It’s Halloween, and as everyone is going dressed up as someone else, Moonraker are going as the Smoking Popes!
Southern California’s Moonraker have been gaining a reputation for their vibrant, gritty sound and heart-on-their-sleeve lyrics. But today they’re debuting their cover of the Smoking Popes classic “Rubella” from the Popes’ 1994 classic album Born to Quit. Adding a touch of edge and an earnest heart to the original, Moonraker’s cover is a worthy successor to the original.
“We’ve always really loved this song. It’s for sure my favorite Smoking Popes song,” says drummer/vocalist David Green. “A couple years ago at Fest our buddy Scotty said he was putting together a Smoking Popes tribute comp and asked if we’d want to be on it. I told him we were in as long as we could do ‘Rubella.’ We worked it out, tracked it, and … the comp never ended up happening, haha. All good—We love you, Scotty! So we figured it’d be a fun surprise single for Halloween. Hope you like it as much as we do!”
Check out the cover below.
Upcoming Show:
November 7, 2025 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Escondite
w/ Stoke Signals, Bad Fatale, Empired
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Photo courtesy of Moonraker
