Lovely Stuff [LP]

Smoking Popes - Lovely Stuff [LP]

Chicago punk legends Smoking Popes are back with a new full length studio album called Lovely Stuff, their first since 2018's Into The Agony. The album will be released in April 2025 by Anxious & Angry, available on 12" LP vinyl, digital download and streaming platforms. This new self-produced album was recorded at Bombsight Studio, Bloomington IL and Million Yen Studio, Chicago IL with David Rossi and Andy Gerber engineering. "It took us about two years to make this record," says lead singer and songwriter Josh Caterer. "We went into the studio with just two songs in the summer of 2022, then I kept writing and we'd go back every few months and record another couple songs. It was a long process because we were doing it all piecemeal, but I think the final product has a cohesive energy. The songs all feel connected." Two tracks from the album, "Madison" and "Golden Moment," have already been released as singles and two more are on the way, "Racine" in February and "Fox River Dream" just before the album drops. These two tracks will be preceded in January by a non-album single called "Allegiance," an incendiary protest song with guest vocals from Scott Lucas of Local H. The title Lovely Stuff was inspired by the band's recent tour of the UK. "We played a small club in Northwich called the Salty Dog," Caterer explains, "and at one point the audience started chanting, 'Lovely stuff! Lovely stuff!' It was really a beautiful moment and so ridiculously British. I mean, where else in the world would an audience chant that?" The title also signals a departure from the band's notoriously negative album titles, such as Born to Quit, Destination Failure, and Into the Agony. "Calling this album Lovely Stuff felt right because it says something about where our heads are at right now. I wouldn't exactly say we're optimistic, but we're at least determined to keep moving forward, to keep finding what is lovely in an unlovely world."