Review by Jeff Becker from The Way That He Sings

Other Smashing Pumpkins reviews:

The Smashing Pumpkins – live in St. Louis – October 18, 2012

The Smashing Pumpkins – live in Milwaukee – Sept 30, 2012

Oceania album

The Smashing Pumpkins -live in Milwaukee in 2011

Article on the brief Machina 2 sale last year on eBay

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Billy Corgan’s magnum opus.

“Faster than the speed of sound. Faster than we thought we’d go.  Beneath the sound of hope.” from ’1979′

The overall release of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is scored a 9.5/10

CD1 and CD2 – The original double album remastered

Generally considered to be either the best, or 2nd best staple of the Smashing Pumpkins catalog, there’s no question that Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is Billy Corgan’s most eclectic foray.   The remastered version here is something less distinguishable from the original than one may desire but that’s less of a knock on this new version versus an applaud towards the original, which stands the test of time just fine.  Let’s be honest – are you spending your money on this slightly-tinkered remastering of the original masterpiece, or for the 64 bonus tracks?  I choose the latter.  The remaster is primarily the vehicle to deliver this potpourri set of outtakes.  Would I be more interested in a remastered version of the Beatles Abbey Road or a CD of 12 unreleased Beatles’ tracks didn’t make the final cut?   It’s not even a fair question.  Give me the unreleased tracks.

Mellon Collie quickly became polarizing for many grunge-based Pumpkins fans in the mid-90′s.   The fans of Corgan’s blazing, trademark guitar sound from Siamese Dream were left scratching their chins as they absorbed the slowed down quintuple-medley that completes Mellon Collie, “We Only Come Out at Night/Beautiful/Lily/By Starlight/Farewell and Goodnight”.  The leftover grungers from 1993 that were thrilled by “Hummer” had trouble adapting.  In their place arrived droves of fans magnetized by the sound of “1979″, “33″ and the pop melodies that drop in and out throughout the double album in between the metal onslaught.  It was ballsy and at the same time unstoppable.  The perfect storm to wave a final good-bye to grunge and thus, raise the bar.

Mellon Collie‘s success set the stage for another polarizing release a couple years later with Adore.  Where Melon Collie succeeded was it was the perfect playground for the most dynamic songwriter of those few short years.   In the mid-90′s Corgan would not be stopped and the sales success of this string of early Pumpkins’ albums opened the door for a near-decade’s worth of unabashed freedom in the studio.   No other artist could go from the wall pounding bombast of “XYU” and “Bodies” and finish it with “Farewell and Goodnight”.  This wasn’t KISS trying to sing “Beth” – this was a legitimate rock band that could pull off beautiful eclectic, alternative, dreamy pop music at the drop of a dime.

The final mastery of Mellon Collie is how Corgan was able to use the dysfunctional qualities of the band members (James, Jimmy, D’arcy and himself) into one last, final group-hug success story before the inevitable implosion of their personalities and relationship took over.  Just as Nicole Fiorentino’s voice on “Pinwheels” from Oceania gives the listener that needed break from Corgan’s dominance, Mellon Collie is littered perfectly with those deep breaths of fresh air from the other band mates.   Who cares if they fucking hated each other at that moment – it was those few moments of serenity that moved the album into our emotional stratosphere regardless of this train wreck love story that ended the original band lineup.   Some of the greatest albums in our history was recorded by bands that hated each other at the time (The Wall, Let it Be).  The moments that D’arcy and James join into the vocal mix the album simply sounds more complete to us.  This, for a very brief time, was the Smashing Pumpkins we all wanted.  Everything after Mellon Collie was simply Billy Corgan.   By 1998 we were spoiled and it would be so hard for Corgan to meet an expectation of fans to relive the times that even Corgan probably didn’t want to necessarily relive.

The 64 bonus tracks The girth of bonus material is as good as fans can expect an artist to provide.  I mean, no artist wants to provide B- material in heavy doses.   In the 42 years since the Beatles broke up they’ve officially released fewer demos and outtakes than you can find on this single reissue of Mellon Collie. A combination of strong fidelity mixed with melodic, unreleased melodic tracks are the most sought after.

CD 3-5

Let’s play the division game for the new 64 tracks and break them each down into three categories:

