Cherry Poppin' Daddies

The Cherry Poppin' Daddies were started in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989 by singer and songwriter Steve Perry and bassist Dan Schmid, and at first they were a punk and funk rock outfit. As one of the region's top bands they drew praise and controversy in equal measure, and they spread the word by touring the country on the ska circuit.

What they settled into was a wild mix of swing and ska, sometimes played straight like a jazz-age dance band, sometimes souped up with rock and punk, always with a big horn section blaring and Perry's lyrics sneering, smirking and poking at dark or political subjects. Then the swing revival caught fire, and the 1997 compilation Zoot Suit Riot rode it all the way into the mainstream, selling over 2 million copies in the US while the title song, a hopped-up jump-blues rumble, took over the radio.

When the craze cooled at the end of the decade, so did they. Soul Caddy flopped and the band went on hiatus in 2000, regrouped in 2002 for part-time touring, and got back to recording with Susquehanna in 2008. Through countless lineup changes, trumpeter Dana Heitman has stayed on with Perry and Schmid from the founding crew, and in January 2026 they released Roma! Roma!, a ska record.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.