Smoking Popes frontman Josh Caterer talks about band's longevity ahead of Bloomington show

Photo by Meredith Goldberg

By ERIC SCHELKOPF

The songs on Smoking Popes' quintessential album "Born to Quit" are so fresh sounding, it is hard to believe the album is more than 30 years old.

The album was released on Chicago indie label Johann’s Face Records in 1994 before it was picked up by Capitol Records the following year.

The Chicago area pop punk band is performing the album in its entirety as part of a tour that includes an April 25 stop at The Castle Theatre, 209 E. Washington St., Bloomington.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are available by going to the band's website, smokingpopesmusic.com. 

The band will also perform songs from its latest album, "Lovely Stuff," along with other songs from its catalogue.

I had the chance to talk to Smoking Popes frontman and Aurora resident Josh Caterer about the band's latest projects.

Q – Great to talk to you again. I believe the last time we talked was in 2010 and a lot has happened since then.

For one thing, back then you were living in Elgin and you were a worship leader at Harvest Bible Chapel. Now, you live in Aurora and are a worship pastor at Village Bible Church in Sugar Grove.

What do you like about being a worship pastor?

There's a lot of things. I like to worship the Lord and I like being able to help other people do that.

Having a job that involves music is right in my wheelhouse. To have a job that involves a weekly musical performance is pretty much right on the bullseye for me.

Q – And it's great that you're living in Aurora.  I know you've played at The Venue in downtown Aurora.

It's got a great vibe. I love that place.

I did a solo performance there. The Smoking Popes has never played at The Venue.

Q – Speaking about the Smoking Popes, it seems like the band is pretty busy these days. You teamed up with Scott Lucas of Local H for the song “Allegiance.” How have people been responding to the song?

It was great to record with him. We've known Scott for a long time.

 

Smoking Popes toured with Local H back in the '90s. So we've known Scott for a couple of decades now.

But I had never been in the studio with him. So it was great to have the opportunity to do that and to see how he works in the studio.

You always see a different side of a person in the studio and it was really cool and inspiring to see him at work.

The response to the song has been mostly positive so far, except for some of the pushback that I expected. 

Q – So you felt the need to write a song like that? I was reading about how you felt after the presidential election and you just felt compelled to put this out there. Are you hoping to change anybody's mind?

I don't know if that's possible. I simply felt the need to express the very strong feelings that were within me and art is a great and constructive way to do that.

Because in the immediate wake of the election, I was not only frustrated and disappointed that he was reelected, I was also very upset at the thought that there might be people out there who assumed that I voted for him because I'm a Christian.

There is a general stereotype about Christians, that all Christians in America are Trump supporters. And it's not actually true. 

Maybe a majority of them are, but not all Christians are Trump supporters. A person doesn't have to become a Trump supporter when they become a Christian.

Those are two different things. Christianity is not a right-wing political movement.

It was very important to me to let the world know that while I am a Christian, I am definitely not a Trump supporter.

Q – You and your brothers, Matt and Eli, recently performed a sold-out show at Tivoli Bowl in Downers Grove. I know you guys don’t always perform live together, but when you do, is it an extra special experience?

Yeah. My brothers, Matt and Eli, both have little kids, so they don't go on tour these days. They play the shows that are local.

But if we're playing out of state, we have other players to fill in for them. It is special to have the original lineup of the band at these local shows.

It's really fun. There's a certain repertoire that I have with my brothers that is pretty special.

And that show in particular was incredible. There was a lot of energy there that night.

It's always amazing to play at these alternative venues like a bowling alley or a record store or somewhere that's smaller than we usually play, somewhere that people are just packed in and it feels like a real punk show.

That show at Tivoli Bowl felt like some of the punk shows that we played when we were starting out.

Q – Do you think the fact that you are brothers is one of the reasons that Smoking Popes is still around more than 30 years after first forming?

I guess it's a little surprising that a band of brothers has stayed together this long, because usually brothers in a band will fight. Look at Oasis.

I feel like those guys can barely stand to be in a room with each other for a long time. But we've always been friends and able to work out our differences with each other.

