Alive and swingin' on their own terms.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Since the rise and fall of the great swing revival in the late 1990s, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has remained busy, logging hundreds of shows in North America and abroad.

Before the seven-piece band's recent performance with the symphony in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, trumpeter Glen "The Kid" Marhevka explained the band's obsessive work ethic and discussed what "scaling down" the touring schedule means for a group that turns in 200 - sometimes even 300 - shows a year.

` `Easing up' for us is still doing 150 dates a year,' Marhevka said. "A lot of bands go out and they do a tour for two or three months and they come home and they don't really play live for the next five or six months. We're a band that's always playing.

`Even if we're taking time off and recording an album, we're still going out and doing a few dates. And then we come home and we record for five or six days and then we go out again."

On tour to promote the band's latest album, the New Orleans-flavored, "Save My Soul," Big Bad Voodoo Daddy comes to the McDonald Theatre on Saturday. It's the band's first new album in four years (blame it on all the touring).

"The New Orleans style of music is really complementary with what we do," Marhevka said. "It's swing and jazz and R&B. It's got everything."

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and particularly its frontman Scotty Morris, has enjoyed a long flirtation with the music of New Orleans. But the desire to pay homage to the Crescent City arose during the band's performance at the legendary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

After writing several "Nawlins" songs, Morris and his group confined themselves to an abandoned card club and set to work on the new album.

To help capture the New Orleans sound, and to add extra layers to an already dense sound, the seven-piece band invited several other musicians to join them in the studio.

A marching bands steps in on "Zig Zagitty Woop Woop Part 1." Studio ace Ira Nepus (trombone) and former Tower of Power trumpeter and "Tonight Show With Jay Leno" band member Lee Thornburg play on the album as well.

The New Orleans' influence is hard to miss on songs such as the Professor Longhair/Fats Domino-inspired tune "You Know You're Wrong" and the Louis Armstrong-esque "Simple Songs." But the band also stays true to its own roots, mixing in Latin influences (`I Like It') and cool nouveau swing (`Oh Yeah').

Marhevka turns in a memorable horn solo on the final track, "Zig Zagitty Part 2." The performance, he said, was an outgrowth of the band's "renegade" approach to recording the album.

"I think it was the most fun experience out of all of our recordings," Marhevka said. "We produced it ourselves, we did all the arrangements, and I think when you do that and you put that much of yourself into a project, you get great results."

Riding a big wave

Founded in the mid-1990s, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's name was coined by blues guitarist Albert Collins, who once signed a poster for Morris and addressed it to "the big bad voodoo daddy."

The band rode the same wave of swing nostalgia that catapulted the Eugene ska-punk swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies to national prominence in the late 1990s.

The Daddies arrived on the national scene with "Zoot Suit Riot." Big Bad Voodoo Daddy followed shortly thereafter with an appearance in the film "Swingers" and the hit single "You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight (Baby)."

Although the two bands differed in their approach to swing - with the Cherry Poppin' Daddies more rooted in rock and ska and Voodoo Daddy more steeped in traditional jazz and blues - the groups frequently appeared together on the same bill. Often, the similarity of their names caused confusion.

In December 1998, the two Daddy bands were featured side by side in a Rolling Stone magazine fashion spread that highlighted the groups and celebrated the so-called "swing craze."

"We've known 'em for a long time," said Steve Perry, lead singer for the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. "I remember when they started. We played a show and Scotty (Morris) came up with their first CD and gave us a copy. ...

`They're more of a straight-up swing band. They're a really good swing band. We're kind of a rock band. We're weirdos. They're more, I don't know, polished. ...

`They always looked good. We did for the first two songs and then it's all untucked and sweaty."

Marhevka, who has been with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy almost from the start, remembers the Daddies well. He, too, drew a distinction between the two bands, which share a similar name and swing influence, but not much else.

"They're a great band," Marhevka said. "I think they got categorized as a swing band and I wouldn't really call them a swing band per se. ... I always thought of them as being a ska band.

`I wish they were still playing."

In fact, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies are still playing - occasionally. The group puts in around a dozen performances a year, mostly at festivals and other special events.

Perry said disputes between his band and its former record label, combined with a desire by the group's members to pursue other projects and life goals, kept the band from maintaining its high profile. Perry is working on an album with his new group, Vagiant UK.

Although Big Bad Voodoo Daddy never let up with its touring schedule, the group did face difficulties when the appetite for "new" swing died down. Not only did the craze go away, Marhevka said, but there was a strong backlash against the band and the music it was playing.

`I think now we're through that, and people are going, `Wow, these guys are still doing this thing,' ' Perry said. "Whether there's a fad or not, we just keep doing what we're doing. ...

`We just keep moving forward and doing our thing."

Lewis Taylor can be reached at 338-2512 or ltaylor@guardnet .com.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

What: So Cal swing band

When: 9 p.m. Saturday

Where: McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St.

How much: $15 advance, $17 day of show

GuardLine: To hear music by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, call GuardLine at 485-2000 from a touch-tone phone and request category 9943

CAPTION(S):

Trumpeter Glenn "The Kid" Marhevka (third from right) and the rest of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy bring the flavor of New Orleans to the McDonald Theatre on Saturday.