Melody Maker March 2, 1996

Catholic Puffs

Smoking POPES remind EVERETT TRUE of Frank Sinatra, The Ramones, Chicago.
Pope in the eye:
STEPHEN SWEET

IMAGINE Frank Sinatra duetting with The Wedding Present. Cops. Bad start. OK, then. Think someone all languid and laidback and dreamy, like NYC’s Lotion covering “Fly Me To The Moon”, or one of those mid-Eighties ice-cool English singers with a kickin’ beat behind them, or imagine Chicago, all covered with now and looking romantic and bleak...
OK. Now we’re getting somewhere. Think: Smoking Popes—three brothers and a drummer who live just round the corner from Chicago’s mighty Bulls stadium, say things in quiet, swee t voices like “On stage, try to think about stuff like an attractive young woman in the crowd,” and “Our songs are mostly sweet, romantic love songs, I guess; pretty straight pop songs with distorted guitars and a ragtime New Orleans twist” —prefer to write when driving along in the Illinois equivalent of a Cadillac convertible (a Nissan) and occasionally remind me of The Ramones. For the straightforward, undeniably catchy nature of their songs. And for their preference for diners.
“Need You Around”, their debut UK single, is a three-minute blast of adrenalin- charged, pure, pure fun.
What more can I say?
Check ‘em out!
These Popes smoke!
‘Need You Around’ (single) and ‘Born To Quit’ (LP) are out now on Capitol