Press release –
In celebration of their 35th anniversary, Chicago pop punk icons Smoking Popes will be doing a nationwide tour in June and July. “35 years is an important milestone for the Smoking Popes,” says frontman Josh Caterer, “because it means, among other things, that the band itself is old enough to run for president. It’s right there in the constitution! And it might be just what America needs right now.”
The band will play two nights in every city with a completely different setlist each night: the first night featuring songs from their albums Get Fired, Destination Failure, Stay Down and Into the Agony; the second night featuring songs from Born To Quit, The Party’s Over, This Is Only A Test and Lovely Stuff. Tickets for each show can be purchased separately or as a bundled pair at a discounted rate. Caterer explains: “I love the idea of playing songs from every one of our albums. We don’t usually do that on tour because we’re always focusing on whatever the new album is and also trying to make sure we’re playing all the favorites in a set. There tend to be albums that get overlooked, so I think it’s going to be pretty special to be able to honor each of these albums within the context of our career.” Smoking Popes’ Stay Down album will be released on 12″ LP vinyl for the first time, by Asian Man Records and will be available at these shows along with other band merchandise.
From their early indie releases to their critically acclaimed major label albums, Smoking Popes developed a unique blend of buzzsaw guitars, caffeinated rhythms and heartfelt crooning vocals, combining the angst of punk with the smooth sophistication of Frank Sinatra, creating music both urgent and timeless, and influencing a generation of musicians in their wake. The Los Angeles Times said, “Ever wonder what a traditional lounge singer would sound like backed up by a punk band? The Smoking Popes take that concept one step further: They’ve created a unique kind of music that some listeners are describing as ‘hyperkinetic tear-jerkers’.”
Smoking Popes began in 1991as a modest project of the three Caterer brothers, Josh, Eli and Matt, based in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, infusing romantic melancholy and angst-ridden introspection into a truly midwestern style of pop-punk. Since then, they have grown into the very definition of a cult classic band, touring with some of pop-punk’s most archetypal acts, such as Descendents, Dinosaur Jr, Jawbreaker and Jimmy Eat World. Throughout the 90’s and 2000’s, they released a series of critically acclaimed studio albums, landing their songs in movies like Clueless and Tommy Boy, all the while maintaining the edgy and earnest sound that helped earn them their status as Emo pioneers.
The group’s most recent release is 2025’s studio album called Lovely Stuff, their first since 2018’s Into The Agony. It was produced by band, recorded at Bombsight Studio, Bloomington IL and Million Yen Studio, Chicago IL with David Rossi and Andy Gerber engineering.
w/ Alien Boy
June 9 & 10 – Denver, CO – Lost Lake
June 14 & 15 – Seattle, WA – Black Lodge
June 16 & 17 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
June 19 & 20 – San Francisco, CA – Killowatt
June 23 & 24 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
June 25 & 26 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon (+ NERF HERDER)
July 1 & 2 – Austin, TX – Kick Butt Cafe
w/ Radiator Hospital
July 23 & 24 – Medford, MA – Deep Cuts
July 25 & 26 – Queens, NY – TV Eye
July 29 & 30 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
July 31 & Aug 1 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
