This story is featured in CityBeat’s Dec. 13 print edition.
In the mid-1990s, the Ventura, California, band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy burst onto the swing revival scene and joined a bevy of other similar artists like Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. That genre — which infused Big Band music from the ’30s and ’40s with modern jazz and rock music — changed the musical landscape for a few years. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy appeared in Swingers; they covered the theme song for 3rd Rock from the Sun’s fifth season; they appeared in an episode of Party of Five; and they even performed at the 1999 Super Bowl Halftime Show alongside luminaries Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder.
But when you Google the band, the question “What happened to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy?” pops up.
“Yeah, what did happen to us? We got older. I lost my hair,” founding member and percussionist Kurt Sodergren told CityBeat. “That should come up too for the answers.”
The fact is, since the band’s 1989 inception, they haven’t stopped touring or releasing records.
“We’ve always been plugging away, but I don’t miss having to wake up early and do three interviews on a radio show before we actually do the show,” he said. “But that was a great time. I loved it.”
The band started out as a punk group, and lead singer and co-founder Scotty Morris folded in the jazz aspect. But because of their roots, they’re able to navigate both worlds, including playing “festivals that are more like punk rock with a crazy energy,” according to Sodergren.
To add to that energy, around 20 years ago they started performing their Wild and Swingin’ Holiday Party shows in support of their Christmas records. In 1997, they released the EP Watchu’ Want for Christmas. In 2004, they released Everything You Want for Christmas, featuring covers of “Blue Christmas” and “Mr. Heatmiser.” And then in 2014 came It Feels Like Christmas Time.
“Christmas is such a tradition-filled holiday, so we wanted to make seeing Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s Christmas show another one of those traditions,” Sodergren said. “I think it’s a really good show because we kind of do our wild stuff and then we do these other songs that are a little bit more traditional, but they still are Big Bad Voodoo Daddy songs. We will play ‘You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)’ and ‘Go Daddy-O.’ We really want to make it a fun show for everybody. If we played all Christmas music, I think everyone would rip their hair out.”
Some of those tear-your-hair-out songs include Gene Autry’s ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’ ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,’ and Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolph Run.’ Another aspect to the holiday show is to bring joy to the fans, considering the holidays can be stressful and lonely.
“People can come and no matter what kind of day they’re having, it’ll put a smile on their face,” he said. “Obviously, I wish every day for everybody was good, but sometimes it’s not. It is important to get away and remember the joy in life. We can get bogged down sometimes, especially around the holidays. We just want to supply a good time for people so they come in and have a blast.”
California’s warm climate isn’t exactly rife for getting in the mood for the holidays — Santa wears shorts! — so the Michigan-born Sodergren appreciates touring colder climates during this time of year.
“Some of my favorite times have been maybe touring in Canada during this huge blizzard in the bus, and it took 12 hours to get to where we needed to be,” he said. “But we were all right at the front where the big windows are just watching the snow come down. There’s something about extreme weather like that that I really love.”
Next year marks the 30th anniversary of their debut self-titled full-length album. Even though they’ve been around for decades, some things never change — like fans confusing them with the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.
“I love it when [the audience] sometimes screams out the song ‘Zoot Suit Riot,’” Sodergren said. “We even do it as a joke sometimes, too. Not the song, but we’ll yell that out sometimes. It’s pretty funny. And those guys are great. We toured with them. We used to always challenge them to a basketball game if there was a court, and they just whipped our ass every time. They have some really, really tall members in their band.”
BBVD hasn’t released a new album since 2017, but in 2024 they hope to release some new singles and a greatest hits album on vinyl.
“I’d say our legacy maybe is just adding some good music to the Great American Songbook,” he said. “I don’t know if a lot of people are going to cover our tunes, but I think that we’ve written some really great songs, and Josh [Levy] has arranged some other non-original songs to really give it our stamp.”
It’s also about consistently putting on a great show.
“I think we’re still doing it,” he said. “I think seeing a band with horns and all live stuff and no backing tracks or anything like that is an awesome thing,” he said. “It’s great to see live music with people actually playing instruments, and I’m glad to be part of that.”
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy plays Taft Theatre on Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. Info: tafttheatre.org.
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This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 12, 2023.