It just depends on communication. I think we developed some good communication skills when we were younger. 

So if we have a problem, we don't just scream at each other or throw a tantrum. We'll talk it through.

Q – And of course, you will going on tour this year and performing “Born To Quit” in its entirety to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the album. Why do you think the album has stood up so well over the years?

I think that there's something in the songwriting that has kind of a timeless quality and that probably comes from the fact that when I was writing those songs, I was listening to a lot of music from the '50s and '60s and trying to incorporate that vibe into what I was writing, those melodies and those themes.

 

If those songs were still appealing 30 or 40 years later back in the '90s, then a new version of them is still going to add that same timeless appeal, I think.

Q – As part of this tour, you also are playing songs from your new album, “Lovely Stuff,” which was released in March. I understand you started the album in 2022.

It seems like there is a meaning behind the album's name. Is there a story behind the album's name?

Yes. We did a tour of Europe and the UK last year. It was the first time we had been over there in 28 years.

And one of the shows took place at a small club in Northwich called the Salty Dog. And in between songs, the audience started chanting those words, 'Lovely Stuff! Lovely Stuff!' 

It was a wonderful, strange moment, because it was so ridiculously British. It's not something an American audience would chant.

It was really kind of beautiful. It was a moment that stuck with us.

There was so much love and positivity and celebration in that room. And it came to represent in our minds the transcendent joy there is in playing live music.

Q – What were your goals for the album and do you think you accomplished them? I understand you started the album in 2022.

We worked on it slowly. We would just record a couple of songs at a time and then go back into the studio two or three months later with two more songs.

We were taking our time with the writing and arranging process. We don't have clearly defined artistic goals.

You want to stay open to whatever creative impulses are brewing within you. You want to try to be honest and you want to try to be inspired.

I am really happy with the way these songs turned out because I feel like on our last few albums, we have started to incorporate the musical textures that we weren't capable of before, especially in the guitar work.

The way that Eli and I play off of each other in the studio has become more interesting to listen to over the years, I think. And Eli has really started to bring a lot more atmospheric layers into his playing.

Q – It seems like you guys are always looking for new challenges and new ways to approach things.

That probably helps to keep you going.

Yeah, I think that's part of life, just trying to stay engaged. You get to a certain point in life where you notice that people your age start to consider themselves old. 

I noticed this even when I was in my 30s, that people my age would start to make jokes about how they're old now and they're always making self deprecating comments about their own age.

I have always felt that even if that is intended to be light hearted, it still is not helpful and it can be really counterproductive and it should be avoided at all costs.

I have always felt, even from when I was young, that older people should be celebrated, appreciated and respected. People gain wisdom and skill along the way that young people don't have.

Willie Nelson is still touring and he is 91 years old and he's still putting out albums every year. And Buddy Guy is still going.

So it's possible to stay engaged and stay inspired and to stay active. I think the point is you just have to keep moving, you have to keep caring and just never think of yourself as old because you never actually are.

Any person who is still alive is still relevant and still has something to say about what's happening around them and something to contribute.

And I hope that I always feel that way, no matter how long I have left on this planet and that sentiment will come through in our music.

 

 

  

Power trio mssv heading to Chicago after releasing genre-busting album "On And On"

Photo by Gabe Loewenberg

By ERIC SCHELKOPF

 

Power trio mssv likes to take its songs on a test drive before recording them for an album.

The group performed the songs featured on its recently released genre-busting album "On And On" every night on its 58-show tour in 2023. 

mssv is currently touring in support of the new album and will perform on April 16 at the Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia Ave, Chicago. The show starts at 8:30 p.m. and tickets are $15, available at hideoutchicago.com. 

I had the chance to talk to innovative guitarist and frontman Mike Baggetta about the new album. The trio also features Stephen Hodges on drums and Mike Watt on bass.

Q – Great to talk to you. It looks like you guys have been playing ever night since the tour started on March 13. Do you guys enjoy performing every night? 

 

Yeah, we do. One of the main things that's good about it is that every night, we get to work out new music for the next record.

 

 

I don't live near the other guys, so when we get together, I like to have new music ready so that we can kind of work on that every night and then record the new album after the tour.

