Origins

The band was founded by Jim "Jimbo" Mathus, formerly of Metalflake Mother and Johnny Vomit & The Dry Heaves, and his wife Katharine Whalen in Chapel Hill, North Carolina along with Ken Mosher, Don Raleigh and Chris Phillips. The group made its live debut in Chapel Hill a few months later. Tom Maxwell joined in January, 1994, bringing in Stacy Guess (formerly of Pressure Boys and Sex Police). The band was initially lumped into the "lounge" movement, along with Combustible Edisons, then later credited with starting the brief swing music revival of the 1990s. Unlike such bands as Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, who mostly synthesized jump blues and a Gene Krupa backbeat, the Zippers defied description, incorporating everything from Harlem Hot Music, Cab Calloway, Johnny Ace, Delta Blues, Raymond Scott, Fats Waller, Django Reinhardt, Tom Waits, and klezmer. Maxwell's "Hell," their biggest (and only) hit single, peaking at number 13, was calypso music in the tradition of 1930s artists such as Lord Executor and The Growler. The band's lyrics sometimes referenced Faulkner or quoted 2,000 year old Chinese poetry. As Hell was the only song that got real airtime, they are mostly considerd a one-hit wonder, although they do have a strong cult following.

Albums

Personnel changes

• Stacy Guess was forced out two weeks prior to the recording of Hot, in September 1995. He died of a heroin overdose in March 1998.

• Je Windenhouse (formerly of the Sex Police) joined the band in 1997.

• Don Raleigh departed in the middle of the "Perennial Favorites" sessions in November 1996.

• In July 1999, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tom Maxwell left the band.

• In October 1999, songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ken Mosher also quit.

• With the departure of Maxwell and Mosher in 1999, Reese Gray (piano), Tim Smith (alto saxophone) and David Wright (trombone) joined the band.

Success

• To date, the Zippers catalog has sold in excess of two and a half million units.

• The Squirrel Nut Zippers spent the summer of 1997 outselling the likes of U2 and Aerosmith and touring with Neil Young. They performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 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'Brian and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in 1998.

• The band has performed in a segment on Sesame Street, where they are playing in a lounge while teasing Fat Blue.

• 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 Mammouth Records just months prior to this recording. The song was eventually released on the band's greatest hits CD.

• Maxwell's song "Put A Lid On It" was in a 1999 Intel Superbowl commercial and features prominently in Contact (musical). 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.

• The song "Hell" is central to the pilot episode of the Showtime series Dead Like Me, and was the main title of the late, lamented A&E series Family Plots.

• Movies have licensed the Zippers' catalog extensively, including Flirting with Disaster, Blast from the Past and dozens of others.

Troubles

• The Zippers had a handshake agreement with the owner of the Squirrel Nut Zipper candy company to use the name. After the owner died, Southern Style Nuts acquired the company and sued the band.

• Former manager Mike Renault also sued after his 1998 dismissal, alleging he was never paid money he was owed.

• The suits were settled in 2000, but the band was already beginning to self-destruct.

• Maxwell and Mosher left the band in mid and late 1999, respectively, not feeling the same sense of "joy" that had characterized the early days of the band.

Aftermath

While the band never officially announced a breakup, they have neither recorded nor toured since 2001. The departure of Maxwell and Mosher mortally wounded the band; the coup de grace was the expiration date of the swing movement. In June 2002, Maxwell and Mosher arbitrated against their partners for entering into a management agreement without their knowledge or consent whilst still in the band, and for withholding their share of royalties after their departure. They prevailed. Jim Mathus and Katharine Whalen were divorced in 2004.

Members

• Jim (Jimbo) Mathus (vocals, guitar, slide guitar, tenor banjo, trombone, piano)
• Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo, ukulele)
• Ken Mosher (guitar, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, drums, bass, baritone ukulele, Fender Rhodes, vocals)
• Tom Maxwell (vocals, guitar, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet, resonator, gong)
• Don Raleigh (bass, gong)
• Chris Phillips (percussion, contraption kit, drums)
• Stacy Guess (trumpet)
• Je Windenhouse (trumpet, cornet)
• David Wright (trombone)
• (Honorary Member) Andrew Bird (violin)