Smoking Popes, The Brokedowns

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Chris Tracy

The band Smoking Popesl

Smoking Popes

$24 ($20 adv.).

media release: To celebrate the 30^th anniversary of their album debut, Smoking Popes been busy in the studio, cooking up a fresh batch of songs, including a pair of digital singles coming this summer; a punchy new version of the Human League classic “Don’t You Want Me” featuring Deanna Belos of Sincere Engineer on vocals, available June 30^th, and an incendiary new original song called “Madison,” available July 21^st. "Don't You Want Me" was recorded at Million Yen Studios in Chicago, engineered by Andy Gerber, Mixed by Jamie Woolford, produced by Smoking Popes. These singles are the first new Popes releases since 2018’s Into The Agony album and will be the first offerings from their next full-length album, expected sometime in 2024. They’ve also put together a special 12” LP vinyl re-issue of that widely revered debut album Get Fired, which is being released August 17^th, with tour dates to follow (see below).

From their early indie releases to their critically acclaimed major label albums, Smoking Popes developed a unique blend of buzzsaw guitars, caffeinated rhythms and heartfelt crooning vocals, combining the angst of punk with the smooth sophistication of Frank Sinatra, creating music both urgent and timeless, and influencing a generation of musicians in their wake. The Los Angeles Times said, “Ever wonder what a traditional lounge singer would sound like backed up by a punk band? The Smoking Popes take that concept one step further: They’ve created a unique kind of music that some listeners are describing as ‘hyperkinetic tear-jerkers’.”

Smoking Popes began in 1991as a modest project of the three Caterer brothers, Josh, Eli and Matt, based in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, infusing romantic melancholy and angst-ridden introspection into a truly midwestern style of pop-punk. Since then, they have grown into the very definition of a cult classic band, touring with some of pop-punk’s most archetypal acts, such as Descendents, Dinosaur Jr, Jawbreaker and Jimmy Eat World. Throughout the 90’s and 2000’s, they released a series of critically acclaimed studio albums, landing their songs in movies like Clueless and Tommy Boy, all the while maintaining the edgy and earnest sound that helped earn them their status as emo pioneers.