1. Must own
2. Nice to have
3. Skip

CD 3 MORNING TEA

1. Tonight, Tonight (Strings Alone Mix) – Nice to have.  If this were from anything less than a classic song it would be a Skip.
2. Methusela (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  And as with most of the Sadlands Demos, it’s a rather remarkable addition to what would have been a suitable triple album originally.
3. X.Y.U. (Take 11) – Nice to have.  A good mix of the powerful track but not a significant addition to the original version.
4. Zero (Synth Mix) – Nice to have.  But again, not a significant addition here to the original.
5. Feelium (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Tracks like this and “Ascending Guitars” are where this deluxe set shows its true teeth!
6. Autumn Nocturne (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Another strong fidelity demo of a song that sounds nothing like anything else on the original album.
7. Beautiful (Loop Version) – Must own.  A dramatically different version of one of the album’s odd love songs.
8. Ugly (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.   The Sadlands Demos should have just had their own dedicated CD in this release.   They’re that good.  That epic.
9. Ascending Guitars (Sadlands Demo) – Must own and phenomenal.  This writer’s favorite track on this disc.
10. By Starlight (Flood Rough) – Nice to have.  Rough mix, as noted, but simply OK.
11. Medellia Of The Gray Skies (Take 1) – Nice to have.  Wonderful track but not too far away from its original beauty.
12. Lover (Arrangement 1 Demo) – Nice to have.  A rough version of a below-average Iha track.
13. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby (Take 7) – Nice to have.  A quality, slightly different instrumental version of a great track.
14. In The Arms Of Sleep (Early Live Demo) – Must own.   Wonderful quality single-take.
15. Lily (My One And Only) (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Another quality single-take on full acoustic by Corgan.
16. 1979 (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  In my opinion, the track that changed it all for the Pumpkins.  It lifted them above potential niche that repeating Siamese Dream would have stuck them in.   This version is different enough to be a welcomed inclusion.
17. Glamey Glamey (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  This is why reissues have true value.  Powerful instrumental.
18. Meladori Magpie (2012 version) – Nice to have.  Not too far off from the original to be mandatory.
19. Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Home Piano Version) – Skip.  A beautiful track on the original album and this one adds very tiny value.
20. Galapogos (Instrumental/Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Beautiful sounding track that is dramatically different from the original.
21. To Forgive (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Sound quality alone on the opening chords of Corgan’s acoustic guitar blows this out of the water – sounding better than the original in fact.

CD 4 HIGH TEA

1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Sadlands Demo)  - Must own.  Similar vocal arrangement to the original but an acoustic gem of a version!
2. Set The Ray To Jerry (Vocal Rough) – Nice to have.  Similar to original in mix and sound.
3. Thirty-Three (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Similar vocal track but quite a bit different instrumental track.
4. Cupid De Locke (BT 2012 Mix) – Must own.  Another great sound quality, alternate version – different enough to warrant a listen away from the original.
5. Porcelina Of The Vast Ocean (Live Studio Rough) – Nice to have.  Crisp, early demo version with a raw vocal track.
6. Jellybelly (Instrumental/Pit Mix 3) – Nice to have.   Very similar to original in feel.
7. The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right) - Nice to have.   Again, very similar to original in feel.
8. Jupiter’s Lament (Barbershop Version) – Nice to have.   A slightly different feel to this.
9. Bagpipes Drone (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.   More 1995 guitar work from Corgan.  Very worthwhile.
10. Tonight, Tonight (Band Version Only, No Strings) – Must own.  A new way of looking at an obvious classic.
11. Knuckles (Studio Outtake) – Must own.   Another track that makes the Mellon Collie era sound even more eclectic than it already is.
12. Pennies (2012 remaster) – Skip.   Great, great song but very similar to original.
13. Here Is No Why (Pumpkinland Demo) –  Nice to have.  Another not-so-different version than the original.
14. Blast (Fuzz Version) – Must own.  Another instrumental gem in prime quality.
15. Towers Of Rabble (Live) – Must own.   Great addition of an unreleased live track in near-perfect quality.
16. Rotten Apples – Nice to have.  Perfect quality but very similar to the original.
17. Fun Time (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.    Let’s make a rule:  Sadlands = Must have!
18. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby (Acoustic Version) – Must have.  Alternate versions of previously released material need to be just like this.
19. Chinoise (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Beautiful acoustic piano demo track.
20. Speed – Must have.  Another odd how-did-this-get-excluded from the original album.  Wonderful track.

