Smoking Popes’ Matt Caterer Needs You Around: Dan Bejar Of Destroyer And The New Pornographers

Aside from having the coolest name of any punk-leaning Chicago-area band since Big Black, Smoking Popes have been blessed with core fan base that refused to quit on the outfit. When leader Josh Caterer pulled the plug on the Popes in 1998, it came little more than a year after releasing what might have been the group’s best album, Destination Failure, perplexing many but apparently offending few. Seven years later, a sold-out reunion show in the Popes’ hometown was all it took to get Caterer back in a creative mood. From there, Josh and brothers Matt (bass) and Eli (guitar) pretty much picked up where they left off, releasing Stay Down in 2008 and compilation It’s Been A Long Day last year. The new This Is Only A Test (Asian Man) is a concept album that only occasionally comes across as such, with the 38-year-old Josh taking on the role of an angsty teenager to convincing effect. Josh and Matt will be guest-editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with Josh.

Matt: I first heard of this dude when his band Destroyer put out their album Streethawk: A Seduction a few years back. Great record. Soundwise, he got pegged with kind of an early Bowie/indie tag, which I guess is true as far as it goes. His voice is whinier than Bowie’s, though, and he seems more like an aloof nerd than a glam rocker. Real cryptic, poetic lyrics. The new one Kaputt is really good, too. Kind of indie lounge. Dude spends some of his time in the band New Pornographers, and he usually sings lead on a few songs on the albums. I’ve never seen him with any of his other bands, but I’ve seen the New Pornographers twice. What I think is interesting about his role in that band is when he’s not singing lead, he just leaves the stage. He doesn’t stay and play rhythm guitar or sing backup vocals. He just leaves. Then he comes back like four or five songs later, sings a song or maybe two, then leaves again. I’ve been to a lot of shows over the years, and I’ve never seen that. Granted the band has multiple lead singers and there are already a lot of people onstage, so they don’t really need him out there when he’s not singing, but it just seems a little odd. My question is, besides from the drinking he’s obviously doing back there, what is he doing backstage while the show is going on? Just hanging out chatting with the random group of people that’s usually backstage at a rock show? Meditating? Napping? Checking his email? And how is what he’s doing better than if he was actually out on stage playing rhythm guitar or something? Whatever the answers to those questions, the whole thing has the effect of making him seem like an eccentric weirdo, but in a good way. Anyhow, most MAGNET readers probably know a lot more about Destroyer and New Pornographers than I do. I just know that Bejar is awesome. I hope to catch Destroyer sometime soon. I’m assuming he’s onstage most of the time for those shows. (Ha.) If you haven’t heard Destroyer, check out Streethawk or the new one, Kaputt.

Video after the jump.