Live DC: Smoking Popes & The Oranges Band

July 7, 2008 by Matt Siblo  Send to a Friend

From the moment The Oranges Band’s guitarist/singer Roman Kuebler played the opening chords of its set this past Wednesday at DC9 it was clear they were a little out of practice. Kuebler shrugged and grimaced past the missed notes and false starts, proclaiming after ten minutes that “we’re done with that part…the first three songs.” The Baltimore band has toured sporadically since releasing 2005’s The World & Everything in It on the now defunct Lookout! Records, a circumstance that probably hasn’t encouraged a heavy itinerary.

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The band’s rickety 35 minute set was split between its older material and songs off a forthcoming album Kuebler announced should be released soon. One of those new songs whose working title is “Everyone Burns Out” sounded particularly promising while the start/stop rhythm of “Gordon’s Nightclub” felt ill-suited and out of place amidst the band’s power-pop formula. The band closed its set with another new song titled “Ottobar (After hours),” a spirited homage to the blurry eyed patrons of its hometown club. The Oranges Band’s sound is indistinguishable from its peers, a poppy brand of indie rock that suits the recent catchall connotation of the term. The band’s songs are catchy and familiar sounding without its influences pointing in any obvious or specific direction. The charm of band’s performance was its looseness, like old friends dusting off songs which once lay dormant but have since been brought back to life.

The evening belonged to another musical resurrection, however. One of the more unlikely characters to awake from hibernation within the current reunion boom, The Smoking Popes quietly reformed a few years ago after initially calling it quits in 1998. Championed as one of the unsung heroes of the 90s pop-punk explosion, the band’s modest songs were hummable but somewhat unassuming amongst the crowded power-chord landscape of the time. Carter’s enthusiastically romantic vocals never quite fit the ennui of the decade, although The Popes’ crunchy sound fit snuggly on soundtracks to coming of age comedies like Clueless and Angus. The band’s potency stems from Josh Carter’s exaggerated croon although his follow up project Duvall proved that The Pope’s pristine yet punchy attack offset his unique vocal delivery more effectively than indulging it within flowery arrangements.

Before they took the stage, the PA serenaded the crowd with Hatful of Hallow by The Smiths, a playful nod to one of the band’s most knowing influences. As the Carter tuned up, he quietly mouthed along to “How Soon is Now?” before launching into his own reinterpretation of Moz’s dour romanticism. The set opened briskly with “We Don’t Care,” a track off the band’s forthcoming Stay Down its first attempt at new material in over a decade.

Josh Carter’s tattoo photos: Patrick Cornolo

“Were you aware that we had a new album out?” Carter asked the audience dryly. The crowd responded enthusiastically although the biggest responses of the night predictably came from material off Born to Quit and Destination Failure. Songs like “Gotta Know Right Now” and “Rubella” felt lively and confident while the subtle hooks of “Megan” provided one of the set’s highlights. Even the band’s biggest (semi)hit, “Need Your Around” felt fresh amongst the band’s new material, a sound that hasn’t strayed much since its inception. An exception was a new song called “The Formula,” which Carter described as inspired by Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Its chorus made reference to the book’s remorseful protagonist, lamenting his inability to undo the deaths he’s caused. It was the set’s only diversion of tone, making it feel surprisingly poignant amongst the backdrop of band’s traditionally upbeat odes to love. But even a lapse into homicidal balladry couldn’t break the band’s momentum, plowing through a 15+ song set with workman-like speed and efficiency. By the time The Popes got around to playing its ambiguous ode to Jesus, “I Know You Love Me” the song’s sentiment felt mutual between the sparse crowd and its performers.

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