The Mopes - yes, Discography! (1998-99) [Both OOP Albums] RESTORED

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The Mopes - yes, Discography! (1998-99) [Both OOP Albums] RESTORED

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The Mopes started out with some silly songs written by Dan Vapid and B-Face while on the road with the Queers. They promised each other they'd record them at some point but both of them were pretty busy with their other bands, Screeching Weasel and the Queers. Vapid first shared their goofy hit, Do the Hairball, with me while riding a city bus through Chicago together, where he explained the dance and sang the tune of the song. Then one afternoon in early 1997, Vapid showed up at John Jughead's house with an acoustic guitar and no explanation. Jughead was no slouch, so he invited him in and they started messing around with some of the songs Vapid had written with B-Face. It kept happening. After working out some songs together, John and Vapid invited Squirtgun's Dan Lumley over to accompany them on drums. Since they were playing together in an apartment with neighbors, Lumley fashioned a drum set out of cardboard boxes. From an original idea by B-Face and Vapid, and filled out by John and Lumley, the Mopes were officially born. Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend 1997 when they laid down the tracks for a CDEP worth of punky Power Pop, catchy instrumentals, and goofy 60's surf-style stuff, with Mass Giorgini at his Sonic Iguana Studio in Lafayette, Indiana. That's another thing, the Mopes only record on holidays. The Mopes are either past or current members of some high pedigree bands from Chicago and Boston. But they've asked that we don't dwell on that fact. Let's just say, another great thing about the Mopes is that separately they are all known for writing and/or performing some of the greatest pop-punk ever. Ever. And I'm not just saying that because I got to put some of it out. These four men are national treasures.

~ Christopher Appelgren, "the man who destroyed the Lookout Records"

Starting out for the sake of killing time while touring with the Queers, Dan Schafer never thought that writing a couple songs in a van would be the building blocks for the eventual formation of The Mopes. With their debut EP, Low Down Two-Bit Sidewinder!, in 1998, the Mopes were anything but, with their high-octane pop-punk that gave away hints of the Riverdales and Green Day; Lookout Records was more than happy to release it.

Tracklist:

01. Loopy Cockatoo
02. Do The Hairball
03. Squeaky Clean
04. Hula Hoop / listen
05. Wipeout On The Dunes
06. You Look Like A Gorilla


Produced by The Mopes and Mass Giorgini. Engineered by Zac Damon and Mass Giorgini
Recorded in November '97 and Mixed in March '98 at Sonic Iguana, Lafayette, IN.

• Danny Vapid - vocals, guitar
• B-Face - bass, backing vocals
• John Jughead - guitar
• Dan Lumley - drums

Release Date: August 25, 1998
Format: EP, Original Recording reissued
Label: Lookout Records
Catalog No.: LK 202 CD

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The Mopes - yes, Discography! (1998-99) [Both OOP Albums] RESTORED

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While these guys don't want you to fixate on their pop-punk credentials – The Queers, Screeching Weasel, The Riverdales – it must be said that they perfected the art of delivering upbeat pop-punk valentines while serving time with these bands. If anything the band's full-length album, 1999's Accident Waiting to Happen, may be too consistent, without much variation in tempo or mood beyond the rock ballad "Not a Word", which slows the album to a melancholy shuffle. But for fans of neat, spry punk with lyrics squarely registered on the relationship radar, consistent means an album of buoyant love songs with no missteps. Whereas their 1998 debut EP, Lowdown, Two-Bit Sidewinder, coaxed listeners to grab their hula hoops and head out for a beach blanket blowout – mixing "Monster Mash" vocals, cool cat snaps and chanted nonsense choruses in an ode to '60s surf – their follow-up is a coherent album about the suppressed sighs and temporary truces of long-term relationships. The '60s surf sound lingers in the album's three instrumental songs, which are part spaghetti western, part Ventures, and a guitar tone that's more rock than pop, especially the Chuck Berry style solo on "Glad You're Gone", which has an infectious rhythm that makes it one of the album's gems. For those who have come to trust the presence of Beach Boys-style harmonies as filtered through the Ramones on any pop-punk outing, there are plenty of "oh"s and "whoah"s, especially on the catchy love song "Baby Doll". While the album has a cowboy theme with a menacing sepia cover, the meanest fighting words here take aim at a deceitful ex-girlfriend who has been "cold and slimy" on "Glad Your Gone". It sounds like they've come to rock, not to fight.

~ Sarah Tomlinson, all media guide

Tracklist:

01. My Heart Won't Bleed For You
02. She Fell For Me
03. Baby Doll / listen
04. Hang 'Em Ten High
05. I Don't Know How To Say Goodbye
06. Glad You're Gone
07. The World Don't Revolve Around You Anymore
08. 1850
09. Tell Me
10. Not A Word
11. Recoil


Produced by Mass Giorgini. Engineered by Dan Lumley
All songs arranged, rehearsed, recorded and mixed at Sonic Iguana (Holiday Resort)
& Recording Studio on and around the 4th of July, Christmas, and St. Valentines Day.

• Danny Vapid - lead and backing vocals, guitars
• B-Face - bass, lead guitar
• John Jughead - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Dan Lumley - drums, tambourine
- Mass Giorgini - bass on tracks "5, 10"

Release Date: August 24, 1999
Format: EP, Original Recording reissued
Label: Lookout Records
Catalog No.: LK 230 CD

Danny "Vapid" Schafer later reorganized the Mopes in 2000 under the new name The Methadones (a name he'd used to play under since 1993 but never recorded with) and, eventually, an entirely different Chicago-based lineup surrounded him.