Squirrel Nut Zippers
Encyclopedia
The Squirrel Nut Zippers are a band formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill
, North Carolina
by James "Jimbo" Mathus (vocals and guitar
), Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo
, and ukulele
), Chris Phillips on drums, Don Raleigh on bass
and sideman
Ken Mosher.
While the band's eclectic fusion of Delta blues
, gypsy jazz
, 1930s-era swing, klezmer
, and other styles makes them hard to categorize, their unique music found a niche in the late 1990s, when the band met with national recognition and commercial success, sometimes associated with the Swing Revival
of the same period.
After a hiatus of several years, the original band members reunited and took to the stage again in 2007, playing select dates around the United States
and Canada
through 2008.
They played the last night of The Voodoo Experience held at City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana over Halloween weekend 2009.
, and his then-wife Katharine Whalen in Carrboro, North Carolina
along with Tom Maxwell, Chris Phillips, Don Raleigh and Ken Mosher. The group made its debut in Chapel Hill a few months later. Stacy Guess (formerly of Pressure Boys) joined shortly after.
"Nut Zippers," is a southern term for a variety of old bootleg moonshine
, and the band's name comes from a newspaper account which related the story of a highly intoxicated man who climbed a tree one night, refusing to come down even after authorities arrived. The article's headline read: "Squirrel Nut Zipper." It is also the name of a candy dating back to 1890.
The band was initially lumped into the "lounge" movement, along with Combustible Edison
, and credited as part of the brief swing music revival
of the 1990s. The Zippers' sound incorporates a broad range of music, ranging in influence from Harlem Hot Music, Cab Calloway
, Johnny Ace
, Delta Blues
, Raymond Scott
, Fats Waller
, Django Reinhardt
, Tom Waits
, and klezmer
. The band's break-through single, "Hell", was distinguished by calypso
rhythms, and helped push the band into further association with the "Neo Swing" movement.
Songs from the band's first album
, The Inevitable (1995) were played on National Public Radio in the US. Their second album, Hot (1996) was certified platinum. (The Hot album was also one of the first ECDs - an "enhanced" audio CD containing an interactive presentation created by filmmaker Clay Walker
.) In 1997, the band toured with Neil Young
.
The band's next studio album, Perennial Favorites (1998) also received critical acclaim.. Also released in 1998 was Christmas Caravan, a Christmas themed album. The band then recorded Bedlam Ballroom in 1999, after touring extensively.
The band performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics
in Atlanta, Georgia
, on Prairie Home Companion, President Clinton's second inaugural ball, Comedy Central
's Viva Variety
, and major television shows: The Tonight Show
, Late Night with David Letterman
, Conan O'Brien
and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 1998.
The band had recorded a version of "Under The Sea
" which was going to be included on the DVD release of The Little Mermaid
, but Disney decided against it. Disney had purchased Mammoth
just months prior to this recording. The song was eventually released on the band's greatest hits CD.
Contact
was a musical dance play made up of three separate dance pieces set to pre-recorded music. The show used Zippers' music along with the music of other artists. Although many criticized the show for its lack of original music, it was also widely-acclaimed and won the 2000 Tony Award
for Best Musical. Movies that have licensed Zippers' songs include Monkeybone
, Dead Man on Campus, Flirting with Disaster, Fido
, Blast from the Past
and the animated feature film Happily N'Ever After
. The band performed in a segment on Sesame Street
in 2001. The single "Hell" was also featured on the pilot of MGM Television's Dead Like Me
.
During this period, Katharine Whalen released two solo albums, Jazz Squad and Dirty Little Secret. Jim Mathus toured with Buddy Guy
before forming his band, Knockdown Society. Je Widenhouse and Reese Gray are recording and touring with Firecracker Jazz Band. Chris Phillips spent two years playing with the Dickies, as well as William Reid from the Jesus and Mary Chain. His current side band The Lamps included members of the Bangles and The Connells
. He also was the composer for the Comedy Central television show Lil' Bush and some contemporary films. Jimbo Mathus owns and operates a recording studio outside of Memphis, TN, where he has worked on albums with artists ranging from Elvis Costello
to the Hives
.
