour. And how do they feel about a noticeable lack of women?
D: Well, anything other than the Lilith thing is going to be very testosterone-driven, because probably 90 percent of all people in music are men. Most people in bands are guys. That’s just how it is. Punk rock is… you know… deals with a lot of anger and angst and a lot of masculine feelings, but at the same time it’s like… God… the Lilith Fair has plenty of guys going there, too, and I see plenty of women here. It’s just…
S: Where there is one sex, the other will follow
D: Oh, always. Always. I think it just comes down to… this isn’t really a punk rock tour. There are a lot of punk rock bands, but there’s so much else going on. I think people who think this is an incredibly testosterone-driven tour, then more so than any others obviously aren’t listening to a lot of he different bands.
S: Yeah… yeah, you’re right…
D: Well, I’ll tell you what. Lilith Fair probably has more testosterone than this one. Honestly, I hear guys talking about the Lilith Fair, and they talk about it like it’s kid’s day in the candy shop. I think that a lot of guys are more interested in going to the Lilith Fair because they know there are going to be a lot of women there, then they are concerned with coming to the Warped Tour and seeing a bunch of punk bands. That’s what I think.
S: I think you’re right. In fact, I might go that route, too.
D: There’s a lot more testosterone in the Lilith Fair.
S: Just keep going with it, dude. Keep going.
D: There’s a lot of unmasculine men on this tour and… a lot of very unfeminine on that tour. So I’d say it’s actually about even. Honestly, yeah…
Indie Press Online would like to thank K. Lee, Nasty Little Man, and Sean and Dustin from the CHERRY POPPIN' DADDIES...
| Next month, if the
planets are in alignment, IPO will bring you BAUHAUS, the AQUABATS, Bob Mould, Sunny Day
Real Estate, and a couple other surprises...
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