I don't have the luxury of just calling band practice every Friday afternoon or whatever. But I try to make the time count for everybody.

 

Q – How do you prepare yourself for such a demanding tour?

 

A lot of people think that, but it doesn't really feel that way. There's a lot of preparation that goes into knowing where we're going to go, knowing where we're going to stay and knowing what time we've got to get there.

That all happens before we hit the road, for the most part. We get to play our music every night, which is not really so bad.

 

It's not like we are breaking rocks out in a prison yard in the sun for 12 hours a day. Also, as the tour goes on, I find the momentum of playing every night really helps.

If you were going to play 40 nights in a row and then take a night off and then you have to start up again, that might be a little harder in some ways to get back up. 

I don't really think about it as such a big long thing. It is, but I just think about one day at a time.

We're lucky to be able to do it.

Q – And of course, you are touring in support of the band’s new album, “On And On.” I understand you performed the songs every night on the band’s 2023 tour. The songs must have been received well. Is that why you decided to record the songs?

 

No, I don't know if I would like to do it that way, if I was only going to record songs that people clapped for. That would be kind of a weird way to do it, in my mind.

That doesn't really matter so much to me. If the people like it, all the better, but we're going to record the music we've been working on.

I like if the audience likes the song, don't get me wrong, but that's not going to influence what we choose to record. That would be kind of opposite, I think, of the way of doing it.

Q – That is a refreshing attitude. What goals did you have for the album and do you think the finished product surpasses those goals?

 

Well, I wanted the music to get recorded, and we did that.  When I write music before we go on tour, the whole point is that we get to play it every night and the music can turn into something way different than I ever imagined.

 

I'm in a very lucky position and I'm thankful for it. But I get to sort of think about what I would like to hear them play in my music.

And then as we go on tour, other things happen and the songs change a little bit here and there every night. They turn into these things that are much greater than I could have ever imagined on my own.

When people start bringing their own thing into the music, that's to me is when the magic happens. I don't want to have a preconceived notion that gets perfectly executed by myself every night.

That seems like kind of a boring way to do it. The real magic in music is when other people bring things that you could have never imagined into the songs and they turn into things that are a group effort that become greater than the sum of its parts.

I feel really fortunate that we have the time and the ability to play all these shows and let that happen for the music. The ideal situation is that it turns into something better than I could have ever come up with by myself.

Q – Of course, those people who purchase the vinyl version of the album will get something extra. 

There is a different version on the vinyl.  There are a lot of sort of improvised interludes that were kind of edited down and transcribed and recomposed by me that have something to do with some of the music on the record.

They sort of serve like little pieces to tie all the sides together. What I like about vinyl is that it kind of forces people to stop when they're listening to the music.

I think it's a good thing to be able to focus when you're trying to experience something.

Q – I know that you have performed on records with Mike Watt. How did the band come together?

Main Steam Stop Valve – this band – we kind of formed during a tour in 2019. Watt and I had done a record with Jim Keltner called "Wall of Flowers."

We recorded that in 2017. The three of us met that day in the studio.

And we made that record in one day. And then when the record was going to come out in 2019, I thought it might be fun to try and do some shows.

I asked Jim, but he wasn't traveling too much at that point. And so I still wanted to maybe do some of this music live, and I asked Mike it I could get Stephen Hodges' cell phone number from him. I thought he could change the music in a different direction.

I wanted to make an album that has a storyline running through it, but not limiting itself to any type of music, taking the elements of all different types of music.

 

 

It's just an independent sound of a band and of a project, with no limitations. That's why I asked Hodges if he wanted to play drums.

I called him up and he met with me. We did 10 shows in 10 days coast to coast.

Those guys were down to try to do some more music. Watt gave us a good band name and here we are, six years later.

Q – Why do you think you work so well together?

 

I think it's the mutual respect for everybody's talents and everybody's opinions. I know on my end at least, I want everybody to have equal input into the music.

 

I want these guys to tell me ways that the music could be more interesting, more dramatic and more dynamic. I learn something from them every day.

So I want to keep doing that.