Cultural variety at home in northwest suburbs
By: Jean Latz Griffin and Patrick
The northwest suburbs also have produced their own hit rock bands. The Smoking Popes, a power-pop-punk band out of the Lake in the Hills-Crystal Lake area, could be the biggest group to emerge from the Chicago scene since Glendale Heights' native son Billy Corgan made Smashing Pumpkins the band of the 1990s.
Popes' lead singer and songwriter Josh Caterer said his suburban upbringing was good for his songwriting. And it may be a boom for Carpentersville. Caterer lived in the village until he was 13 and immortalizes it on the band's new "Destination Failure" album: "I drove all the way from Carpentersville to see you here tonight/And it was worth it," he sings on "You Spoke to Me."
Caterer sees a connection between how rock critics assess his music and life in the suburbs.
"I've heard a lot of people say there's a certain innocent or naive quality about the words I write, and that's probably a product of being suburban," he said. "You don't get corrupted by too much stimuli out there. There's a certain purity of life to it."
