Smoking Popes back with new album, 'Stay Down'
The Smoking Popes are touring on the East Coast this holiday weekend, but there is great news for fans of the reunited Chicago alt-rock heroes: the new album is out now on iTunes and hits store shelves on Tuesday.
“Stay Down” is the band’s first studio album in nine years — and little seems to have changed. The new tracks sound clean and crisp and classic Popes, justifying the “pop” part of their omnipresent “pop-punk” label, from the ’90s-by-numbers guitar scraping of the opener, “Welcome to Janesville,” and the anthemic “Grab Your Heart and Run” to the tuneful ballads “If You Don’t Care” and “It’s Never Too Late (For Love).” The album even closes with a refreshing acoustic touch in the romantic pangs of “First Time.”
The rock quartet disbanded in 1999. Singer Josh Caterer called things off to focus on his religious convictions. The Popes re-formed two years ago when Caterer and his brothers (Matt and Eli) in the band found a way to reconcile good living with the devil’s music.
The band’s last studio album was “The Party’s Over,” a posthumous collection of covers, in 2003. The Popes’ reunion show was issued in 2006 as “At Metro.”