You know when you sometimes try an exciting food combination that really shouldn’t work, but then somehow does? This is one of those moments. There is after all a natural desire to crave something different on the menu – Swing metal – why not?! Speaking personally, I often cover the country music side of things, but can rock along with the best when the mood takes me! I am heading to Leipzig today to chat to Shoo Bee Doom about their debut album that was released back in February 2026, and has been gradually grabbing attention. I have an interview here, and then I have reviewed the album for you!
First of all, pre-interview, a brief background:
When swing meets metal! Original music with the unique sounds of big band and brass instruments in combination with the heavy guitars, bass, and drums of metal. This group of five started their journey in 2023 when the singer (Eden Levin) and the guitarist (Tom Levin) decided to create music combining their love for swing and metal, as a couple’s activity. After falling in love with their first song, “Old School Medicine,” they have started their journey to find a bass player (Tristan) a saxophonist (Markus), and a drummer(Franky) to form Shoo Bee Doom.
They have participated in the Wacken Metal Battle semi-finals of Germany, performed in various festivals and shows, and have been played on the radio in several countries.
Rock the Joint Magazine Interview –
Music fusion can truly open doors. I am thinking of George Harrison bringing the Indian sitar into the music of The Beatles, for example. Or how Indian Bollywood fuses western dance with Indian rhythm – who made the connections with Swing and Hard rock? It works, but an unusual combination.
Shoo Bee Doom: The combination of Swing and hard rock or metal came from Tom, our guitarist. He had a metal band during this time, and together with Eden, the singer, who happens to be his wife, they discovered electro swing a few years before. Both Tom and Eden are metal heads, but Tom brought home electro swing completely by accident. He was working as a cook at a restaurant, and one of the workers put on electro swing as they were cleaning. The band came to life as they were both on a work trip, and Tom decided to ask Eden about some new ideas for new projects to pursue. Swing metal was one of the ideas, and Eden liked it and said it should be a fun project without the pressure of it becoming a band. They just started it as a couple of activities and created their first song, Old School Medicine.
Swing is fundamentally a style of danceable jazz, and your music is very danceable – almost an oxymoron with hard rock. As a music journalist I delight with new things on the menu and you sound really fresh. Have you come to Shoo Bee Doom from other bands and musical backgrounds? And I think there must be someone who loves jazz in there too?
Shoo Bee Doom: As we already mentioned, Tom and Eden are metal heads and electro swing lovers. They are fans of the Blues Brothers and have huge respect for R&B and jazz singers. Tristan, bass player, is into experimental/ progressive metal and has some influences from anime and a broad spectrum of rock and metal influences. MarKus is coming more from punk rock, and some metal, but was actually performing with his saxophone in an orchestra, and also being a street musician for a few years. Franky, the drummer, had some metal band experience before this.
Historically, and I like music history, swing music was part of the US Jazz era – the Harding presidency, prohibition, those little clubs etc – and it was very much part of the Weimar era of Germany (and I know you guys are from Leipzig)- the front cover of “Devil’s Dance” seems to evoke those eras – who designed it (it catches the eye) and is it only available to stream or is it on vinyl and CD too?
Shoo Bee Doom: Our album art was designed by a Brazilian artist named Lucas Wormsbecher(creating album art for artists like Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)) @wom_sketcher. He’s a huge talent who happened to be listening to our music before we contacted him, so we were lucky enough to have someone who knows who we are, knows our music, and has a feel for what we’re doing. We sat down as a band and thought, “What does our music represent? What is the vibe? Where do we want to go? How would we imagine swing metal to be?” Since we don’t really have any references to what swing metal looks like, we just thought about the different themes that we had in our songs and kind of started to figure out what the album art would look like. We gave Lucas some pointers, such as the theater, which is very much part of our music, and the devil in the middle with the dancers in the back is related to the name of the album “Devil’s Dance”, which is one of our songs that is the umbrella topic of this whole album. We do have a CD, and as for the vinyl – we are thinking about it.
Musically I am a fan of Queen (among others), and I always loved the way Freddie Mercury could suddenly shift gears and launch into something like “Big Spender” during a performance. There seems to be a similar sense of theatre, cabaret and character running through Shoo Bee Doom’s music. How important is performance and storytelling to the band? Are you creating characters and a world for listeners to step into, or does it all grow naturally from the songs themselves?
Shoo Bee Doom: The theatre and cabaret feel is something we’re very much actively aiming for. We don’t really have one or several particular characters that are repeating on each song, but we do have somewhat of the same feeling in many of the songs, or the same mental health topic that is being presented in a story-like way. When we sit down to write a song, the story is a major part of the focus. We do have in some of the songs a strong female character, who is maybe not the best person, and has her own issues with the world. Each song takes the listener into a story and into a relevant issue that we think should be brought to light. On stage, the singer has a lot of theatrical movement when she is singing each part. We have built a choreography on stage to match the vibe of the story in the song, so that the crowd will have the feeling from the choreography, and not only from the music and singing.
What plans can you share with us for the rest of 2026 for the band.
Shoo Bee Doom: During the rest of 2026, we plan on performing some festivals and a show, and starting to write the second album for Shoo Bee Doom. We are also working on plans for 2027, performing and writing new songs, and of course, we keep on trying to find our crowd.
If someone had never heard Shoo Bee Doom before, which single song from Devil’s Dance would you play them first and why?
