Popes Bio
Bio
Forming in 1990, the band began carving out a name for
themselves within the suburban punk circuit. During that
time, bands were known to perform in any venue that would
allow them to plug in amps and crank up their instruments.
Therefore, the Popes found themselves playing in Elk's
Clubs, and bowling allies. After playing on the circuit for only
a short period of time, the Popes built a loyal following and
decided to take the big step of performing in the Chicago
clubs. The band landed some opening slots for national
bands at The Metro, Chicago's premier rock venue, and
within a few months were able to headline the club and fill it
to its capacity of 1100!
It's all about love songs. Love songs done
with articulated ups and downs both
lyrically and musically. Picture yourself
(insert name here along with your most
desirable mental image) floating amongst
the stars on a warm summer night. Lulled
by Josh Caterer's cradle of croon, his soft
yet poignant words of insight and wisdom
secures your attention. Then BAM!, you're
sent sailing beyond via the rocket-powered
double guitar assault of both Josh and
brother Eli. This hard as hell octane shot
out to space is further fueled by the hyper
bang of Mike Felumlee on drums and the
body shaking bass lines of yet another
Caterer brother, Matt.
Okay, okay, all
corniness aside; this IS the stuff that pop
is made of, that rock should be made of
and most of all what punk (post-Smoking
Popes, of course), WILL be made of.
So you want credibility, D.I.Y. props and all
that embodies the world of punk rock?
They've got your stinkin' credibility, D.I.Y.
and all that embodies the world of punk.
With real life garage shows (back in the
day) straight from Crystal Lake where the
boys grew up, they put a few 7" records on
their own, and two full lengths out on the
punk indie Johann's Face label, and toured
with scene friends, No Empathy and
Oblivion. The Popes are no strangers to
creating, building and expanding their own
band as well as, at the time, an entire
underground scene. Lucky for the guys, a
certain breaking punk outfit by the name of
Green Day took a liking to what the
Smoking Popes were doing and started
yakin' them up to industry types and the
major labels started listening.
Soon after they were signed to Capitol
Records and re-released their album Born
To Quit (which had much success on
Johann's Face). Before the record was
even released on their new major label, the
single, "Need You Around," saw some
impressive radio play, including Chicago's
Q101 and Los Angeles' alterna station,
KROQ, putting it into heavy rotation. Kids
around the country were captured and the
poor little things couldn't even go and buy
the album yet. Oh, the injustice! The next
year was spent touring with the likes of Tilt,
Bracket, Goo Goo Dolls, You Am I,
Tripping Daisy, Jawbreaker, Spent, Local
H, and Dinosaur Jr. You want to talk press
attention for a new band? Thumbs up came
from some folks at NME, Melody Maker,
BSide, SPIN, Alternative Press, Request,
Pulse!, Bikini, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and
the list goes on.
With their second major label release, Destination
Failure, the Popes show their more mature
sides of songwriting. Josh Caterer
describes it as "An all purpose record. You
can drive to it. You can work out to it. You
can play it at parties. And you can still use
it to help you sleep at night." Not to fear,
this little gem (actually, the longest record
these fellas have ever done. Practically a
box set to them with almost double the
length time compared to their last work.)
doesn't alienate the hard driving pop rock
sounds that they are known for, but does
include some songs with a more personal
slant than in the past. "I've been attempting
to disclose more of myself through the
songs I write. To be as honest as I can
without embarrassing the rest of the band,
that's the trick." admits Josh.
Some experimenting with song structure
was done with songs like "Pretty Pathetic,"
where verse, chorus, verse is not the path
and more of a prose- to- sound method is
utilized. Working with well known
producer/mixer Jerry Finn (Rancid, Green
Day and Jawbreaker), the boys traveled
between Chicago and Hollywood to create
an album with an obvious pop sense yet
traversing along the lines of
experimentation and genre-borrowing. An
example being "Paul," where a ballad like
beginning finds its way back to familiar
territory where the Popes wave their punk
pop flag. Josh claims, "The songwriting is
changing, but the arrangement is the
same. Two guitars. No flutes. No
keyboards. You can tell it's the same band
that made Born To Quit."
A description, of course, can't do a record
full justice. Although, Josh has a few
descriptions (depending on audience) of his
own:
To a buddy: it's guitar rock with sappy
lyrics and wimpy-ass vocals.
To his grandmother: it's loud love songs
with hardly any swearing.
To a record executive: it's tri-generational,
bi-genderal & trans-continental.
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