One of the most interesting punk/alt-rock bands of the ’90s, Smoking Popes emerged out of the Chicago-area punk scene but they didn’t sound anything like the bigger Chicago punk bands and they didn’t really sound like any other band of that era in general. They’ve been called “pop punk” but their “pop” had nothing to do with the bubblegum snot-rockets that most people associate with the genre. They pulled from classic ’50s/’60s pop music, and singer Josh Caterer’s sweet croon more closely resembled his heroes The Smiths than it did other ’90s punk bands. Morrissey himself became a fan, inviting the band to tour with him in 1997 and later calling their sophomore album Born To Quit one of his favorite albums of all time.
Born To Quit became the band’s breakthrough, and to this day, it’s the album that so many fans consider their best. After originally being released in 1994 on the independent Chicago punk label Johann’s Face Records, it got a re-release from Capitol in 1995, and it got a boost from having songs featured in Clueless (“Need You Around”), Angus (“Mrs. You and Me”), Tommy Boy (“Lucky Day”), and Boys (“Gotta Know Right Now”). It’s inextricable from mid ’90s alternative pop culture, and it’s also totally timeless.
Like a lot of punk/alt-rock bands that got scooped up by the major label feeding frenzy of the ’90s, the Popes didn’t sell as much as Capitol wanted, and they parted ways with the label after 1997’s Jerry Finn-produced Destination Failure and broke up two years later. They’ve been back for a while, but the band says they haven’t been able to get their masters back from Capitol, so, in lieu of a standard reissue, they’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of Born To Quit by releasing a re-recorded version of the album that was made in front of a live audience at Bombsight Recording Studio in Bloomington, IL. It comes out September 27 via Anxious & Angry Records (pre-order).
“For us, there’s something magical about playing this album from start to finish because it puts the songs in their proper context,” singer/guitarist Josh Caterer tells us. “Songs like ‘Need You Around’ and ‘Rubella’ that we’ve been playing at every show for years, you tend to think of those as singles, but they’re really part of a larger thing, like pieces of a puzzle. To see the whole puzzle at once is pretty cool. That’s what made this recording such a special experience. I think everyone there, the band and the audience, we all felt it.”
The first song to be released is the album-closing ballad “On The Shoulder,” which premieres in this post, along with its live-in-studio video. You can hear how the band have grown over the years, but they play it like you remember it and Josh’s unmistakable voice still sounds great.
“Eli [Caterer] wrote the music for this one,” Josh says. “It’s such a beautiful guitar riff, really fun to play, but it’s always been a deep cut and we haven’t included it in our live set very often, so I’m glad this song is finally getting some attention. The new version feels pretty vibrant to me.” Check it out below.
The Smoking Popes are also gearing up to support The Get Up Kids as they also celebrate the anniversary of a classic album, the 25th of Something To Write Home About, on tour. That hits NYC’s Warsaw on September 28 & 29 and Asbury Park’s Stone Pony on October 1. All dates are listed below. We recently spoke to Matt Pryor and Jim Suptic from The Get Up Kids about STWHA on the BrooklynVegan podcast.
Tracklist
Midnight Moon
Rubella
Gotta Know Right Now
Mrs. You And Me
Just Broke Up
My Lucky Day
Need You Around
Can’t Help The Teardrops (From Getting Cried)
Adena
On The Shoulder
The Get Up Kids / Smoking Popes — 2024 Tour Dates
Aug 29 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park
Aug 30 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
Aug 31 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
Sept 1 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
Sept 3 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Sep 4 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Sep 6 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
Sep 7 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
Sep 8 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
Sep 10 – Salt Lake City , UT – The Depot
Sep 11 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
Sep 13 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
Sep 14 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
Sep 15 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
Sep 24 – Columbus, OH – The Athenaeum
Sep 25 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live
Sep 27 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Trans
Sep 28 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
Sep 29 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
Oct 1 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Sone Pony
Oct 3 – Boston, MA – Big Night Live
Oct 4 – Buffalo, NY – Electric City
Oct 5 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
Oct 6 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
Oct 8 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
Oct 9 – Minneapolis, MN – Uptown Theater
Oct 10 – Chicago, IL – Metro
Oct 11 – Chicago, IL – Metro