Shoo Bee Doom: If we know the person or we have a chance of talking with that person, we would generally ask them what kind of music they normally listen to, and then we will tailor the decision based on their answer, but if we cannot meet the person, we normally go with “Old School Medicine” because currently this is our best performing song and the one that is capturing everyone. It’s very much upbeat, and if the person is really into lyrics, the lyrics are very smart and have a lot of thought behind them. It’s talking about a relevant topic, and it’s just a generally super fun song that helps people understand better what swing metal is.
What hidden talents does each band member have? Does someone juggle, cook amazingly etc?!
Shoo Bee Doom: Tom is a production genius. He can write music in different types of genres and make them sound so full and professional. Eden used to be a Cuban salsa teacher and has a degree in chemistry and teaching. Markus is doing his PhD in physics and can build basically anything, especially tech-related. Tristan is a Wikipedia for facts you never knew you needed, especially about performers and wrestling, and Franky is a very handy guy who is now fixing a house he bought that was built during the late 1800’s while working as a programmer who is doing many projects for fun, like creating a game.
Your music feels tailor-made for a live audience. Which songs from Devil’s Dance have surprised you the most when played live, and are there any tracks that took on a completely different energy once they left the studio and met an audience?
Shoo Bee Doom: Many of our songs are tailor-made for live, such as Take the Wheel and Burning Out. The biggest surprise is Cycle of a Psycho. It’s a song with a lot of movement from our part (different choreography), which we love seeing how people react to. It’s the perfect combination of fun and heavy, and we think the crowd appreciates it. On the other hand, “Party of One” feels like it is something that people appreciate more outside of the concert than during. It is a big vibe shift, so not all people can take it that well.
Fun Question -It is a hard winter’s night. The tour van/bus has broken down and a harsh wind blows through the night. Nearby you see a small house, it seems abandoned, yet there is a fire burning, food on the table and working electricity. While you wait for morning – what book and what film will get you through the night?
Eden – Book – The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Oliver Sacks), Movie – Corpse Bride
Tom – Book – World Cup Wishes (Eshkol (Nevo), Movie – Fight Club
Markus – Book – Guards! Guards! (Terry Pratchett), Movie – Leon the Professional
Franky – Book – any shadowrun story, Movie – only Ben Hur is long enough
Tristan – Book – The Fifth Season, Movie – Into the Spider-verse
My review – the album is out on all platforms now
11songs, 43 minutes, released February 2026.
This is me half way through the review of the album – I’m on it! You are welcome to have a look at my thoughts…..The interview bit follows the review……
“The Invitation” – sultry, atmospheric, instrumental. Think “Cabaret” and you are in the right place – the invitation to enter the club and join the bohemian and the illicit…
“Devil’s Dance” comes in with this BIG vocal invitation and a real strut, this is fishnets and canes! This is bourbon without the coke and a built in dance. The great thing about these tracks is that they have a built-in arrogance, they are a cat watching you and noting that you somehow are all theirs! I liked the musical drum roll mid section as well, you got that Adam and the Ants drum feel in there before it kicks its shoes off.
“Burning Out (what the funk)” brings out the sax and we all look toward another day and another dollar while we are rocking out at night! “Let’s funk around” sings Eden and the song introduces a clap along element and a neat swing to the beat.
“I Gotta Sing” has plenty of moves, it is doo-wop rock! You can’t really place this musically in a box, it made me want to sing along and bounce around! And I would say that is quite a feat given that it is 10pm and I am tired out!
“Old School Medicine” – continues with this upbeat swing/rock tempo. The production is slick and the moves are full of tempo. You want an audience for this – we have time travel – it is 1922 and the Jazz Age President (Harding) is drinking an illicit whisky in his booth while the party swings around him and the band rocks on.
“Swinging It” is a heavy number with melody and a strong chorus hook. I liked the lyrical delivery from Eden here, the sax makes a strong appearance and the whole piece grooves nicely.
“Monsters in My Head” is like jive rock! Put on the high heels and hit the party! It drives fast and doesn’t mess about – possibly the most catchy chorus in the album with a riff style beat that taps the feet and takes the steering wheel. A whole lot of fun.
“Black and Blues” returns to that jazz club in the 20’s but with a sleazy jazz feel, a slow dance and the desire for the blues. In many respects this is an outlier on the album, but it changes mood nicely – music for cats this one – the way they walk and own the place.
“Party of One” keeps in the mood of the theatre, you get this ensemble feeling of the event, the stage is calling. I think I could see this as a show opener – it is one of those ‘welcome to the show’ type tracks. The bass and drums lock together beautifully here and Eden has the chance to show further depth to her vocal delivery.
“Cycle of a Psycho” is more in your face and has the vocal play, infectious beat and a bit of boogie in the rock. Pacey and enjoyable. There’s a lot to like here and there has been no track so far that I would have left out of the album. They keep the standard high throughout.
“Take the Wheel” (video below) closes things down with a heavy riff and light melody slipping in and out of a dance groove and stylish harmony vocal.
The curtain falls, the lights come up and President Harding finally finishes his illicit whisky. Somewhere between the jazz club, the theatre stage and the rock venue, Shoo Bee Doom have created something that feels entirely their own. Devil’s Dance is stylish, theatrical, inventive and, above all else, enormous fun. If this is what happens when swing and metal decide to share a dance floor, then long may the music play.
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You can stream music from Shoo Bee Doom here
By Lorraine Foley
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