The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies (yes, the name is sexual in nature) watched with fear from its headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, as grunge escaped from the Pacific Northwest and captured the radios of the entire nation.

The energetic third-wave ska and swing group couldn’t help to feel frightened and a little humored by the irony of it all.

“There was always an annoying subtext to the whole grunge scene,” vocalist/guitarist Steve Perry explained. “Grunge portrayed itself as belonging to the entire angst-ridden population. Yet it was always rather exclusive. It was always white middle class.

“I think that there was a huge internal power trip to the whole scene,” he said. “They were just so full of themselves, how they didn’t want to be selling lots of records and didn’t want success. Yet, the bands jumped on every promotional chance available. What a bunch of ironic assholes.”

The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies has made it a personal goal to bring its contemporary swing/ska/rock sound to the broadest audience possible. The band has released four CDs (“Ferociously Stoned,” “Rapid City Muscle Car,” “Kids on the Street” and the recent “Zoot Suit Riot”) with this goal in mind.

The band utilizes many instruments that are not typical of the ska/swing scene. There is the standard band instruments courtesy of Jason Moss (guitar), Perry (vocals/guitar), Darren Cassidy (bass) and Tim Donahue (drums).

But there is also the addition of several brass pieces played by Dana Heitman (trumpet), Sean Flannery (tenor saxophone) and Ian Early (baritone and alto saxophones).

This combination of instruments creates a sound that is very unique from ska and swing’s predecessors and contemporaries.

The original scene (called first-wave by diehards) was ignited by such legends as the Skatellites and Prince Buster. The music made scarce use of horns and guitar and focused mainly on groove.

The first-wave eventually evolved into a different scene altogether (second-wave) with the rise of Bob Marley, the Specials and the Selectors. About this time, the Two-Tone movement began.

Two-Tone was a record label that allowed black and white people to play in the same bands. Previously, it had been taboo and even unacceptable.

The result of the combination of two very different cultures was a musical mixture of reggae and punk.

There were no distorted guitars yet (those would come with the advent of third-wave) and the music was more groove oriented than ever before.

“I never really started to think about playing music until the punk scene happened,” Perry said. “It was the wallpaper of society for the longest time. Nobody seemed to understand it. Then I realized that these bands were telling the truth. It was like a revolution.

“It was great to hear smart people saying things like that,” he continued. “It was really exciting. That sensation got me to play music, the revelation that things are real fucked up.”

Perry started fiddling around with punk and rock music, learning how to play major chords and bridges.

Then he realized that he wanted to hear something different. He was sick of playing the standard things and he was tired of hearing them.

“I started to hear different things in my head,” he explained. “Artistically, I wanted to represent what I felt America sounded like. I wanted to know its sound in general, the musical sounds of what people really are.

“America is a young country and I thought it needed a young, unique sound to portray it,” he added. “Swing and ska are representations of the American psyche.”

These thoughts might sound odd from a man who comes from a small community “slanted towards the rock scene.”

Most of the music heard at Eugene’s small all-ages club or big bar is hard rock or grunge. There has always been a conspicuous lack of dance music, even though “a ska scene is slowly starting to crop up.”

“The hardest part for us coming out of that scene” Perry said, “was that the music we were surrounded by was not harmonically based. Swing is very different rhythmically. It has a lot more interesting harmonies.

“The ska scene has changed a lot since we first formed” he continued. “People don’t dance together now, they haven’t done that for years. Swing is now less male, less hormonal. Women aren’t bowled over by men in the audience anymore.”

Perry thinks that the ska/swing scene has to continue to evolve if it is going to remain a viable form of musical expression.

He believes that there is too much “narrow mindedness and nostalgia” among contemporary artists.

“Bands should focus on something new,” he said, “experiment and create a new sound. The danger is when you have a streamlined, stylized movement. You begin to fall into cliches. So, I’d like to see people consciously bring other influences in, like salsa. It can only improve the music.”

The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies are going to hit the studio at the beginning of next year to record another CD.

In the meantime, the band has to remain content with national touring (the band will be mixing a sparse selection of new material along the way).

The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies will play an all-ages show at the M-Shop tonight. The festivities begin at 9 p.m. Tickets are $6.