SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS

Formed: 1993, Efland, North Carolina

Members: Jim Mathus, vocals, guitar, tenor banjo, trom-bone (born Clarksdale, Mississippi); Katherine Whalen, vocals, banjo, baritone ukelele (born Greenville, North Carolina, 24 April 1968); Tom Maxwell, vocals, guitar, baritone saxophone, clarinet, resonator (born, TK); Ken Mosher, guitar, alto and baritone saxophone, vocals (born St. Louis, Missouri); Chris Phillips, drums, percussion, backing vocals (born 19 June 1969); Don Raleigh, bass; Je Widenhouse, trumpet (joined band in August 1996).

Genre: Rock, Pop

Best-selling album since 1990: Hot (1997)

Hit songs since 1990: "Hell," "Put a Lid on It," "Suits Are Picking Up the Bill"

Named for the old-time candy, Squirrel Nut Zippers offered a blend of swing, blues, country, and jazz that became popular in the mid-1990s, around the same time as the swing revival. The Zippers' unusual, energetic music is reminiscent of the 1930s and 1940s. Their seven members are multi-instrumentalists who use old-time instruments such as banjo and ukelele to create a special sound.

Jim Mathus and Katherine Whalen, a married couple, formed Squirrel Nut Zippers in 1993 after leaving Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for the small town Efland, where they bought a farmhouse. They met the locals Don Raleigh, Chris Phillips, Ken Mosher, and Tom Maxwell. After a few months playing together, they made their debut in Chapel Hill and started to gather a strong following in the South. The alternative label Mammoth, based in North Carolina, signed them, and their second album, Hot, went platinum, thanks to the strength of the song "Hell." Their follow-up, Perennial Favorites, achieved gold status. The band's sound is typified by the samba-blues song "Hell." Rhythmically propelled by horns and zany, theatrical singing, it is a frightful tale of the afterlife.

Perennial Favorites (1998) carries on the same musical melange and yielded a hit with the slightly cynical swinger, "Suits Are Pickin' Up the Bill." In mid-1999 Tom Maxwell left the band to pursue other interests. In 2000, with the release of Bedlam Ballroom, it seemed that the band was verging on self-parody, and lackluster sales and a lukewarm critical reception suggested that the band's appeal was beginning to wane. Although Mathus and Whelan had both released solo albums by 2000, the climate of pop music had changed, with attention shifting to boy bands and teen-pop queens. Bedlam Ballroom barely made an impact; its peak position on the Billboard 200 album chart was 195.

Squirrel Nut Zippers rode their offbeat, eccentric wave through the mid- to late 1990s and emerged with a legion of fans and a platinum album.

Spot Light: "Hell"

"Hell," by Squirrel Nut Zippers, was a surprise alternative-music hit from their breakthrough album Hot (1997). The song had the timing needed to take a band to the next level. The song is not a swing song and is more akin to a samba, and the subject matter of death and the afterlife is more aligned with classic blues music, yet "Hell" peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard Modern Rock tracks because of its association with swing music. The Zippers capitalized on the momentum of the sleeper indie film Swingers (1996), which introduced a new generation to the culture of swing music. The renewed interest extended to Generation Xers who enrolled in swing dance classes and developed a fascination with martinis and lounge music. After the Zippers hit it big with "Hell," other similar retro bands became popular, including Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, thanks to its placement on the successful Swingers soundtrack. Ironically, the Zippers are now associated with the swing-culture revival of the mid-to-late 1990s even though their music is far too eclectic to fit into that pigeonhole.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

The Inevitable Squirrel Nut Zippers (Mammoth, 1995); Hot (Mammoth, 1997); Perennial Favorites (Mammoth, 1999); Bedlam Ballroom (Mammoth, 2000).

WEBSITE:

www.snzippers.com.

carrie havranek