About Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes is an American pop punk band from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. They are composed of brothers Matt Caterer , Josh Caterer and Eli Caterer and Mike Felumlee .
In 1990, the Caterer brothers formed a punk trio called Speedstick with Josh on vocals/guitar, Eli on bass, and Matt on drums. They played one gig in a friend's basement, after which the Caterer parents decided that Eli, then a sophomore in high school, would have to quit the band until after he graduated, so Matt switched to bass and Dave Martens joined on drums. That summer, at their first self-funded recording session, the trio recorded about 15 original songs composed by Josh, some of which would form the basis of the Smoking Popes early material.
They played a handful of local shows over the next year, and in the summer of 1991, they changed the band's name to Smoking Popes, inspired by one of the Caterer brothers' favorite movies The Pope of Greenwich Village. Soon after that, Martens left the band and the Caterer brothers recruited Mike Felumlee to replace him.
In late 1991, the band released their first EP called Inoculator with help from local indie label Radius Records. In early 1992, the band self-released a 4 song EP called "The Smoking Popes Break Up", recorded by Phil Bonnet. That summer, Eli rejoined the band on guitar and they self-released another EP called "2". They continued to play shows in small venues around the midwest.
In 1993, the band got a break when pop punk icon Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel became a fan and used his connections to recruit Mass Giorgini of Squirtgun to record the Smoking Popes' first full-length album, Get Fired, which was released by Chicago indie label Johann's Face Records.
In early 1994, the band resumed their partnership with Phil Bonnet and began recording their second LP called Born to Quit which included the song "Need You Around", which would later launch Smoking Popes to a huge audience via the soundtrack to the film Clueless.
Another break for the Popes came in the summer of 1994 when they were invited to open for Green Day, who extended the invitation after hearing Get Fired. Later that summer, their new album, Born to Quit came out on Johann's Face. After "Need You Around" took off on alternative radio they gained the attention of record label scouts. They signed with Capitol Records, which re-released Born to Quit. In a promotional blitz, they toured America with the Gummy Dolls and Tripping Daisy.
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