''Bigger Life'' is the ninth studio album and eleventh album overall by American

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

- swing band the

Cherry Poppin' Daddies The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American swing and ska band established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989. Formed by singer-songwriter Steve Perry and bassist Dan Schmid, the band has experienced numerous personnel changes over the course of its 30 ...

, independently released on

Space Age Bachelor Pad Records The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American swing and ska band established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989. Formed by singer-songwriter Steve Perry and bassist Dan Schmid, the band has experienced numerous personnel changes over the course of its ...

on June 14, 2019. Following three successive swing and jazz albums released throughout the 2010s, ''Bigger Life'' heralded a return to the punk rock influences which defined the Daddies' earliest albums, featuring a dominant musical focus on ska,

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...

and

psychobilly Psychobilly is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It's been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ram ...

as well as lyrical content both critically and satirically addressing contemporary American politics.

Overview

''Bigger Life'' marked a return to the Daddies' eclectic multi-genre album format, their first such record since '' Susquehanna'' in 2008. Described by singer-songwriter

Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...

as "a throwback to our '' Ferociously Stoned'' days, mixed with our

skacore Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...

influence of the '' Kids on the Street'' era", much of the music on ''Bigger Life'' is influenced by

and punk rock, exploring sub-genres including

and

Celtic punk Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. Celtic punk bands often play traditional Irish, Welsh or Scottish folk and political songs, as well as original compositions.P. Buckley, ''The Rough Guide to Rock'' (London: Rough Gu ...

while also featuring brief stylistic detours into

electro-funk Electro (or electro-funk)Rap meets T ...

("Schizo") and the Daddies' best-known musical staples of swing ("The Fixer") and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

("Bigger Life"). Lyrically, ''Bigger Life'' is one of the Daddies' most overtly political albums, addressing such topics as

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

class consciousness In Marxism, class consciousness is the set of beliefs that a person holds regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their class, and their class interests. According to Karl Marx, it is an awareness that is key to ...

, the

opioid crisis The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the sign ...

and the erosion of democratic ideals. Perry further elaborated on these themes in an article by Paste about Trump-era

protest music A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

, stating his intent with ''Bigger Life'' on being "deeply critical of racist and authoritarian elements in the U.S., while also being empathetic to working-class frustration, given the reality that the working class is being economically pressured and manipulated simultaneously by an emboldened

nationalist movement The Nationalist Movement is a Mississippi-founded white nationalist organization with headquarters in Georgia that advocates what it calls a "pro-majority" position. It has been called white supremacist by the Associated Press and Anti-Defamati ...

and their sources of propaganda". In an entry from the Daddies' official

mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

, Perry noted that he was significantly influenced by

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...

1969

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

'' while writing ''Bigger Life'', as well as the political satire of the Roman poet

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

and German

dadaist Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...

artist

George Grosz George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objec ...

Production history

After the release of ''White Teeth, Black Thoughts'' in 2013, the Daddies spent the next several years on the road and in the studio focusing exclusively on swing and jazz music, releasing the

Rat Pack The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...

tribute ''

Please Return the Evening ''Please Return the Evening — the Cherry Poppin' Daddies Salute the Music of the Rat Pack'' is a tribute album and seventh studio (ninth overall) album by American ska-swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, released on July 29, 2014 by Space Age ...

'' and the

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

tribute ''

The Boop-A-Doo ''The Boop-A-Doo'' is the eighth studio album and tenth album overall by American ska- swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, released on January 22, 2016 by Space Age Bachelor Pad Records. The second in a planned trilogy of cover albums intende ...

'' in 2014 and 2016, respectively, each with an accompanying stage show showcasing the material. In a 2014 interview with ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', singer-songwriter

mentioned beginning work on new, non-swing original material, describing his ambitions of making a politically-oriented "

/ Zappa/'' American Idiot''/ R. Crumb-type record" and emphasizing an interest in utilizing

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

and psychobilly. Fewer updates were given on the status of this album as the Daddies continued to promote their tribute albums, though Perry confirmed on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in January 2016 that he was still writing and that the new songs were "rockin & funky", comparing them to the band's debut album '' Ferociously Stoned''. By Spring 2017, an article by ''

The Register-Guard ''The Register-Guard'' is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the ''Eugene Daily Guard'' and the ''Morning Register''. The paper serves the Eugene- ...

'' revealed a working title of ''Big Mouth Royalty'', as well as a description of its musical content as "swing-ska-rockabilly-psychobilly". During this time, the Daddies embarked on a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 1997 '' Zoot Suit Riot'' compilation, where two new ska punk songs - "Big Mouth Royalty" and "Steamrolled" - were debuted. In February 2018, Perry publicly announced on the Daddies' social media that his wife Yvette had been diagnosed with stage IV

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

. As a result, band activity was placed on hiatus as Perry acted as his wife's caretaker. As the year progressed and Yvette Perry responded positively to cancer treatments and surgery, the Daddies resumed sporadic touring and recording at a slower pace. The album - eventually titled ''Bigger Life'' - is dedicated to Yvette "Cherry" Perry. On May 8, 2018, Perry announced on Twitter that mixing had begun on ''Bigger Life''. The album was finally and formally announced on March 12, 2019 with the release of the album's first single and music video, the ska punk song "Gym Rat", along with a confirmed release date of June 14.

