New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ American Songwriter) NY Times Exclusive Album Premiere, American Songwriter Video Premiere, as Cherry Poppin' Daddies Take on The Rat Pack, with Swaggering Homage to the Seminal
Music of the 1960s
Band Flexes Their Performance Chops with Studio Craft and Stage Show That Hearken Back to a Vibrant Era
'Please Return the Evening: The Cherry Poppin' Daddies Salute the
Music of the Rat Pack', Set for July 29th Release
Cherry Poppin' Daddies offer their take on the music of 'The Rat Pack', with an homage that honors the artistry and evokes the can-do spirit of the beloved era but also manages to infuse the recordings with an 'in-the-room' sound that gives the album a wonderful tension. With the July 29th release of 'Please Return the Evening: The Cherry Poppin' Daddies Salute the
Music of the Rat Pack,' CPD taps into the undeniable swagger and cool confidence of Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., and introduces the Kennedy-era music of Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn, Frank Loesser and others to a new generation.
The New York Times World Premiered the full album via Press Play. Listen to it here:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?artist=Cherry%20Poppinamprsquo;%20Daddies&album=Please%20Return%20The%20Evening
A 'throwback' video for the track 'Come Fly With Me' was Exclusively Premiered via American Songwriter Magazine:
https://www.americansongwriter.com/2014/07/video-premiere-cherry-poppin-daddies-come-fly/
In the American Songwriter column, CPD leader/singer/songwriter
Steve Perry comments: "To me vibe of this song typifies the can-do spirit and swagger of the Kennedy era," says lead singer Steve Perry. "Unfortunately, when Kennedy went so did about 50 years of swing/jazz holding court over the pop landscape. In my mind, 'Come Fly With Me' is kind of the swan song for both. We shot the video in Hope Town, Bahamas."
In Cherry Poppin' Daddies' updated biography (below,)
Steve Perry said the group challenged their studio craft on this recording, attempting to do justice to huge orchestrated arrangements while being limited to their eight-piece band inside a small Eugene, Oregon recording studio. "We recorded mostly live in the room together and as far apart as we possibly could in order to get the feel of those live recording sessions that featured large in-house studio orchestras", Perry explains. "We were hoping that some of our punky grit and jazzers conviction would shine through the final recordings so as not to seem too smooth or canned, but rather to achieve the same balance between authentic edge and technical competence that makes the Rat Pack's music so compelling."
Track listing for the upcoming album:
1. The Best Is Yet To Come (Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh)
2. Come Fly With Me (Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen)
3. The Lady Is A Tramp (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)
4. Ain't That A Kick In The Head (Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen)
5. Fly Me To The Moon (Bart Howard)
6. I'm Gonna Live Until I Die (Al Hoffman/Walter Kent/Manny Kurtz)
7. Luck Be A Lady (Frank Loesser)
8. I've Got You Under My Skin (Cole Porter)
9. Mr. Success (Frank Sinatra/Henry W. Sanicola/ Edwin Greines Cohen)
10. The Way You Look
Tonight (Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields)
11. Ring-a-Ding-Ding (Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen)
12. Just One Of Those Things (Cole Porter)
13. The Boys' Night Out (Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen)
14. Come Back To Me (Alan Jay Lerner/Burt Lane)
15. That's Life (Dean K Thompson/Kelly L Gordon)
The band's live show is not to be missed. With a wink at the audience and a simultaneous respect for the source material that evokes
David Johansen's Buster Poindexter persona, CPD and
Steve Perry have created a crowd-pleasing show suitable for a wide range of venues and audiences. A recent concert at Jazz Alley in Seattle earned this write-up: https://backbeatseattle.com/2014/06/13/photos-and-review-cherry-poppin-daddies-jazz-alley/
Upcoming dates include:
9/12/14 McAninch Arts Center Glen Ellyn, IL
9/13/14 Schauer Arts Center Hartford, WI
11/12/14 The Carolina Theatre Durham, NC
11/13/14 University Of NC Wilmington Wilmington, NC
1/31/15 Montalvo Arts Center Saratoga, CA
4/16/15 Missouri Theater Columbia, MO
4/18/15 Sondheim Center For Perf. Arts Fairfield, IA
Visit https://www.daddies.com/tour.cfm for additional tour updates.
