Swingin'

An interview with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Most of the guys in the neo-swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy had day jobs. The kind with benefits. But the band thing seemed like it might really take off, so they ditched everything a few years ago just to see what would happen.

That move came right before film Swingers featured the band. The cult indie flick featured Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in scenes filmed at the Derby, a Los Angeles club where the band had a standing weekly gig.

Now the band is touring the East Coast in support of their new album, the self-titled Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. The 12-track album, on EMI-Capitol's Coolsville subsidiary, contains two songs from the Swingers soundtrack, plus two songs from the band's first independent release. And, of course, a cover of Cab Calloway's "Minnie The Moocher."

Horn player Andy Rowley fills in the details for Grip's own Laura Stark from a hotel in Orlando

The Swing Scene

We're a swing band but it's not swing like your grandfather listened to. . . it's our interpretation of it. The scene's definitely going to come and go in it's course of time. Who knows how long that's gonna go, but I think that the music we're doing is not gonna go by the wayside with that 'scene' ends. . . I think it transcends the scene.

Swingers

(The movie has) definitely brought more people to the attention of what's going on and the music that we're doing. Before we did it, it was kind of a hidden underground thing that people were into and there was room to dance at the Derby. And pretty much at the places we played it was the (swing) dancers that were usually the majority of the crowd. But since the movie came out it's everybody. . . it's the corporate people, it's the fraternity brothers, it's the skinheads. Everybody's coming to the shows now, it's not just the swing dancers. We played Gainesville last night and Jacksonville the night before that and it was packed. Places we had never played, we had no idea that they've heard of us out here.

Resume

Glenn Miller and the Dorsey Brothers were (my dad's) boys. I used to see him and my mom dancing to that stuff all the time, so there'd be all those records laying around all the time and my grandmother, she played piano. Her job was at a five and dime. . . and her job was to play the music so I've been around all the ragtime, honkytonk piano and stuff. But I have four brothers and their records- Zeppelin and Creedence and everything between. Hendrix. . . I had all that influence going on too. Our backgrounds are so latent in rock and punk rock and stuff too, as well as having grown up with the big band jazz. We've kind of merged the tow. Pulling back from history people that we admired and respect in the jazz world and pulling into it the attitude and energy to be found in contemporary music.

We've got eight guys in the band so between the eight of us I think everyone's played in a (some kind of) band, except Celtic or choir music, so we've probably done pretty much everything.

Working together

Scott (Morris) is the main tune writer. He comes in with a tune, with a skeleton, sometimes he comes in with a full-tune written out, but for the most part he brings them to the band and then (we) get a hold of it and put the vibes on. And we throw things back and forth, the horn section will get together and we'll work on our parts and get together with Jose, the piano player, and voice things out and try to make the arrangements us.

Working with a major label

It took a long time for us to go with a major label, 'cause no one really (understood) it-- what we were doing. They were trying to shove us into the lounge scene-- missing the whole point. The people that finally got it are the people we're working with now. It's Brad Benedict, who did Ultra Lounge. At first, he didn't know what to expect and we told him to come to an all-ages show and he was blown away. We had little kids there, we had their parents, we had their grandparents, you know. . . .

It's been really great-- the push behind us, the support for the record. We're getting things that don't normally happen with a major deal. The reason we were so reluctant at first was we ran everything ourselves. Everyone had a function in the band-- we did the presswork, the artwork, the managing, the booking, the bookkeeping, the accounting, all the inventory. Everything. All our sales, our CDs on the road, paid for all our road expenses so nothing came out of our pockets. We wanted to keep that same sort of thing because we knew it worked. When we got to this deal, we threw a lot of things out there that worked for us that weren't necessarily the (industry) norm. . . they said, 'well, why not give it a try?'

The snazzy threads

We find them thrifting. Shopping. Whenever we can. When we go into a city we always ask people at the shows where the stores are and we try to hit them up the next day before we head out. We've picked things up in Arizona, San Francisco, Seattle's got some cool stuff, Detroit. I just picked up a pair (of two-tones) in L.A. just a couple of weeks ago. We've got so many guys in the band that if we find a pair, someone can fit 'em. They don't go to waste. Same with the suits and clothes and ties too. A few of the guys have them made because you can't find big suits, they're really hard to find.

So if anyone out there reading this knows where there's a big stash of vintage suits, big ones, let us know because we can't find them. Everyone snatches those things up.

---- Laura Stark

Discography

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (1994, Big Bad Records)

Whatchu' Want For Christmas (1995, Big Bad Records)

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (1998, Big Bad Records)