The Zippers Return?

Holy sh*t! Is this for real?

After years and years of heartbreak, disdain, cold shoulders, and wistful nostalgia, the Squirrel Nut Zippers are finally making their return to the stage, and at the Cat's Cradle! You may not know it, but the Zippers are one of my favorite bands of all time, and have been that way ever since 1998. I have all of their albums, including the Sold Out EP, which I picked up at one of their shows in Winston-Salem in 2000, when they were touring in support of their fourth, and ultimately their last, full-length album, Bedlam Ballroom.

At that time, they had already lost founding members Ken Mosher and Tom Maxwell, the latter of whom had written their only hit, "Hell," and even though the Zippers left me speechless when they performed that evening, it didn't look like the future would be a good one for the band. The swing revival had come to a close, the Zippers disbanded and went about their separate ways. Lead singer James Mathus formed the Mississippi blues group Knockdown Society, his then-wife Katharine Whalen started a solo career (they divorced in '04; her second album was just released this year), and Maxwell and Mosher teamed up as the duo, you guessed it, Maxwell/Mosher and toured a little, performing the songs they both had written for the Zippers. They also won a lawsuit against the rest of the band, claiming they were withholding royalties, forcing the Zippers to cough up $155,000. As a matter of fact, only Andrew Bird, who performed violin as a sort-of auxiliary member of the Zippers, went on to find success, wowing the music blogs with his sweeping 2005 album The Mysterious Production of Eggs.

But I guess they're back! Though according to this article from the News & Observer, it looks like the concert will be held for purely financial reasons. "We wouldn't be trying to re-form the group to make records and get on the radio," Whalen says. "It would be more about us surviving. The idea would be to do maybe three shows, probably just a couple of corporate gigs for some money. We'll be paying off that settlement for two more years, so it would be cool to play a few nights and just make that go away."

Still, it's better than nothing! See you at the Cradle on Feb. 8! (If only it would be held on the 16th, my 21st birthday. Then, I could get drunk, too!)