Release and promotion

''Bigger Life'' was released on June 14, 2019.

Singles and music videos

As of June 2019, three music videos have been released in promotion of ''Bigger Life'', each co-directed by Daddies frontman Steve Perry and Jesse Locke of the

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...

-based production company AMZ Productions, who also produced the music videos for the Daddies' 2013 album '' White Teeth, Black Thoughts''. "Gym Rat" was released as ''Bigger Life''s first music video on March 12, 2019 and issued as a downloadable single on March 15, marking the first ska single of the Daddies' career and their second non-ska single after the

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

-styled " Diamond Light Boogie" from 2000's ''

Soul Caddy ''Soul Caddy'' is the fourth studio album by American band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, released on October 3, 2000 by Mojo Records. Written and recorded after the multi-platinum success of their 1997 compilation '' Zoot Suit Riot'', ''Soul Caddy ...

''. Boasting a "pummeling, burly

vibe" which Perry likened to "

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

meets

Fishbone Fishbone is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1979, that plays a fusion of ska, punk, funk, metal, reggae, and soul. AllMusic has described the group as "one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late ' ...

", "Gym Rat" is a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

fitness culture Fitness culture is a sociocultural phenomenon surrounding exercise and physical fitness. It is usually associated with ''gym culture'', as doing physical exercises in locations such as gyms, wellness centres and health clubs is a popular activity ...

which Perry clarified as condemning "the awful 'rule' that I believe many people in this culture have deeply internalized; which is that until your body is 100% perfect you will never feel worthy of love". The music video, shot at Genuine Fitness in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, depicts the band members clad in exaggerated

1970s fashion Fashion in the 1970s was about individuality. In the early 1970s, ''Vogue'' proclaimed "There are no rules in the fashion game now" due to overproduction flooding the market with cheap synthetic clothing. Common items included mini skirts, bel ...

performing the song alongside a variety of male and female

bodybuilders Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

. The album's second music video, "Diesel PunX", was released on April 9 and issued as a single on April 12. On May 7, the Daddies released the third music video from ''Bigger Life'', the

-styled "Yankee Pride", with the single following on May 10. Perry explained his intent with the song was delving deeper into the roots of the term "

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...

", a pejorative term for

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

ers which Perry - himself a New York native - associated with a sense of "stoicism", intending to "stir echoes of the past in response to the challenges and ethical waywardness of the present ..to recall the Enlightenment values that engendered this Yankee experiment; the more upright values of freedom, tolerance and respect for all regardless of race or religion - of grit in the face of adversity". The music video portrays the Daddies performing the song in an industrial warehouse wearing a variety of costumes influenced by 1930s

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

heroes such as

Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a doctor, scientist, adventurer, detective, and polymath who "rights w ...

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

and

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...

, which Perry attributed to his admiration of "deliciously weird" bygone pop culture.Perry, Steve (May 7, 2019). "Yankee Pride" Video Premiere. ''Cherry Poppin Daddies Mailing List''

Track listing

Personnel

;Cherry Poppin' Daddies *

- vocals, guitar, keyboards, vibraphone, percussion *

Dana Heitman Dana Conrad Heitman (born January 18, 1966) is an American musician, known for his work as the trumpeter for the Eugene, Oregon ska-swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, of which he has been a member since the band's formation. Biography Heit ...

- trumpet *

Dan Schmid Daniel Joseph Schmid (born November 22, 1962) is an American musician, known for his work as the bassist and co-founder of the ska-swing music, swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Schmid was also part of the rock duo the Visible Men, and has w ...

- bass *Willie Matheis - tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone *Joe Freuen - trombone *Zak Johnson - guitar, banjo, background vocals *Josh Hettwer - alto saxophone, piccolo *Oscar Watson III - drums ;Additional musicians *Paul Owen - drums on tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 14 *Pat Howard - drums on track 12 *Kevin Congleton - drums on track 13 *Joe Weber - guitar on track 13 *Jean-Pierre Garan - keyboards on tracks 2, 5, 6 and 10 *Eric Albert - bagpipes on track 4 *Chuck Redd - vibraphone on track 13 *Bill Hulings - background vocals on 1, 2, 7, 10 and 12 *Matt Hettwer - trombone on tracks 1, 4, 7, 10 and 12 *Steve Sharp - trumpet on tracks 1, 2, 5, 10 and 12 *Billy Barnett - cowbell on track 13 *Mark Schneider - bass on track 5 ;Production *Produced by Steve Perry *Engineered and mixed by Bill Barnett at Gung Ho Studios in Eugene, Oregon *Mastered by Bob Ludwig for Gateway Mastering

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Cherry Poppin' Daddies albums