CD 5 SPECIAL TEA

1. Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (Nighttime Version 1) – Must own.  Fairly stunning alternate guitar version.   It’s a gem of this collection and something that would have worked equally well on the original release.  Sounds like a Mojave 3 song.
2. Galapogos (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  It’s a Sadlands demo and these demos are dominating this reissue, as they should.
3. Cherry (BT 2012 Mix) – Nice to have.  Different but yet very similar to the original.
4. Love (Flood Rough) – Nice to have.  The greatest Pumpkins song ever on headphones, just a slightly altered, early version here.
5. New Waver (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.   Another short, sonic instrumental blast.
6. Fuck You (An Ode To No One) (Production Master Rough) – Nice to have.  Top sound quality but as with most of these alternate versions – quite similar to the original.
7. Isolation (BT 2012 Mix) – Must own.  Perfect-sounding remake of the Joy Division track.
8. Transformer (Early Mix) – Nice to have.  Similar to the original in sound.
9. Dizzle (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  More wonderful material from the Sadlands demos, even if many of them are instrumentals.
10. Goodnight (Basic Vocal Rough) – Must own.  Very rough early mix in excellent sound quality.  Out of tune vocals but a great look at an early version.
11. Eye (Soundworks Demo) – Must own.  Another very different, early look at one of the hidden gems from their official, but obscure piece of their catalog.
12. Blank (Sadlands Demo) – Must own.  Quite stunning version in prime sound.
13. Beautiful (Instrumental-Middle 8) – Must own.  Wonderful guitar instrumental of one of Mellon Collie’s final, remarkable tracks in great fidelity.
14. My Blue Heaven (BT 2012 Mix) – Nice to have.  Very similar to the original.
15. One And Two – Must own.  Typical, delicate slow gem from Iha.  Should have been on the album.
16. Zoom (7 ips) – Must own.  One of many above-average instrumentals in top quality.
17. Pastichio Medley (Reversed Extras) – Skip.  Adds no value.
18. Marquis In Spades (BT 2012 Mix) – Nice to have.  Very similar to the original.
19. Tales Of A Scorched Earth (Instrumental/Pit Mix 3) – Skip.   Adds no value to me.
20. Tonite Reprise (Version 1) – Must own.  High fidelity mix of the standout track.
21. Wishing You Were Real (Home Demo) – Nice to have only because it’s an original, unreleased track.  Sound quality is one of the worst.
22. Thru the Eyes of Ruby (Pit Mix 3) – Skip.
23. Phang (Sadlands demo) – Must own.  Outstanding, pounding and strongly melodic guitar finale.

DVD – live show filmed at Brixton Academy, London (1996) & Rockpalast (1996)

Disappointing only in the fact that the DVD contains no complete show, which is an obvious head-scratcher.  In this day of High-Definition video quality expectations anything in Standard Definition looks like it was filmed in 1957 at this point.  But there’s no illusion here; viewing the original lineup during these Mellon Collie tour stops is sonically compelling.   What’s most gripping is the clear rage that Corgan so often illustrates onstage.  Far gone is the pop and dreamy side of Mellon Collie.  On tour, he is unleashed and borderlining on speed metal in front of the herculean Chamberlain and stylistic bookends to his left and right with D’arcy and Iha.  It’s a visual orgy as Corgan wails away like a man unleashed.   Captivating material even though I’d still prefer to see it re-released on Blu-Ray format.

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah

From the visually arresting images of “Tonight, Tonight” to the avant-garde “Stand Inside Your Love,” songs by The Smashing Pumpkins have always been accompanied by groundbreaking music videos, demonstrating the band’s propensity for weaving stunning imagery and sound together for an enduring cinematic experience.

Not surprisingly, the visceral music of The Smashing Pumpkins translates well into the big screen – after all, the band’s penchant for compelling lyrics and innate arcane appeal make great ingredients for cinematic scoring.

From the obscure to the mainstream, the following are a range of diverse films that The Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan have written, produced and contributed musical material to:

Singles (1992)

Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, Singles is a romantic comedy centering on a group of twenty-something friends whose lives unfold amidst Seattle’s expanding grunge-era scene. With its derivative plot and lackluster characters, the film’s soundtrack is what redeems it from being forgettable; featuring a stellar roster of grunge heavyweights like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, etc. As one of the bands routinely lumped in with the grunge movement, The Smashing Pumpkins make an appearance in Single’s OST with their track “Drown,” a song that debuted after Gish was released. It’s included in the bonus CD of the 2011 reissue of Gish, the 2001 Rotten Apples greatest hits compilation and it’s early demo format (originally 8:58 minutes in length) was also released through the SPRC (Smashing Pumpkins Record Club).

Salto al vacío (1995)

A Spanish drama about a woman from a poor neighborhood named Alex who supports her family by drug-dealing and arms trafficking; on the side, she is also in love with Javi, a man whose life is constantly marked by violence. The movie revolves around the lives of both characters as they struggle for survival in the slums and try to deal with the bleak prospect of an uncertain future. The Smashing Pumpkins appear in the film’s soundtrack with their single “Disarm” off the album Siamese Dream.

Ransom (1996)

Long before Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic meltdown, he starred in critically acclaimed movies like Ransom, a crime thriller about a millionaire who goes to unusual lengths to save his young son’s life after the latter is kidnapped and held for ransom. Originally, Howard Shore wrote and recorded a full score for the film but Director Ron Howard rejected it and went with notable composer James Horner instead, who collaborated with Billy Corgan. As a result, there are 7 tracks written, produced and performed by Corgan that all appear on Ransom’s soundtrack; namely “Lizards,” “Rats,” “Rats With Tails,” “Spiders,” “Squirrels,” “Worms 1” and “Worms With Vocals.”

