How is the tour going? Are there cities outside of Chicago that are
touchstones for the band?
The tour is going well. We played in Austin, TX the other night, which is
a good town for us, (and) the West Coast has always been enthusiastic about
us.
Your live show incorporates a fair amount of feedback and distortion.
Is this something that surprises fans of your more polished,
pop-oriented work? Does the sonic dissonance come from influences that
aren't usually cited when writers review your work?
Our sound has always been based around distorted guitars and (has) featured
guitar solos, so I don't think anyone familiar with our recordings would
be too surprised to hear that at our shows. In recent years, though, we
have made room in the set for some extended guitar freak outs, (which) everybody
seems to enjoy.
Your new drummer, Neil Hennessy, is what you might call a "muscular
drummer." Was it his work with Lawrence Arms that caught your attention
or did he beat his Singerland kit into submission during an audition?
Neil has been a friend for years and we wanted to play with him in 2006
but the Lawrence Arms were too busy. It just worked out where we were
looking for a drummer again while the Arms were taking a little break.
Dreams come true!
What is it like working with your brothers, Eli and Josh, now that
you're all a little older and a little wiser?
It's the same as when we worked together before except we hate each
other a little bit less.
The new album, Stay Down, is out on Curb Appeal Records. Did you have
a relationship going in with Jim Suptic from The Get Up Kids? Were there
other deciding factors in signing with the label?
This was something our old manager had started on before he moved to New
York in March and stopped managing us. We decided to go with [Curb Appeal]
because they seemed unafraid of tackling all the problems associated
with rushing the album out for the summer.
Tell us a little about writing and recording the album. Was it a
difficult process after being on hiatus for so long?
The process was much the same as it was before. Josh comes to rehearsal
with a song idea. He plays it for us and we begin writing our parts and
working on an arrangement.
You played the new album in its entirety earlier this year at
Schuba's. Have you entertained the idea of performing Born to Quit or
Destination Failure start to finish?
Yeah, we'd like to rerelease Born to Quit next year and play it at a
show.
What's up next for Smoking Popes?
We're playing the Cusp Conference at the Museum of Contemporary Art's theater in Chicago. Tickets are $1500-$1750 and Robert Kennedy, Jr. is our opening act.
Smoking Popes will perform at the “design of everything”-themed Cusp Conference (Robert Kennedy, Jr. is a scheduled presenter), to be held at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art Theater on September 10th and 11th. For more information, check out:
www.cuspconference.com/2008/
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