Smoking Popes light up at MSU

Few bands pour their hearts out the way the Smoking Popes do. Maybe that's what sets them apart from a lot of the bands out there. Sure, they've got a super-catchy sound and a totally radio-friendly accessibility, but there's something so natural and uncontrived about them that they're totally unique.

The three Caterer brothers, Eli, Matt, and Josh, along with drummer Mike Felumlee, from Chicago way, have by no means had it easy thus far. Their debut, "The Smoking Popes Get Fired," is almost entirely unobtainable, and their Capitol Records debut, "Born To Quit," has gone by and all but been forgotten. The Popes looked to be the next big thing in 1994, when their single "Need You Around" started blowing up all over the place, but nothing else seems to have panned out for them.

These Popes are smoking - but they're trying to quit.

Now, three years later, the Popes have been quietly making steps in the right direction, as Josh Caterer stated in a recent interview.

"So far, ... the best thing we've got going is the response we've gotten from college radio. Right away we started doing well on the college charts. So, we thought we'd play all the Midwest colleges ... except for yours."

So that's what the Smoking Popes are doing: hitting the road, playing small colleges (and MSU) in support of their excellent new album "Destination Failure."

"Destination Failure" is more of what the Popes are about, that extra oomph that makes the Smoking Popes better than your favorite pop band.

"Our goal was definitely to make a better album, and I feel we accomplished that," Caterer said. "'Born To Quit' took us about four days to record but this one took a few months and somehow, it ended up ... having more of a natural sound to it, which is ironic, considering that's less natural."

Caterer also explained what took so long for the record to surface. "We had 14 songs we turned into the label ... They listened to it and said, 'We like it, but we can't decide what the single should be,'" Caterer explained. "Then we took the next probably six months writing songs, demoing them, and sending them to the label ... Finally, we came up with some song that they thought would be the, whatever, breakthrough, fuckin' hit smash they needed."

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"Destination Failure" is strong, though. The songs are loud, catchy, fast, and melodic, and if you've never heard Josh Caterer sing, you're in for a treat. Picture a punk Frank Sinatra meets Harry Connick Jr., and you're halfway there.

One song, "You Spoke To Me," was inspired by a now-defunct band that had a big effect on Caterer. "I was thinking of Jawbreaker," Caterer said. "We toured with them and I would see people come up to (the lead singer) ... and start to say weird things about how much his music had meant to them. I was really impressed by that, so I tried to write the song from the point of view of one of those people."

Don't look for meaningless pop crap when in the friendly confines of the Popes' arena. Where most bands play it safe and sing la-dee-da, Caterer pours out his heart honestly, something he finds natural.

"It seems like a waste of time not to," Caterer explained. "For the most part, there's gotta be some kind of truth in the song. Otherwise, it's like being hungry and just eatin' a candy bar, you know. It doesn't fill you up. I try to put a meatball in every song."

I hope you're hungry. You'll need quite an appetite to digest it all.

10-10-97