Lost Highway (1997)

Known for his cryptic plots and unique cinematic style, American filmmaker David Lynch reprises his surrealist trademark with Lost Highway, a movie about a jazz saxophonist framed for his wife’s mysterious murder. The rather disquieting mood of the film is echoed by its dark soundtrack listing, which features the track “Eye,” one of The Smashing Pumpkins’ singles released during the aftermath of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Originally a programmed backing track loosely inspired by Dr. Dre, Billy Corgan began work on “Eye” for a supposed collaboration with then aspiring rapper Shaquille O’ Neal, which eventually fell through. Lynch, in collaboration with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails at the time, was working on the compilation of Lost Highway’s soundtrack when he rejected Corgan’s initial submission, “Tear” (which eventually ended up on the album Adore). Corgan then finished “Eye,” which he also submitted to Lynch, who loved it and ended up using the song for a nightclub scene in the movie. The filmmaker refers to Corgan as a “magical musician” after their collaboration on the Lost Highway’s OST. To date, the track “Eye” is occasionally included in The Smashing Pumpkins’ set lists and appears in the band’s greatest hits compilation album, Rotten Apples.

The Saint (1997)

The movie is an espionage thriller about a master thief, Simon Templar, who adapts the moniker of different saints to elude capture. In his next job for a Russian billionaire who is bent on rallying support against the current Russian president, Simon is tasked to steal a revolutionary cold fusion formula discovered by a young scientist but ends up falling for the latter instead, creating a dilemma. The Smashing Pumpkins’ cover of “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” by The Cars appears on The Saint’s OST.

First Love, Last Rites (1997)

A couple of drifters are disenchanted in their relationship and lives, which they continue to aimlessly squander through intimacy and mindless conversations. The cinematography and soundtrack are what makes the otherwise boring and nonsensical plot bearable, with The Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan perking up things a bit by lending his vocals to the track “When I Was Born, I Was Bored” with the band Shudder To Think.

Batman & Robin (1997)

Director Joel Schumacher’s second helm on DC’s popular Batman character, this installment features a star-studded cast led by George Clooney as Batman, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the antagonist role of Dr. Freeze and Uma Thurman as the sultry villainess Poison Ivy. Despite the movie’s prominent roster and extensive marketing, Schumacher’s campy and family-friendly take on the franchise didn’t sit well with critics, earning the film negative reviews. It also drew heavy flak from fans, prompting Clooney to vow to never to reprise his role as the caped crusader. However, the film’s soundtrack had the opposite reaction, with The Smashing Pumpkins’ track “The End Is The Beginning Is The End” winning “Best Hard Rock Performance” at the 1998 Grammy Awards. It also garnered nominations at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards for “Best Editing,” “Best Cinematography,” “Best Special Effects” and “Best Direction.”

Free Tibet (1998)

A documentary where different bands and musicians unite under one cause: to end the Chinese occupation of Tibet and to support the fundamental human rights of Tibetans. With their songs “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and “Silverfuck,” The Smashing Pumpkins join the likes of Sonic Youth, Cibo Matto, Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, Björk, etc. in a concert that aims to promote awareness of the plight of Tibetans among the youth through music.

American Pie (1999)

Perhaps known as the film that forever immortalized apple pies, band camp, “Stifler’s Mom” and the term “MILF,” American Pie is a coming-of-age comedy about four boys on a quest to lose their virginity before their high school graduation. The movie’s soundtrack features staples from teenage playlists at the time, including Hole’s “Celebrity Skin,” which is co-written by Billy Corgan.

Stigmata (1999)

Faith and the supernatural collide in this horror film directed by Rupert Wainright about a young woman afflicted with stigmata after acquiring a rosary formerly owned by a deceased Italian priest, who also suffered the same phenomena. Billy Corgan provides music for the movie by co-writing the track “Identify” (performed by Natalie Imbruglia) with Mike Garson.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

A drama about a fictional professional American football team, Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday offers an unconventional insight on the athletic world and trappings of fame. It also features an eclectic soundtrack where the single “Be A Man” (performed by Hole and co-written by Billy Corgan) appears.

Homicide: The Movie (2000)

Based on the series “Homicide: Life on the Street” that chronicles the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit, this TV movie serves as the American cop-drama’s finale. “Crestfallen” by The Smashing Pumpkins appears on the end of the movie and can be found on the band’s fourth album Adore.

Not Another Teen Movie (2001)

A parody of several teen movies and stereotypical characters, Not Another Movie is an underrated comedy that combines all the elements we love and loathe in teen movies, while maintaining plot cohesion. The Smashing Pumpkins cover of Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again” appears on the satire’s soundtrack and as a B-side to the band’s single “Rocket” (from the album Siamese Dream).

On The Edge (2001)

Directed by John Carney, On The Edge is a film about a group of suicidal patients who discover themselves again after undergoing therapy at a treatment facility. Stellar performances by the cast, witty dialogues and a superb soundtrack will endear you to this movie. The track “1979” by The Smashing Pumpkins is played at the beginning of the movie during a scene where the lead character, Jonathan Breech (portrayed by the talented Cillian Murphy), is riding his bike.

