The infectious Indigo Swing furthers musical resurgence
By Shannon Sneed
Entertainment Reporter
Listen up, hep cats: It’s hot jazz
with a cool sound, and it’s storm
ing its way through the hippest
clubs and dance halls in the
country. That’s right: swing mu
sic has resurged in the American
music scene with a vengeance,
being hailed as the Next Big
Thing and the latest remedy for
alternarock’s ailments — and Eu
gene is about to get a big dose.
San Francisco band Indigo
Swing will be bopping into town
and performing at the Wild Duck
Music Hall, 169 W. 6th Ave., on
Nov. 24. Opening acts are two lo
cal bands, The Skandals and Boo
gie Chillen', both of whom have
made marks on the Eugene music
scene.
With their inventive, infectious
and danceable tunes, Indigo
Swing has generated a buzz in the
Bay Area and nationwide as the
leaders of the West Coast swing
revival. The six guys, who play
instruments ranging from saxo
phone to piano, display enor
mous musical talent and are well
known for their enthusiastic per
formances.
“They’re really serious about
[swing],” said Jonathan Zwickel,
national music coordinator for
the EMU Cultural Forum, which
is sponsoring the event. “For
them, it’s less about the presenta
Lead singer Johnny Boyd
COURTESY PHOTO
s serious about swing.' His band is touring for their self-titled album.
tion and more about the music.”
Indigo Swing has been touring
extensively in promotion of its
14-song self-titled album, the
band’s second recording since its
formation in 1992. The album
won rave reviews all over the
country after its June release, be
ing named a “CD Pick of the
Month” in Details magazine and
called “inventive and seductive"
by Seattle Weekly.
As to swing’s sudden re-entry
into the music spotlight, the
band said they're not all that sur
prised.
“People are looking for some
thing different, so a lot of the kids
who had gotten tired of punk and
grunge started looking in this di
rection,” lead singer Johnny Boyd
said in an interview. "The same
kids that used to punk out and
pierce everything are the ones
coming to see us now.”
First to take the stage at the
Wild Duck will be The Skandals,
a new band of recent high school
graduates who have been making
waves and successfully attracting
a boisterous following of slick,
swingin’ scenesters to their Eu
gene performances.
When they formed at the begin
ning of the summer, The Skan
dals were primarily a ska band.
Recently, however, they decided
to rename themselves The Lucky
Seven and make the jump to pure
swing.
Also performing are Boogie
Chillen’, a jump-blues band that
hails from New York but has been
gigging incessantly in Eugene for
quite awhile. Weekly perfor
mances at Rascal’s, coupled with
the recent release of a new CD ti
tled “Chillen' of a Lesser God,”
have garnered them a large, de
voted local following.
“They convey a real stage pres
ence,” Zwickel said. “Out of all
the local bands here, I think
they’ve got an enormous amount
of potential.”
The show will start at 8 p.m.,
and all ages are welcome. A
swing lesson is included in the
price of a ticket and will be of
fered from 7 to 8 p.m. for those
who are a little rusty on their dips
and twirls. The lesson will be
taught by Brandon Sackett, a
member of the Oregon Ballroom
Dance Club.
Price of admission is $8 for
University students, $9 for the
general public and $10 on the
day of the show. Tickets are
available through the EMU Tick
et Office, CD World, Record Gar
den, Face the Music and House
of Records.
So pour yourself a martini and
get dolled-up, dapper and ready
to dance because this show
promises to swing you right off
your feet.
Daddies: Local attitude toward band, swing has changed
■ Continued from Page 7A
name was a reference to fathers
^ having sex with their chi 1
W dren,” said Bob Fennessy,
A publicist for WOW Hall. “The
|W name actually comes from the
W lingo of swing music. The idea
* of calling someone a daddy [is a
term of endearment] — like what a
girl would call her boyfriend.’’
The local attitude toward the Dad
dies has come a long way since the
era when protesters would tear
down concert advertisements and
newspapers ran their name in ab
breviations such as "The C.P.
Daddies” to avoid offend
ing readers.
“The Daddies are not
at all controversial now
compared to when they
first came out,” Fen
nessy said.
This increased tolerance may stem from
the renewed popular interest in swing music,
facilitated in part by retro groups such as
Squirrel Nut Zippers and Royal Crown Re
vue. The Daddies, however, have always
shunned being labeled a retro band.
"They used to be mostly swing, but now
they’re including more punk, some ska and
some reggae stuff too,” said sophomore Saki
Kamimura, a Daddies fan and an internation
al business major.
Another trademark of Daddies’ songs is
their abrasive, short-story form lyrics juxta
posed against a backdrop of peppy melodies.
“They take material that might be appro
priate for a punk song and then put it to
swing music,” Fennessy said. “It's happy
music about unhappy situations.”
The Daddies embrace such a wide variety
of musical flavors that it is hard to determine
what kind of person represents the typical
Daddies fan.
“When they started out, a more mature au
dience came to see them,”
Fennessy said. “But of
course, they’ve al
ways been popular
with young people.
Something that
every young person
in Eugene looks for
ward to is their first Dad
dies concert.”
Freshman psychology major
Misty Eiccholz appreciates the
band’s diverse fan base.
“I think one of the reasons ^
they’re so unique is that they |
draw big crowds of all ages, I
from people as old as 60 to people as {
young as 12,” Eiccholz said.
Ticket prices are $8 in advance and $9 at
the door. Tickets are available at CD World,
EMU Main Desk, Green Noise, House of
Records, La Tiendita & Taco Loco, Record
Exchange and WOW Hall.
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