There's a moment between the time you reach to turn off the radio or power down the iPod and the time it takes for those last few notes of a song to wash over your ears. Somehow, that song manages to stay with you until the next song comes around. For me, that song was "Smothered In Kisses" by Box-O-Car.
It was either late 2001 or early 2002 when I first saw Box-O-Car open for a fellow Chicago group, Verbow, at Schubas. Box-O-Car sported a touch of T-Rex glam with Cheap Trick's power pop, and I immediately liked what I heard. I remember speaking to Verbow's lead singer, Jason Narducy, about Box-O-Car's opening set and how it reminded me a little of Material Issue. He quickly pointed out that Box-O-Car's drummer was Mike Zelenko...of Material Issue. I pleaded ignorance at the time. I wouldn't have recognized Zelenko since I would have been 15 when the band was dissolved following lead singer Jim Ellison's suicide in 1996.
Not too long after that night, I discovered Box-O-Car's EP titled In the Future...On Mars! in a stack of promotional CDs sitting in the university newspaper office of The DePaulia at the DePaul/Lincoln Park campus. At that time, I had just begun writing for the newspaper. The EP was seven songs--four album tracks and three live tracks from Schubas in 2001. The gem was a song called "Smothered In Kisses" that, to me, was the standout song during the band's opening set at the Verbow show. The song had a bounce and a kick that I never grew tired of hearing. It became a favorite song to include on mix CDs to friends that summer in 2002. The song seemed tailor-made for a John Hughes film.
The song is really one in a long line of pop songs singing about that first spark of having a crush. There's a formula to those types of songs, like with any other, where if one element is slightly off the rest of the song just remains average. "Smothered In Kisses" doesn't try to mess with the formula. Singer Skid Marks plays on the faux punk vocals without becoming obnoxious, and the guitars crunch with their warm tones. It's 3:43 of classic power pop that does not overstay its welcome.
Filed under: ChicagoNow blogs
Tags: Box O Car, chicago, Jason Narducy, Jim Ellison, Material Issue, Mike Zelenko, music, Schubas, Verbow