Spun (2002)

This film debut by acclaimed music video director Jonas Åkerlund is a dark dramedy (drama-comedy) about the intertwined lives of a group of meth heads, which is originally inspired by creator/writer Will De Los Santos’ 3-day stint of driving a methamphetamine cook around Oregon. Billy Corgan penned most of the original songs (performed by The Djali Zwan, an acoustic incarnation of Zwan) from Spun’s OST, including “Freedom Ain’t What It Used to Be,” “Think You Know,” “Revolve,” “Jesus, I Have Taken My Cross” and “Wasting Time.”

The SP leader also makes a hilarious cameo in the film as a doctor who utters “That’s gotta hurt” while examining one of the characters, Frisbee, after the latter gets shot in the crotch.

On a side note, Åkerlund has also directed the The Smashing Pumpkins’ music video for “Try, Try, Try,” which explores the same dark themes as in Spun. It is originally adapted from Åkerlund’s short film “Try” and portrays the life of a homeless drug-addicted couple named Max and Linda from Sweden. Due to graphic scenes of drug overdose, prostitution and larceny, the extended version of the video never saw much airtime, while the music video edit only had limited rotation. The extended version also featured a bleaker, alternate ending in comparison to the music video’s conclusion – both cuts are available on The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits Video Collection (1991 – 2000).

Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003)

A documentary that chronicles the life of Rodney “Rodney on the ROQ” Bingenheimer, a radio DJ from Los Angeles’ KROQ station who was a fixture on the west coast’s evolving music scene. Hole’s “Malibu” (co-written by Billy Corgan) appears on the documentary’s extensive soundtrack.

National Treasure (2004)

A historian and amateur cryptologist, Benjamin Gates (portrayed by Nicolas Cage) is a descendant of a long line of treasure-seekers who are on a quest to find a lost treasure that dates back to Ancient Egypt and is hidden by The Knights Templar. This adventure film features the track “Forget It” performed by the band Breaking Benjamin and co-written by Billy Corgan.

American Pie Presents Band Camp (2005)

This direct-to-DVD spin off from the American Pie series focuses on the shenanigans of Steve Stifler’s younger brother, Max. This film also features the track “Forget It” performed by the band Breaking Benjamin and co-written by Billy Corgan.

Air Guitar Nation (2006)

A documentary that traces the origin of the US Air Guitar Championships and chronicles the struggles of those vying for the title, this zany art form brings thousands of fans every August at Oulu, Finland, where colorful contestants duke it out for the Air Guitar World Championships title. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Cherub Rock” (first single from the album Siamese Dream) aptly makes an appearance in the documentary’s OST.

White Powder (2006)

White Powder is a short film about a couple, Mark and Cathy, and how drug addiction affects their relationship. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Believe” (written by James Iha, from the Judas Ø B-sides and rarities) appears on the film’s OST.

Clerks II (2006)

Written and directed by Kevin Smith (popularly known for his recurring role as Silent Bob in the “Jay and Silent Bob” comedy tandem), Clerks II is the sequel to Smith’s debut film Clerks and picks up 10 years after the events of the first film, which chronicles the misadventures of Dante Hicks, Randal Graves, Jay and Silent Bob. The movie also features The Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979” (from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness) on it’s soundtrack; incidentally, the music video for “1979″ was filmed in the same convenience store used in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, one of Smith’s other films.

When A Man Falls (2007)

A drama about the intertwined lives and disintegrating relationships of four people, When A Man Falls is a slow paced film that deals with disillusionment and self-destruction. Billy Corgan contributes three, previously-unreleased songs to the film’s soundtrack, which are “Shangra-La,” Sky Of Blue” and “Whisper.”

Transformers (2007)

The first installment in Director Michael Bay’s hit franchise based on the popular Transformers toy line about two warring factions of alien robots, the Autobots and Decepticons. The Smashing Pumpkins make an appearance on the movie’s soundtrack with their single “Doomsday Clock,” the opening track from the band’s seventh album, Zeitgeist. The song can be he heard twice in the movie: during a climactic action sequence involving the character Mikaela Banes (played by Megan Fox) rescuing one of the Autobots, Bumblebee, and during the closing credits.

Paging David Cronenberg (2008)

A short film about Nicola Six, a self-proclaimed psychic who eerily predicted her parents’ death and is now plagued with dreams of her own imminent demise on the eve her 35^th birthday. Now on her “final year,” she has narrowed down her murderer to 4 suspects, 2 of whom she interacts with during the entire movie. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Eye” appears on the short film’s soundtrack.

100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs (2008)

A countdown of the top 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs hosted by Bret Michaels of the rock band Poison, featuring a slew of artists and bands (including The Smashing Pumpkins in an archive footage). “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” (from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness) appears on the soundtrack and ranks 91^st on the countdown.

Fanboys (2009)

A dramedy about a group of Star Wars fanatics who take a road trip to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch so that their terminally-ill friend can catch the screening of Star Wars: Episode 1 – the Phantom Menace before its release. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Today” (from the album Siamese Dream) appears on the soundtrack.

