Squirrel Nut Zippers Get Back In The Game

Videos by American Songwriter

On October 27, jazz-rockers Squirrel Nut Zippers will release Lost At Sea , their first album in nine years, and also their first live album, ever. Recorded at Brooklyn’s Southpaw, the new disc (out on Southern Broadcasting/MRI) features the Zippers roaring through familiar favorites like “Put A Lid On It,” “Hell,” and “Prince Nez.”

So where have they been all this time? Well, according to a statement, “the title of the new release is very appropriate considering the band’s unfortunate departure from public life in 2002 when the Disney cruise ship they were performing aboard hit a massive island of trash and was rendered unseaworthy.

The Squirrel Nut Zippers were forced into a dingy which was quickly swept away by ocean currents and deposited on a remote and uninhabited island. Surviving on coconuts and monkey scat they managed to stave off death until a location scout for the television reality show “Survivor” stumbled upon them and brought them back to the United States.

Rejuvenated by this mishap and with a new lust for life, the band returned to the road in 2007 with the core of their original line up intact: Jim “Jimbo” Mathus (vocals and guitar), Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo, ukulele), Chris Phillips (drums, percussion), Je Widenhouse (Trumpet) and Stuart Cole (Bass).”

“Honestly, the band is getting along better than we ever did in the past and I believe the desire is there to try recording a new album for release in 2010,” says drummer Chris Phillips, who also adds “I always felt like we were making short movies rather than songs.”

Track Listing For Lost At Sea

Memphis Exorcism
Good Enough For Grandad
It Ain’t You
Prince Nez
Put A Lid On It
Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter
Danny Diamond
Suits Are picking Up The Bill
My Drag
Happens All The Time
Bad Businessman
Hell
Ghost Of Stephen Foster
You Are My Radio
Blue Angel
Do What
Missing Link Parade

Tour dates: