SKAb: Where did you get the name "Cherry Poppin' Daddies?"

Steve: Well, when we first started out, we were all living in a band house. One of those big three story band houses. We had a garage, and there were three bands. We decided we were going to have our first show together in some hall. And both bands had a name, and we didn't have a name. So we couldn't think of anything. Everything we thought of was really stupid. Bad stupid. So we were drinking beer, and I pulled out these old 78's, and they have like dirty lyrics, and one of the songs had this guy (singing) 'I'll be your cherry poppin' daddy.' And one of the guys in the other bands said, "You guys should call yourselves the Cherry Poppin' Daddies." We laughed real hard, but it kind of had this ring to it, so we made these posters with Cherry Poppin' Daddies. So, one show led to another.

SKAb: What was your original name, then?

Steve: We thought about calling ourselves Mr. Wiggles one time. Really stupid names. The Iron Men of Leisure. Really stupid names.

SKAb: So, are you working on a new album?

Steve: Yeah, I just recorded sixteen songs. We'll probably do sixteen to twenty five more.

SKAb: Will the new album be mostly swing?

Steve: Yes, but there will be other stuff on it. It'll be about 2/3 Zoot Suit Riot stuff, and the other third whatever we like. The first sixteen songs, I only wrote four swing songs, but I got a bunch of other swing songs.

SKAb: Is the current lineup the originals, or have people come and gone?

Steve: People have come and gone. The bass player and I and the trumpet player are originals.

SKAb: On the Ferociously Stoned album, why were you called MC Large Drink?

Steve: I had this really stupid idea. The idea was to come on stage as a Happy Meal. Like the horns would be french fries, in fry hats, and Dan would be Mayor McCheese. And I would be in a giant cup. So I decided to use it as my moniker, because my actual name is Steve Perry, like the guy from Journey. I thought I don't want to hear from everybody, "Hey Steve Perry!" So I thought I'd call myself MC Large drink, but it was really stupid. Dicky from the Bosstones to this day still calls me (in Boston accent) "Large Drink." But I've decided to accept that I have the same name as the guy in Journey.

SKAb: But you're still visual in that you guys are dressed in suits and what not. Was that something you've always done?

Steve: No, we were much different. We were visual back then. There was a time I had red white and blue hair down to my ass like a flag. We also built a big thing called a dildorado. It's a six foot penis car that gets big and it gets hard. We called it the dildorado, or the dildozer, the penis cycle. It's pretty awesome. It was a riding lawnmower. It's kind of mind-blowing.

SKAb: Very interesting. Now, tell us what your favorite tour has been?

Steve: I like touring with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, they're really good friends of ours. Reel Big Fish and Let's Go Bowling we had a really fun tour with them. It was one of those tours where everybody on the entire tour was really cool and really nice, and everybody liked each other, and there were like seven thousand guys. It was this big ska tour.

SKAb: Both Reel Big Fish & Let's Go Bowling said that they loved that tour.

Steve: It was one of those ideal tours, where we just had a really good time. There were no assholes. That was probably the number one tour, to tell you the truth. And the Bosstones, I owe a lot to the Bosstones, they're just really decent people. I can call Dicky and Joe and say "I'm feeling bad about this and that and the other thing" and they are just so upbeat and positive. And they're genuinely like that, they're genuinely nice people. They'll help you out. If you need something, they're there for you.

SKAb: So, we heard "Zoot Suit Riot" on KROQ on the way over here. It's in heavy rotation there, so are you guys getting the rock star treatment these days?

Steve: You know, I like doing interviews and stuff like that. I don't mind being played on the "corporate" radio stations. Most of the people I've met are really cool people. Honest to God. At the label, Mojo, the people there are really nice. It's really true. I don't like the idea of somehow not being in touch with the fans, but it doesn't seem like it's happening. At least not to me.

SKAb: Your thoughts on legendary glam rock group Poison?

Steve: Well, I've already told you I'm really old. Poison was after, well what happened was, when I was in college I didn't listen to any mainstream music at all. I was into punk rock. X and the Meat Puppets, and that kind of thing. When Poison was popular I didn't have a TV, I didn't have a radio, I didn't care about that stuff. I was more interested in going to see the Damned or something, so didn't give a damn about Poison. So my thoughts on Poison are, that from the back they looked pretty cute.

SKAb: Who are some of your favorite bands today?

Steve: I really like the new Big 6 record. Also, this might sound crazy, the most interesting record I think is the Cardigans record. You have to listen to it, the way it's produced.

SKAb: I was reading a thread on alt.music.ska that said some of your songs are too fast to dance to. What do you think?

Steve: Well, see, there's different kinds of swing music to dance to. I'm more sort of drawn to the faster. You could see old dance footage from like Harlem from 1930 something, and it's just free form. So that's my preference.

SKAb: So, what's in your future?

Steve: We're going to hook up with this band called Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, they are a very strange band. They kind of have a Latino feel, with ska, and swing. And then we come back, and then we're going to do a Sinatra tribute album. We're going to do "Fly Me To The Moon" with a big band. Then the Warped Tour over the Summer.