We were gonna put out another record...and we weren't really sure what to do, because we didn't have much money. People would come up to us at shows and ask Howard, our manager at the time, "Which one of these records has the post-swing stuff on it?" That’s what people seemed to be liking about our music.

So we made the record...and sure enough, it answered the question. It sold like crazy - way more than we thought. Then we went out on the road with Reel Big Fish. When the guy who ran their label (MOJO/Universal) saw us at a show, he wanted to hook us up with a licensing and distribution deal, so we thought, "Great!" Then, after the events that unfolded over the course of licensing 'Zoot Suit', they decided they didn’t want to after all - they wanted to just sign us to the label outright. Well, we've hit a certain level independently, so we decided we'd take the deal. They were real nice, and the[y] gave us a good deal. When they put out 'Zoot Suit', it just [kept] selling. They originally signed us for two records.

We went on some tours...getting ready to make the first record for this deal...because this was the "big record" they were gonna pay for. We went in the studio and started recording, then we started getting calls from radio stations and stuff...telling us the song "Zoot Suit" was goin' off. The President of Universal shows up at our show and he says... "Your record is going to do really well...We believe you could sell one or two million of this thing..." I thought he was out of his mind!

What [w]as he gonna do when we don't sell so many? So, by this time SXSW [South by Southwest] Festival came around, I started to understand just how big this thing was getting - we were selling 60,000 copies of 'Zoot Suit' a week. So we just rode it out.

'Zoot Suit' made it how far on the Billboard chart?

We reached 18 I think. The whole thing was just really strange.

Where around the world did the gigs to support the record take you?

Oh man, Budapest, Vienna, Austria, Bologna and Milan, Italy, Spain. We did the WARP[ED] Tour in Europe, Australia on the WARP[ED] Tour. Like 240 gigs last year...and the first two months of that year we were in the studio, trying to do the "new record."

I saw you guys on a couple of shows...one of which was Barbara Walters' "The View."

That was the first TV show we ever did actually. The night before we were somewhere else, so the next morning we had to do the gig sooooo early...it was so surreal. It was like 5:00am in the morning.

What other TV shows did you do?

We did Leno, we did Letterman...

What was that like, meeting Dave?

Yeah. I shook his hand, and he looked at me really strange.

You didn't meet him before or after the show?

No, nothing like that. I talked to Leno though, he was really nice, he showed me his car and stuff. Letterman kind of freaked I think, but Leno liked us.

Tell me about some of the bands you've got to play with.

Oh man, so many. On the WARPED Tour, we got to play with NOFX, Bad Religion (on the European leg), Suicidal Tendencies, whom I really like a lot, Reverend Horton Heat.

That must have been so fun.

It was - it was hard work, but so fun. Our drummer is a big motocross fan, and he hung out with those guys a lot.

So who all is in the band now?

The original members Dan Schmid on bass, Dana Heitman on trumpet, Jason Moss on guitar and then we have Ian Early on alto sax, [Shaun] Flannery (who was actually on 'Kids on the Street'), the tenor player, keyboard player Johnny Goetchius (he's from New York, we met him through the Bosstones).

Do you find you get treated any differently now that you've gained a certain amount of fame? Is it still like the old Steve Perry hanging out in Eugene?

I get recognized some. Not a whole lot. It's actually fine - people are pretty nice. Still live in Eugene for now, but I think after we finish this record, I'm going to move back East...that's where I'm from originally. I've been here since '81 and I need a change. I'll always come back here to make our records, but I'm ready for a change.

Do you still own all the rights to all your music?

Oh yeah. I let some stuff go on movie soundtracks. There's something about the movies. I used to own a video store in Eugene, so I don’t mind using my music for the backround music in a movie.

Besides the success of 'Zoot Suit', what is the most unpredictable or weird thing that has happened?

Well, weird, like Weird Al played right here at the L.B. Day the other day and he covered 'Zoot Suit Riot' - called it 'Grapefruit Diet.' It's on his new record - that's pretty much the pinnacle. Other stuff, like the Boston Pops asked us to play onstage, but we didn't. Umm...we did the Playboy Jazz Festival - Hugh Hefner's a big fan of The Daddies - just nutty, crazy. Everyday it's something stupid like that.

Wow. So tell me a little more about the new record you're working on.

It will probably come out this next spring. It's taking longer than I thought. We want to do it right. It's a mixed bag, like an older Daddies record. It runs the gamut, rock, soul, swing. 'Zoot Suit Riot' wasn't really what the Cherry Poppin' Daddies were all about...it was just a slice. Then it got weird...magazines would call us up and ask things like "We want to do an article with you guys, and we want you to talk about the swing movement." I told them I can't tell them or other people how to be a swinger...it's not what we're about really. Then the writer would call back and say "Well, my editor wants you to say this!" Then I wouldn't...our publicist wasn't very happy. Now we're on [blank] magazine's shitlist. They just didn't get it.

Was much of the music from your forthcoming album written on the road?

No, no - it was written in Eugene.

The worst thing about gaining rock n' roll fame?

(Schmid pipes in - "Those extra pounds!" Ian Early - "Finding space for all those new cars!")
S.P. - The worst thing...I'll tell you what the worst thing is. Once you've become popular, you are immediately suspect. People think your stuff is stupid, you're a bonehead. The attitude that you can't be doing anything artistically worthwhile because a lot of people like it...

The best thing?

The best thing about it...hmmm...well, occasionally someone buys you a beer.

What will you miss about Oregon when you move away?

The people. People here are so unique, crazy. I don't think the Cherry Poppin' Daddies could have existed anyplace else. I like the open-mindedness, freethinking, independence...crazy people. When we go out on the road, the people, getting thrown out of bars are always the ones from Oregon. I like that about people.

So you run into a lot of people from Oregon all around the world?

Yeah, quite a bit - and they're always the same...the one getting hauled away. That’s what I'll remember the most, the people, the whole freaky culture.