In late February 2009, Chris Phillips sent out an e-mail announcing a forthcoming live album, titled You Are My Radio, recorded in Brooklyn in December 2008. The e-mail included a link to a free download of "Memphis Exorcism" from the album. The album title was later changed to Lost At Sea and was released on October 27 through Southern Broadcasting/MRI. They also announced their plans for a new studio album in 2010. The band taped a new performance for NPR's Mountain Stage which aired in mid-November.
As of 2011 - plans for a new album from the band appear to be on hold for the time being.
Guess left two weeks prior to the recording of Hot, in September 1995. He died of a heroin overdose on March 11, 1998. Je Widenhouse (formerly of the Sex Police) joined the band in 1995.
Raleigh departed in the middle of the Perennial Favorites sessions in November 1996. He was replaced by Stuart Cole. In July 1999, Maxwell left the band. In October 1999, Mosher also quit. In 1999, Reese Gray, Tim Smith and David Wright joined the band.
Eugene Cottrell played trumpet in "Hell."
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
by James "Jimbo" Mathus (vocals and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
), Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, and ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
), Chris Phillips on drums, Don Raleigh on bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
Ken Mosher.
While the band's eclectic fusion of Delta blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
, gypsy jazz
Gypsy jazz
Gypsy jazz is an idiom often said to have been started by guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, "Jazz manouche," or alternatively, "manouche jazz," even in English language sources...
, 1930s-era swing, klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
, and other styles makes them hard to categorize, their unique music found a niche in the late 1990s, when the band met with national recognition and commercial success, sometimes associated with the Swing Revival
Swing Revival
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima, often mixed with a more contemporary rock, rockabilly or ska sound, known also as neo-swing or retro...
of the same period.
After a hiatus of several years, the original band members reunited and took to the stage again in 2007, playing select dates around the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
through 2008.
They played the last night of The Voodoo Experience held at City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana over Halloween weekend 2009.
1990s
The band was founded by James "Jimbo" Mathus, formerly of Metalflake Mother and Johnny Vomit & The Dry HeavesJohnny Vomit & The Dry Heaves
Johnny Vomit & The Dry Heaves was a high school garage band that formed in mid-1980s Corinth, Mississippi that featured future leaders of the Oblivians and Squirrel Nut Zippers, Jack Oblivian and Jim Mathus...
, and his then-wife Katharine Whalen in Carrboro, North Carolina
Carrboro, North Carolina
Carrboro is a town in Orange County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 19,582 at the 2010 census. The town, which is part of the Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan statistical area, was named after North Carolina industrialist Julian Shakespeare Carr.Located near Chapel Hill and...
along with Tom Maxwell, Chris Phillips, Don Raleigh and Ken Mosher. The group made its debut in Chapel Hill a few months later. Stacy Guess (formerly of Pressure Boys) joined shortly after.
"Nut Zippers," is a southern term for a variety of old bootleg moonshine
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
, and the band's name comes from a newspaper account which related the story of a highly intoxicated man who climbed a tree one night, refusing to come down even after authorities arrived. The article's headline read: "Squirrel Nut Zipper." It is also the name of a candy dating back to 1890.
The band was initially lumped into the "lounge" movement, along with Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison was a group founded in the early 1990s in Providence, Rhode Island, and was one of several lounge music acts that led a brief resurgence of interest in the genre during the mid-1990s...
, and credited as part of the brief swing music revival
Swing Revival
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima, often mixed with a more contemporary rock, rockabilly or ska sound, known also as neo-swing or retro...
of the 1990s. The Zippers' sound incorporates a broad range of music, ranging in influence from Harlem Hot Music, Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
, Johnny Ace
Johnny Ace
Johnny Ace , born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, was an American rhythm and blues singer. He scored a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s before dying of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound....
, Delta Blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
, Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
, Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
, Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, and klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
. The band's break-through single, "Hell", was distinguished by calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
rhythms, and helped push the band into further association with the "Neo Swing" movement.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, The Inevitable (1995) were played on National Public Radio in the US. Their second album, Hot (1996) was certified platinum. (The Hot album was also one of the first ECDs - an "enhanced" audio CD containing an interactive presentation created by filmmaker Clay Walker
Clay Walker (filmmaker)
Clay Walker is an American filmmaker.In 1992, Walker produced, directed, photographed and edited the PBS documentary Post No Bills on Los Angeles "guerilla" satirical political poster artist Robbie Conal. Post No Bills received a at the 1992 Chicago International Film Festival...
