Smoking Popes Announce Concept Album, Tour and TV Special

The album hits the street on March 15th, sparking a spring tour to celebrate, beginning at SXSW in Austin.

Before they hit the road, the band will launch This is Only a Test by playing live on the national broadcast of WGN TV in their hometown of Chicago.

This is Only a Test's songs explore themes of identity, musical aspirations, love and teen suicide." Singer/Guitarist Songwriter Josh Caterer explains, "When I first got the idea to write from a teenage perspective, the individual songs came really quickly. I wrote a song a day for five days. That's half the album in less than a week. I never write that fast! Each song stands alone as a snapshot from this kid's life. The story doesn't unfold like a narrative. It's more like a collage." Recorded at Chicago's Atlas Studios in 2010, the album was produced by Matt Allison (Alkaline Trio, Lawrence Arms, Less Than Jake).

Some may assume that This is Only a Test is autobiographical but Caterer lays that notion to rest, saying, "The main character on this album is definitely a creation. He's not me. Well�he's similar to me, but he's not limited by the realities of my own experience. I created a character that basically has the same view of the world that I had when I was in high school, but he's his own person and he does some things that I never did."