Nut's Maxwell Found Growling at the Roxy

On Friday night, a little more than a year after playing a sold-out show at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, the Squirrel Nut Zippers played an energetic, cozy performance at the Roxy, a few blocks away. Both times, the band played with vigor; at the much smaller dance club, however, the band was clearly more in its element.

Band leader Jim Mathus came out wearing a purple suit and a grin. The group appeared comfortably at ease in the dark blues and golds of the Roxy and its small stage. Unlike the Orpheum show, the crowd here was not only allowed to stand and dance, it was encouraged to; Dancers could be seen at various points around the club, but in general, one was either dancing or more often, straining to see the band--a sight which, fortunately, was neither difficult to obtain nor disappointing; the Roxy was so small that any vantage point gave a close view of Mathus of the Zippers.

Without much ado, the band ripped into "Memphis Exorcism," one of their few straight swing songs. Mathus and his fellow vocalist/guitarist, Tom Maxwell, took the opportunity to display their guitar prowess, but right after, sultry singer Katherine Whalen performed "Club Limbo," in her tones that are always reminiscent of Billie Holliday.

Throughout the show, Mathus often altered his singing, souping up the band's current hit "The Suits Are Picking Up the Bill" and simply messing around on the hopping "Bad Businessman." Maxwell, the primary vocalist on several of the songs, preferred to growl or even scream lyrics as often and loud as he could, culminating in an almost violent (and thoroughly entertaining) rendition of "Hell," the band's calypso-styled mega-hit from 1997.

Whalen performed, with typical perfection, generally swanky-sounding lounge pieces. The highlight of these was "Danny Diamond," a song about a transvestite cabaret performer who was exposed and murdered, in which Whalen wraps haunting tones around the sliding guitar rhythms and creaky trumpet riffs.

The encore was almost better than the main act, giving the audience both "La Grippe," a bizarre fusion between blues, jazz and funk about the influenza pandemic of 1918 and an extremely extended rendition of "I've Found a New Baby," a 1919 song in which every band member was given a chance to perform a solo. Drummer Chris Phillips juggled his sticks and then oranges handed to him by the band, all the while continuing to play; bassist Stu Cole played between his legs as Mathus and Whalen handed out the beads they'd been wearing to the audience.

The show ended after about an hour and a half, with Maxwell thanking Boston for always having "been so nice to us."

The opening acts included Ray Condo and the Ricochets and Andrew's Ball of Fire.