Watchmen (2009)

Based on DC Comics’ Watchmen, this film adaptation is set in an alternate history of 1985 (during the height of Cold War) and chronicles a group of retired vigilantes that decide to investigate an apparent conspiracy against them – in the process, they uncover something more diabolical at a much larger scale. “The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning” (originally a B-side for the single “The End is the Beginning is the End”) by The Smashing Pumpkins prominently appears in the film’s trailer, as well as OST.

Hop (2011)

An animated movie about E.B., the Easter Bunny’s teenage son, who doesn’t want to inherit his dad’s Easter Bunny title or duties and instead, decides to make his foray into Hollywood as a drummer for a rock band. Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” (co-written by Billy Corgan) is featured in the comedy’s soundtrack.

Footloose (2011)

A remake of the 1984 musical drama film by Herbert Ross, Footloose tells the story of Ren McCormack, a teenage boy from Boston who moves to a small town where dancing is banned. His arrival serves as a catalyst for change in the community, particularly the movement to have the ban lifted for the local high school’s prom night. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Window Paine” (a B-side of the single “Siva” from the album Gish) appears on the movie’s OST.

The following are also some television series, episodes and video games that The Smashing Pumpkins’ have either been featured in or contributed songs to over the years:

TV

Glee, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, South Park, FlashForward, Cold Case, Sputnik, Smallville, Crossing Jordan, The Simpsons, Polizeiruf 110, Saturday Night Live, Roswell, The O.C., Reunion, One Tree Hill, The Vampire Diaries, The Chicago Code, Masters of Horror” (Episode 3: “Dance of the Dead”), “Whale Wars” (Animal Planet)

Video Games

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, Rock Band, Power Gig: Rise of the Six String, Grand Theft Auto IV, Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5

Article written by Mike Nunn

About one and a half years ago I got word that Smashing Pumpkins were going to be touring and playing a show in my hometown. A friend of mine seemed overjoyed at this news and was eager for us both to get tickets. The Pumpkins were a band I had heard of, but my knowledge of their music stretched no further than the two songs they had on the game Guitar Hero, that I loved. So as a lover of music and the live experience, I took it upon myself to get a ticket and maybe listen to a track or two before the show. It was only then I reached a place I can only imagine everyone approaching this band in this day and age comes to. This place had me staring at a 20-year-long, extensive, complex, and at times, very obscure back catalogue of music that was frankly daunting to say the least. I sat there and asked myself, “Where do I start?” When faced with a band with a legacy like the Pumpkins have, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed; but the thing to remember is to take it at your own pace. There are many sides to the band that do take time to fully appreciate, but it is definitely worth making that effort, as they are a band that I know from experience can allow you to unlock parts of yourself you didn’t know were there.

My venture into the band started, as I used to do with most bands that were new to me, by getting a copy of their greatest hits. I listened through these tracks and the only thing I really digested was an air of great musicianship and songwriting, but I was simply hearing what seemed to be fairly basic grunge. In light of this initial generalization, I gravitated towards the more experimental tracks toward the end of the album, which I would soon come to know as Adore and Machina era material. These new approaches to music intrigued me and convinced me to stick with the band. The next day I bought Adore. For those of you new to The Pumpkins, Adore is a dark album which is very piano based with some very intense themes running through it. This was not the vibe I got on my first play of the album. I was hearing music that, although intriguing, was not something I was necessarily enjoying. I didn’t seem to be able to tap into what the band was trying to put across to me, but I did as I was told by a friend and I stuck with it. I listened through the album about three or four times before I had a moment of clarity. I found myself standing still, eyes shut in the middle of the pavement, actually listening to this dark, but somehow warm album, and having a connection with it. The deep sadness from Billy’s voice was no longer a grinding irritant, but now a familiar channel of pure emotion, provoked by the recent passing of his mother. I took this opportunity to look at what had just happened; the transition from hearing an album passively to listening to an album you love. It was a surreal thing for me, but the only notable and transferable difference I could find was that I was “listening” to the music.

Hearing and listening are very different things, yet they seem so similar. Smashing Pumpkins are a band you have to completely immerse yourself in and allow the music to surround you. You have to make sure you are really listening to what the band are putting across. Billy writes very emotive music that can resonate within you, provided you let it. Each release brings across a different artistic style. Albums such as Siamese Dream, portray a warm tone that is easy to access and the electronic, futuristic Machina / The Machines of God, which even I haven’t grown to fully appreciate. It is such a work of art with so many layers to it, yet is an astounding release. There is then the matter of the extensive amount of demos available through the community and reissues and downloads alike, that can allow you to see a different perspective of a song that means a great deal to you; or discover a track that never made it on to an album that captures a similar vibe to tracks you’re familiar with.

To summarize, this band really is what you make of them. They have done their part and if you choose to let their material into your life and appreciate it for what it’s worth, the value of it will speak for itself. So to any lover of music and art, I ask you to listen to Smashing Pumpkins and see for yourself what a journey listening to their music can be and see what you can discover within yourself as you let the emotion surround and occupy you.