.) In 1997, the band toured with Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
.
The band's next studio album, Perennial Favorites (1998) also received critical acclaim.. Also released in 1998 was Christmas Caravan, a Christmas themed album. The band then recorded Bedlam Ballroom in 1999, after touring extensively.
The band performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, on Prairie Home Companion, President Clinton's second inaugural ball, Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's Viva Variety
Viva Variety
Viva Variety is an American sketch comedy series that aired on Comedy Central from April 1997 to December 1999. The series satirizes European variety shows.-Overview:...
, and major television shows: The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
, Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
, Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 1998.
The band had recorded a version of "Under The Sea
Under the Sea
-Parodies:In 1991, this song was parodied by musician Tom Smith with his song, "On The PC". This song was re-written in 1999 as "PC99".The song was parodied on the TV show Kappa Mikey where Mikey tries to convince a squid to live on land with him....
" which was going to be included on the DVD release of The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" is a popular fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince...
, but Disney decided against it. Disney had purchased Mammoth
Mammoth Records
Founded by Jay Faires in 1989 in Carrboro, North Carolina, Mammoth Records was one of the premiere independent record labels of the 1990s. Its roster featured such diverse talent as Antenna, Blake Babies, Chainsaw Kittens, Dash Rip Rock, Dillon Fence, Far Too Jones, Frente!, Fun-Da-Mental, Fu...
just months prior to this recording. The song was eventually released on the band's greatest hits CD.
2000-2006
The early 2000s rendered the band largely inactive, due to members pursuing other projects, but also due to Mathus and Whalen's divorce.Contact
Contact (musical)
Contact: The Musical is a musical "dance play" that was developed by Susan Stroman and John Weidman, with its "book" by Weidman and both choreography and direction by Stroman. It ran both off-Broadway and on Broadway in 1999 - 2000. It consists of three separate one-act dance...
was a musical dance play made up of three separate dance pieces set to pre-recorded music. The show used Zippers' music along with the music of other artists. Although many criticized the show for its lack of original music, it was also widely-acclaimed and won the 2000 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Musical. Movies that have licensed Zippers' songs include Monkeybone
Monkeybone
Monkeybone is a 2001 American comedy film that combines live-action with stop-motion animation. It was based on Kaja Blackley's graphic novel Dark Town...
, Dead Man on Campus, Flirting with Disaster, Fido
Fido (film)
Fido is a 2006 Canadian zombie comedy film directed by Andrew Currie and written by Robert Chomiak, Currie, and Dennis Heaton from an original story by Heaton...
, Blast from the Past
Blast From the Past (film)
Blast from the Past is a 1999 romantic comedy film based on a story and directed by Hugh Wilson and starring Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, and Dave Foley.-Plot:...
and the animated feature film Happily N'Ever After
Happily N'Ever After
Happily N'Ever After is a 2007 American computer-animated film based on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. It is a Vanguard Animation production, released by Lions Gate Films on January 5, 2007...
. The band performed in a segment on Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
in 2001. The single "Hell" was also featured on the pilot of MGM Television's Dead Like Me
Dead Like Me
Dead Like Me was an American-Canadian comedy-drama television series starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as grim reapers who reside and work in Seattle, Washington. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, the show was created by Bryan Fuller for the Showtime network, where it ran for two seasons...
.
During this period, Katharine Whalen released two solo albums, Jazz Squad and Dirty Little Secret. Jim Mathus toured with Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...
before forming his band, Knockdown Society. Je Widenhouse and Reese Gray are recording and touring with Firecracker Jazz Band. Chris Phillips spent two years playing with the Dickies, as well as William Reid from the Jesus and Mary Chain. His current side band The Lamps included members of the Bangles and The Connells
The Connells
The Connells are an American band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a guitar-oriented, melodic, power pop style of rock music with introspective lyrics that reflect the American South. Though mostly dormant, the band continues to play to this day...
. He also was the composer for the Comedy Central television show Lil' Bush and some contemporary films. Jimbo Mathus owns and operates a recording studio outside of Memphis, TN, where he has worked on albums with artists ranging from Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
to the Hives
The Hives
The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band that first garnered attention in the early 2000s as a prominent group of the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the "greatest hits" album Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most well-known song "Hate to Say I Told...
.
