Smoking Popes; November 15, 1995; The Backdoor, SDSU
There was nothing but empty space for the opening act, UFOFU. A sad thing for the Dallas-based trio, which had a punky country sound, supplemented by grungy guitar riffs. The third song in the set, "Never," took the few people present off to the end of the galaxy, as it swung from fast to slow and back again, with Joe Butcher's hollow-bodied guitar adding some good ol' twang. Unfortunately, the Smoking Popes quickly killed that fire.
The Popes' music sounds better live than on their current disc, but their music still drips sickeningly from sappy song to sappy song, while exploring such topics as falling in love, falling deeper in love, falling out of love, thinking about love, and so on to the point of nausea. Yes, this is a band your mother might adore, given lyrics along the lines of "I'm thinking about asking you to be Mrs. You and Me." That's special.
Despite their sentimentality, something far greater was wrong. Josh Caterer's voice, lovely as it was, lacked any conviction. Complicating the situation, he smiled song after song--even when crooning about his supposedly busted-up heart. His band sure couldn't help him, because between bass, drums, and guitar, there was no creativity. The guitarist, whose face was twisted up into a kind of mock determination, kept pounding out the same simple chords, none of which seemed to suit the song very well. But it sure looked as though he was working very hard! For all that work, the Popes' sound was tame until they picked up the pace in the middle of their set with a hyper-medley of "Need You Around" and "Lucky Day," complete with an over-emphasized ending which kicked the audience into head-bobbing mode. This they followed with a cover of Willie Nelson's "Valentine"--as if we hadn't had enough cheese before.
Caterer then thanked the audience for being "friendly." As if he'd been expected some well-earned tomatoes.
--Dolores Lopez