The two albums that started it all off for me: Rotten Apples – The Greatest Hits and Adore

Article by Debby Rosin

Smashing Pumpkins have released music in several different formats: vinyl, cassette, CD, mini-disc, and, more recently, in multiple digital formats. With these releases we have seen some stunning artwork, booklets, box-sets and other creative packaging.

On a few occasions there have been additional items to promote a release in a record store or added by the band/artist to make the release more unique and collectable. This article will discuss some of these items. If you have a unique item that was part of an official release and it is not described here, please let the SPfreaks Team know!

Screen Saver

One of the first ‘extras’ that came with a promotional item was a computer disk with a screen saver featuring moving images. This Screen Raver item was included with limited promos of Siamese Dream in 1994. The disk was only compatible with Macintosh computers, and the screen saver was intended to be run while the album was playing in the CD-ROM drive (specifically the song “Geek USA”).

Promotional Slides

With the releases of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (MCIS) and Adore, there were in-house Virgin promos that had slides included, which feature images from the album booklets. The MCIS slides were available with promos in Canada. The Adore promo had one slide which was the album cover, and this was available in the UK. These slides can be used in a slide projector, which will display the images lit up and enlarged on a wall or projection screen.

Packaging

With the release of Adore in June 1998, there was one country that sold the CD in a unique type of packaging. In Japan, the CD album sold by Tower Records came in a small canvas bag. However, the only way you could obtain this was by pre-ordering the album via the store. Only a few of these bags remain as many were thrown away after purchase.

And in France, there was a Machina promo which came in a ‘snakeskin’ envelope. The envelope came with the Machina album, an exclusive Machina booklet in French, and an assortment of other items that seem to be different in each case. Some who bought this promo from eBay and other sources several years after the album release have received extra items, such as the Still Becoming Apart promo, or the “Stand Inside Your Love” single. It’s not clear whether these items were part of the original packaging, or bought separately and included with the snakeskin envelope and Machina album.

In-Store Displays

Displays for holding specific CDs or vinyls are often used in record stores to draw attention to that particular album release, these have been used for many Smashing Pumpkins releases. Shown below is a display stand used for the release of Gish in 1991.

With the US release of Machina, there was a special in-store display used for the album in some of the Sam Goody record stores. They used a three-foot square light-box to display a similar sized image of the album artwork. A light-box is illuminated by fluorescent light bulbs or LED lighting strips. The image of the album artwork is made from duratrans or durable transparency; a type of plastic which allows light to shine through the image. The album artwork can be removed and replaced with another similar-sized image. Having this on display in-store would have brought more attention to the album and with the poster-sized album cover is a very nice item to have in a collection indeed.

Other Promo Items

In 1999, with the release of Machina/The Machines of God (Machina) in Singapore, some  of the CDs were sold with a promotional coffee mug. This mug uses the Machina font and reads ‘The Smashing Pumpkins’ and ”Sembawang, Sembawang”. The latter is the name of a town in northern Singapore, but also a word used to describe Singaporeans in some cases. It’s not clear what interpretation of the word Sembawang is appropriate, however perhaps there are some Singaporean fans who could explain.

With the return of Smashing Pumpkins in 2007 and the release of Zeitgeist, there were several promo items that either came with the album or were given to fans attending the album release party at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on July 10^th. These included bookmarks, stickers, badges, and mini Zeitgeist flags. There were also badges available at some shows on the Zeitgeist tour.

More recently, the release of the first Teargarden by Kaleidyscope : Songs For A Sailor EP consisted of a wooden box which housed a 7” vinyl of the bonus track “Teargarden Theme ”. The release also contained a CD with four songs and a hand-carved stone obelisk. Apparently 99 of the 10,000 wooden boxes sold had a ‘fool’s gold’ or pyrite obelisk.  To date, one copy has been verified and is pictured below.

In December 2012, the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Mellon Collie) Deluxe reissue included what was described as ‘a decoupage kit for creating your own scenes from the Mellon Collie universe’. Decoupage is a form of decoration which been used since the 12^th century to give a three dimensional appearance to arts and crafts. Some decoupage kits include pre-cut images which can be glued to a surface directly, but many, like the Mellon Collie kit, need to be cut out first from the background. The images in the Mellon Collie kit include the original album cover art and other Victorian-style images such as chariots, animals dressed in outfits, clowns and seahorses. There is a separate card which depicts a fool or jester which says ”decoupage / japanning” and has how-to instructions – japanning is the European name for an Asian form of lacquer work originally used on furniture. This item probably has the most elaborate artwork and interesting features of all the Smashing Pumpkins releases to date.

Other items

On the official Smashing Pumpkins online store (currently offline), there are extra items sold with the latest album reissues such as t-shirts, hoodies and tote bags, with different album artwork included. Another item on the online store is a SP heart necklace, made of pewter, which isn’t connected to any of the recent releases, but still a very nice item to have on its own, with the symbol that was used originally in the Siamese Dream release. The necklace was also available at shows on the 2011 European tour.

