Chicago band reunites and rocks Mojo's
Published June 8, 2006
It was 1998 and several Chicago poppunk icons had hung it up, presumably for good.
Now, eight years later, the Smoking Popes have picked up where they left off, capping off a six-month tour last week at Mojo's.
The Popes disbanded when lead singer Josh Caterer, who - along with his brothers that makes up three-quarters of the band - became a Christian and struggled to reconcile his faith with his career.
The Mojo's concert was set for 8:30 p.m., but the group was delayed enroute, prompting an awkward silence for almost 90 minutes. Then, opener The Reputation got on stage, and joked the headliner "might be here sometime in the next two hours."
The Reputation, with its urgent sound — spacey, up-tempo rock, in the vein of bands Anberlin and Houston Calls — delivered to a restless crowd.
Lead singer Elizabeth Elmore's enunciated, feathery voice floated over the pulsing guitars without being overpowered.
For a band playing to a crowd worried about the headliners arriving, they exceeded all expectations.
Lovedrug came next, and despite considerable hype that has brought comparisons to Radiohead, Lovedrug's instrumental diversity, which included a keyboard, an acoustic and numerous electric guitars, belied the unfortunate homogeny of their music. It was difficult to tell when one cacophonous, plodding mound of distortion gave way to the next song.
Singer Michael Shepard's voice, interesting on their album, proved too soft and reedy to be heard over the muddle of guitars and piano. More than anything else, they were victims of circumstance. Between the up-tempo work of The Reputation and the Smoking Popes, the Lovedrug set seemed out of place.
The Smoking Popes trickled in as Lovedrug finished its set, much to the relief of the audience. A nervous contingent had begun moving from one table to another, asking each other who was there "for the Popes" while exchanging worried glances.
But all was forgiven with their first song "Pure Imagination," a cover from the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
The first thing someone new to the Smoking Popes will notice is the way the vocals of Caterer harken to the crooners of the big band era, awash in vibrato and emotion without seeming overdone.
They sounded, on the whole, just as they did when "Need You Around" — look for it on the "Clueless" soundtrack cassette you wore down in 1995 — gave them their only brush with fame.
The live show in Columbia featured considerably more wailing guitar solos than its more restrained studio work. The one new song they played, "If You Don't Care," would have been right at home on the 1997 album Destination Failure.
The band's consistency, with buzz saw guitars and pensive lyrics, has made them a cult favorite.
By the time they launched into their post-breakup confessional "Pretty Pathetic," the Mojo's patrons, divided down the middle among those who attended Popes concerts in the '90s and those who had been busy watching "Sesame Street Live," felt right at home.
As tradition dictated, Caterer relinquished lead vocal duties to the audience for a chorus of "I miss what we had/I need you so badly," and it was like 1998 all over again.