By M. Stephanie Murray
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 15, 1997

Hipster Daddy-O plays Family Weekend

Photo courtesy of Slimstyle Records Arizona Daily Wildcat Hipster Daddy-O and the Hangrenades: (L-R) Andrew, Grant, Ty, Mike, Daryl, Eric and Kris.

It's the ultimate Family Weekend dilemma: You want to hear music, your parents want to hear music. Will ever the twain meet?

Yeah, and Hipster Daddy-O and the Hand Grenades are your ticket for a swinging familial scene. Promoted in the official Family Weekend schedule of events as "Swing Concert," this local band promises to bring the swing to your weekend.

Mike Edward, guitarist for the band points out that they've performed for crowds ranging form high school hepcats to old-school senior swingers. He doesn't think that Tucson, notoriously slow to hop on passing trends, has anything that can truly be called a swing scene. Hipster Daddy-O's crowds have consisted of people "who just like the music," he says.

Consisting of a passel of seven musicians, including Edward, Eric Allen (vocals), Andrew Steinberg (saxophone), Kris Wiedeman (trombone), Daryl Seymour (drums), Grant Lange (trumpet) and Ty Lebsack (bass), the Hipsters have become prevalent on the local music scene of late.

Edward claims that the swing thing caught them all by surprise. Formed about a year back, he reveals that the swing concept was not originally planned, but "It just kind of evolved into that."

He and Allen said that they appreciate the enthusiasm of UA crowds, noting that they tend to be younger than club crowds (all ages shows will do that) and more enthusiastic. "They're just there to have fun," Edward explains.

Promoted on a recent flier as "The Gangsters of Swing," the Hipster fellas put on a full swing show, complete with spangly bandstands for the horn section and, of course, the full gangster-suit regalia. The songs are heavy on the horns which spices up the originals and adds a subversive touch to covers of songs like Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People."

Having played shows together since March and recently toured San Francisco, San Diego, Denver and Phoenix, the band will release their first album, Armed and Swinging, on Slimstyle records at the end of October. The CD release party is planned for Nov. 14 at The Third Stone to kick things off in style. In the meantime, they'll be playing a Halloween show with ska band Reel Big Fish at Centennial Hall (more details on this in next week's Ground Zero).

The connection between ska and swing has become rather tenuous as the two genres have become more popular. Edward explained that ska and swing come from two different attitudes: ska coming from a punk/alternative background and swing progressing from the early big-band sound. Ska fans, according to Edward, "like swing but don't know quite what to make of it." No musical elitist, Edward welcomes any and everyone who likes the music his band makes, regardless what genre that may be.

The band's goal, Edward says, is "not to be railroaded into a swing thing," to just let the band evolve as it has up to this point.

The evolution continues at the Family Weekend Swing Concert, from 4 to 6 p.m., Oct. 18 on the East Mall in front of the UA Main Library.