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There's something to be said for the value of hard work--the Glenmont Popes are living, breathing examples of that. Since relocating to Baltimore from the D.C. suburbs a few years back, the Popes have been at it hammer and tongs--playing, recording, playing, founding the rowdy rural rock outing known as Popefest, and playing some more.
Astute readers may have noticed our frequent use of the descriptive term "turbobilly," a coinage inspired by our very first encounter with the Popes' stripped-down, souped-up roots-rock sound. Since those first heady shows, the Popes' hard work and singer/guitarist Rodney Henry's outsized personality have made them the undisputed pontiffs of a certain tattoo-and-brew-loving wing of the local music scene, and their relentless gigging has honed their sound until it's as lean and mean as bassist Randy Rawlinson.
Maybe the Popes aren't the most subtle or thoughtful rock band in Baltimore, but they are the most determined rock band in Baltimore--determined to rock you, the guy behind you, your grandmother, whoever, if they can just get all of you within earshot. We've gotta respect that.
Rodney Henry seems like a pretty elemental guy, at least when it comes to his band, the Glenmont Popes. The singer/guitarist relies a lot on fire imagery to put across the passion in his music: The Popes' first album, Cherry Burnin' Love, and the new Love in Flames were both released on the Popes' own Burnin' Blue Heart Recordings label. The rest of the Popes' thing relies on a few similarly elemental themes--the band's music sticks to the souped-up turbobilly sound pioneered by the likes of the Rev. Horton Heat, and almost all the band's songs (written mostly by Henry with drummer Kurt Celtnieks) concern women who are bad in a way that's kind of good sometimes. While the Popes' sound is pretty much set--it's not as if the band is likely to go drum 'n' bass on us or start working on a rock opera about tattoos--Love in Flames proves the band is making some changes and some big strides forward. Too bad the improvement is not across the board.
Cherry Burnin' Love got over on energy and potential--it had to, given the rough first-time-out production. Love in Flames finds the Popes sounding better than ever as engineer Drew Mazurek works his usual wonders, giving hard-swinging classic Popes' rave-ups like "Reelin'," the title track, and "Daddy's Little Girl" a coat of polish while leaving plenty of guts. The much-improved sound shows off Celtnieks' and bassist Randy Rawlinson's burly yet precise rhythm-section punch. Henry has obviously been hunkered down over the fretboard, picking up some tasty clipped chords to put an extra shiver down the backbone of "Hypnotized" and "Your Room." And dig the jazzy solo that sets a torch to the sultry "Love Untrue," written and sung in fine style by Celtnieks.
For devotees of the band's hard-livin', hard-lovin', hard-rockin' style, that's all you need to know. Still it's hard not to wish that the band's songwriting had grown as much as its playing, singing, and production values. In this context, an unpretentious party-hearty anthem like "Ted Nugent Condominium" really stands out--somehow it rings a little truer than yet another plain-spoken song about a bad, bad girl and doomed love. The Popes' flaming passion-pit turbobilly--the band's elemental nature--is well-established and has won them a lot of fans. But that single-mindedness could ultimately prove to be a weakness if the band ever wants to be more than a hot time on a Saturday night.
Astute readers may have noticed our frequent use of the descriptive term "turbobilly," a coinage inspired by our very first encounter with the Popes' stripped-down, souped-up roots-rock sound. Since those first heady shows, the Popes' hard work and singer/guitarist Rodney Henry's outsized personality have made them the undisputed pontiffs of a certain tattoo-and-brew-loving wing of the local music scene, and their relentless gigging has honed their sound until it's as lean and mean as bassist Randy Rawlinson.
Maybe the Popes aren't the most subtle or thoughtful rock band in Baltimore, but they are the most determined rock band in Baltimore--determined to rock you, the guy behind you, your grandmother, whoever, if they can just get all of you within earshot. We've gotta respect that.
Rodney Henry seems like a pretty elemental guy, at least when it comes to his band, the Glenmont Popes. The singer/guitarist relies a lot on fire imagery to put across the passion in his music: The Popes' first album, Cherry Burnin' Love, and the new Love in Flames were both released on the Popes' own Burnin' Blue Heart Recordings label. The rest of the Popes' thing relies on a few similarly elemental themes--the band's music sticks to the souped-up turbobilly sound pioneered by the likes of the Rev. Horton Heat, and almost all the band's songs (written mostly by Henry with drummer Kurt Celtnieks) concern women who are bad in a way that's kind of good sometimes. While the Popes' sound is pretty much set--it's not as if the band is likely to go drum 'n' bass on us or start working on a rock opera about tattoos--Love in Flames proves the band is making some changes and some big strides forward. Too bad the improvement is not across the board.
Cherry Burnin' Love got over on energy and potential--it had to, given the rough first-time-out production. Love in Flames finds the Popes sounding better than ever as engineer Drew Mazurek works his usual wonders, giving hard-swinging classic Popes' rave-ups like "Reelin'," the title track, and "Daddy's Little Girl" a coat of polish while leaving plenty of guts. The much-improved sound shows off Celtnieks' and bassist Randy Rawlinson's burly yet precise rhythm-section punch. Henry has obviously been hunkered down over the fretboard, picking up some tasty clipped chords to put an extra shiver down the backbone of "Hypnotized" and "Your Room." And dig the jazzy solo that sets a torch to the sultry "Love Untrue," written and sung in fine style by Celtnieks.
For devotees of the band's hard-livin', hard-lovin', hard-rockin' style, that's all you need to know. Still it's hard not to wish that the band's songwriting had grown as much as its playing, singing, and production values. In this context, an unpretentious party-hearty anthem like "Ted Nugent Condominium" really stands out--somehow it rings a little truer than yet another plain-spoken song about a bad, bad girl and doomed love. The Popes' flaming passion-pit turbobilly--the band's elemental nature--is well-established and has won them a lot of fans. But that single-mindedness could ultimately prove to be a weakness if the band ever wants to be more than a hot time on a Saturday night.
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