‘Doggfather’ Turns Into a Peacemaker

‘Hell’ to Play: Mammoth Records had only modest expectations last year when it released the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ “Hot” album, which mixes old-style hot jazz and swing music. But a guest appearance last fall on alternative rock station KROQ changed that for the North Carolina group.

“We like it because it’s different,” Lisa Worden, the station’s music director, says of “Hell,” the Zippers’ single. “It comes on and throws people for a loop, and I think that’s why it’s working.”

Named after a hard-candy confection, the Zippers--whose members cite such influences as Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller--benefited almost immediately from their KROQ exposure, selling out the Palace the night of their in-studio appearance.

“Hot” has sold about 85,000 copies nationally, according to SoundScan, and the Zippers return to town for two sold-out shows tonight at the Roxy.

“It still seems like kind of a dream or something,” says the group’s Tom Maxwell. “According to all the [rock] radio stations that are playing us, they’re quite amazed that the response is so overwhelmingly positive.”