Cherry Poppin' Daddies Biography
There's a certain risk that comes with emulating the past. Not repeating it, mind you, but reshaping it in a way that puts it squarely in the present. Likewise, there's an even greater risk that comes with attempting to remake it while trying to fit it to your own motif so that you can call it your own.
That's the challenge the Cherry Poppin' Daddies have faced throughout their career, and indeed it's sometimes put them on a difficult path. The initial mission was to make swing music that sounded contemporary. They wrote hard-hitting songs with storylines of domestic violence and social alienation. Once this goal was accomplished, the Daddies went boldly forth into other genres as well: ska, rockabilly, glam rock, psychedelia, mod, and metal, to name but a few, choosing to follow their own muse regardless of the feedback of fans and critics alike. Truth be told, individuality and integrity are a part of the bands DNA and have in turn reinforced their reputation. Granted, that image is well deserved; the desire to explore and the exercising of a peculiar artistic integrity has been an integral part of their character since they first formed some 25 years ago.
According to the band's longtime leader/singer/songwriter Steve Perry, the band's mantra has remained the same - "the obstacle is the path," that is, to pursue unexpected and difficult avenues that challenge both them as artists and individuals while at the same time encouraging audiences to follow. "We're still anxious to bring people into the fold," Perry insists. "Our iconoclasm has never been about to alienating anyone, but rather to make music that's edgy, effusive and yet completely compelling on a larger level."
To that point, the new band's new opus -- descriptively titled Please Return the Evening: The Cherry Poppin' Daddies Salute the
Music of the
Rat Pack - was designed as a challenge their studio craft, attempting to do justice to huge orchestrated arrangements while being limited to their eight-piece band inside a small Eugene, Oregon recording studio. "We recorded mostly live in the room together and as far apart as we possibly could in order to get the feel of those live recording sessions that featured large in house studio orchestras", Perry explains. "We were hoping that some of our punky grit and jazzers conviction would shine through the final recordings so as not to seem too smooth or canned, but rather to achieve the same balance between authentic edge and technical competence that makes the Rat Pack's music so compelling."
The recording taps into a tradition established by three of the hippest singers of all time, unique personalities that helped patent the concept of cool. Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. ruled the roost in Las
Vegas as well as the trendiest nightclubs and watering holes from New York City and
Chicago to the West Coast and all the way south to Miami Beach. When they worked in tandem as the legendary Rat Pack, Sinatra,
Martin and Davis found the perfect combination - one that fused sheer swagger with an easy, amiable style. That approach helped define the cultural undercurrents of that critical period from the late '50s to the early '60s, while captivating and entertaining audiences in the process.
Please Return the Evening offers up a superb set of standards that have come to epitomize the Rat Pack's repertoire - songs that look upward with the singular optimism that energized
America at the dawn of the '60s, a time that would prove to be the twilight of the swing era. The song titles sum that spirit up succinctly - "The Best Is Yet To Come," Come Fly With Me," "Fly Me To The Moon," "Mister Success," "
That's Life" and "Luck Be A Lady" among them -the epitome of a verve and vibe that once shone oh so brightly, a sharp contrast to a pessimism that seems to have set in, dimly at first, after the Kennedy assassination, then continuing to darken through Vietnam, Watergate, the Challenger disaster and 9-11, right through to the cynicism of the present.
"We're really fascinated by that mid century American can-do attitude," Perry insists. "These songs hearken back to a time when the sky was literally the limit."
The band's always prided itself on its craft and musicianship, superior skills that have allowed them to excel in whatever format they choose to tackle. "In many ways, the new album encapsulates everything we've woven into our music before," Perry maintains. "We have always thrown difficulties in our way and had to fight to overcome them. Tackling this era in a legitimate way was going to be hard, but in the end it helped us to build muscles and understand our craft. It also shines a different light on our body of work and who we are as a band. Times change, we've changed. We've become dads; maybe having a more nuanced understanding of the world, where we once were just kids defiantly facing down any and all hypocrisies. To me, at this point, it's about the body of work, the whole journey. We live and breathe music, and as a result, we've put our heart and soul into each of these recordings. Hopefully we can bring people together - both longtime fans and folks who may not be familiar with what we have put ourselves through. Frankly, we can't do this any other way."
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