2007-present
In early 2007, the band's official website and MySpace blog announced new tour dates, with a lineup consisting of founding members Jimbo Mathus (guitar, vocals), Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo, percussion, ukulele), Chris Phillips (drums), Je Widenhouse (trumpet), Stuart Cole (bass), and Will Dawson (piano/guitar/saxophone). With the proclamation "Ladies and Gentlemen... They're Back", the band performed concert dates throughout the United States and Canada in spring and summer of 2007 and through 2008.In late February 2009, Chris Phillips sent out an e-mail announcing a forthcoming live album, titled You Are My Radio, recorded in Brooklyn in December 2008. The e-mail included a link to a free download of "Memphis Exorcism" from the album. The album title was later changed to Lost At Sea and was released on October 27 through Southern Broadcasting/MRI. They also announced their plans for a new studio album in 2010. The band taped a new performance for NPR's Mountain Stage which aired in mid-November.
As of 2011 - plans for a new album from the band appear to be on hold for the time being.
Present members
- James "Jimbo" Mathus — vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
, tenor banjo, tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Katharine Whalen — vocals, banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, ukuleleUkuleleThe ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings.... - Stuart Cole — bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Chris Phillips — percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, contraption kit, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Je Widenhouse — trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, cornetCornetThe cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was... - Henry Westmoreland — baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
- Robert "Griffanzo" Griffin - piano, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
Former members
- Ken Mosher — guitar, saxophone, vocals
- Tom Maxwell — vocals, guitar, saxophone, gongGongA gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
- Don Raleigh — bass, gong
- Stacy Guess — trumpet
- David Wright — trombone
- Reese Grey — piano
- Tim Smith — alto saxophone
- Andrew BirdAndrew BirdAndrew Bird is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.- Early life and the Bowl of Fire :...
— violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
(honorary member) - Edward Clark — canjo
Guess left two weeks prior to the recording of Hot, in September 1995. He died of a heroin overdose on March 11, 1998. Je Widenhouse (formerly of the Sex Police) joined the band in 1995.
Raleigh departed in the middle of the Perennial Favorites sessions in November 1996. He was replaced by Stuart Cole. In July 1999, Maxwell left the band. In October 1999, Mosher also quit. In 1999, Reese Gray, Tim Smith and David Wright joined the band.
Eugene Cottrell played trumpet in "Hell."
Albums
- The Inevitable (1995)
- Hot (1996)
- Sold Out (1997)
- Roasted RightRoasted Right-Track listing:#"Little Mother-in-Law" #" Radio" #"Anything But Love" #"Wash Jones" -Personnel:*Chris Phillips: contraption kit*Katharine Whalen: banjo, ukelele, lead vocals*John Kempannin: violin...
(EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, 1997) - Perennial FavoritesPerennial FavoritesPerennial Favorites is an album by American band Squirrel Nut Zippers.-Track listing:#"Suits Are Picking up the Bill" – 3:04#"Low Down Man" – 4:14#"Ghost of Stephen Foster" – 3:32#"Pallin' with Al" – 2:41...
(1998) - Christmas CaravanChristmas CaravanChristmas Caravan is a Christmas album by jazz band Squirrel Nut Zippers. It was released in 1998 through Mammoth Records and contains a version of the song "Sleigh Ride".-Track listing:#"Winter Weather" – 2:24...
(1998) - Bedlam BallroomBedlam BallroomBedlam Ballroom is an album by Squirrel Nut Zippers, released in 2000. Most editions of the CD case have a lenticular cover. The cover artwork was created by artist Michael Doret.-Track listing:#"Bedbugs" – 3:12...
(2000) - The Best of Squirrel Nut Zippers as Chronicled by Shorty BrownThe Best of Squirrel Nut Zippers as Chronicled by Shorty BrownThe Best of Squirrel Nut Zippers as Chronicled by Shorty Brown is a 2002 compilation album by Squirrel Nut Zippers.-Track listing:#"Good Enough for Granddad" – 2:18#"Anything But Love" – 2:40...
(2002) - Lost at Sea (live albumLive albumA live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, 2009)
Singles
- "Hell" (1996) - #13 Modern Rock TracksModern Rock TracksAlternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
, #71 Pop - "Put a Lid on It" (1996)
- "Suits Are Picking Up the Bill" (1998)