All the items described here are quite unique and some are very difficult to find, and all are very special items to add to a collection.

Sources: spfreaks.com, smashingpumpkins.com, CMJ New Music Monthly Mar 1995 (Google books search results)

Article by Arthur van Pelt

(Part of the) Tanah Lot Temple Complex, Bali (Indonesia)

Holiday in Indonesia

So here I was last month, on a well deserved holiday with my family of three, visiting our son’s grandparents in Malaysia, and spending a week with my wife in Indonesia. I will not bore you with the tourist spots like temples, palaces, hot springs, volcanoes, a coffee farm, and other interesting places that we visited. Instead, this article will highlight a certain aspect of the music industry in this part of Asia that I was finally able to experience firsthand. Between the visits to aforementioned tourist places in Indonesia,  I went hunting for Smashing Pumpkins music pressed in Indonesia and released exclusively within the local market. I was hoping to find Indonesian shops that had no idea of web shops, let alone the eBay website, and was eager for discovering really rare items with the name of my favorite band on them. To my collecting pleasure, the hunt proved to be very productive; but in a completely different way as was expected…

The only information about Indonesian Smashing Pumpkins releases I had is what SPfreaks.com currently provides about this country, and that’s very little.  In fact, the site only offers information about five Smashing Pumpkins albums released on genuine Indonesian cassettes and no more than three of their albums released on genuine Indonesian CDs! Those CD albums are Adore, Machina / The Machines of God (note the censored artwork!) and Zeitgeist. The site also documents a genuine Indonesian pressing for the Transformers soundtrack, containing the Smashing Pumpkins’ song, “Doomsday Clock”, off the 2007 album, Zeitgeist. The goal for my collecting quest was born; I should hopefully be able to find more genuine Indonesian CD albums carrying Smashing Pumpkins songs.

A typical Indonesian CD & DVD shop

Cultural Disease

Did I find them? To cut a long story short, no. At least, almost no genuine Indonesian Smashing Pumpkins CD releases. The only officially released album I bought was Adore, since it was still shrink-wrapped and thus in sealed and mint condition.  What I also found, however, and to my complete astonishment, were several pirated Smashing Pumpkins CD albums; or put another way, illegal copies of Smashing Pumpkins albums. Amongst them were Rotten Apples, Earphoria and Oceania. I also found a pirated Zeitgeist which already had an official Indonesian release! This was the result of numerous visits to local music shops mostly in the public shopping areas in the center of the big cities on the isle of Bali.

What was my strategy finding those bootlegged Smashing Pumpkins albums? Well, no rocket science was needed. When on the isle of Bali, we visited several big cities, like Denpasar, Kuta and Ubud. Those cities, well prepared to receive local visitors and international tourists alike, have quite extensive shopping areas which are open nearly 14 hours a day. And in some areas almost ten percent of the shops are a music store. It takes just a few hours to visit a handful of them. A collector’s heaven one would say? Yes and no. The majority of those music shops do not stock Smashing Pumpkins music at all. The majority of the ones that do stock Smashing Pumpkins, carry no official releases of any kind, but are showcases of the Indonesian cultural disease: piracy on every shelf in the store.

The CDs and DVDs that can be found in such musical pirate stores are straightforward ugly. Later on in this article some images will prove what I mean by ‘ugly’. In most cases, a portion of the official artwork of the genuine release is badly copied, or redone in somewhat the same style of the official release. Two paper inserts (one for the front, one for the back) are put in a flimsy plastic slipcase with an amateurishly produced CD-R or DVD-R containing the music or movie slipped in-between them. That’s all you get for your bucks, folks!

Cover of an Indonesian pirate DVD for a BBC broadcast of a 2010 UK concert of the band Muse

Modern Day Pirates

And what is the risk producing, selling, obtaining and eventually travelling abroad with these Indonesian pirated items? The European Embassy of Indonesia officially stated in 2003: “US businesses reported that Indonesia ranks as the third largest producer of pirated products. They maintain that 90 percent of all CDs (audio, video, and software) sold in Indonesia are pirated and estimate that industry suffered losses in 2002 of USD 253 million, a 33 percent increase over prior year. Indonesia’s new copyright law (Law 19/2002) takes effect on July 29, 2003. The new law increases fines up to Rp 500 million (USD 62,000) and provides for prison terms of up to five years for dealers of pirated materials.”

The standard price of a pirated CD/DVD in Indonesia is 10,000 Rp compared to the official list prices of genuine CD albums of 70,000 – 120,000 Rp. Ten thousand Rp is roughly $1.00 in the current currency exchange market. And for comparison, the average Indonesian earns less than $150 per month (in 2004 it was $106 per month according to Encarta), making it almost impossible to afford an official label released CD!

Indonesian pirate copy of Rotten Apples (front)

No Surprise

When I returned home, I decided to spend some time researching this issue and write this article. Should I have been surprised after all about this music piracy? Maybe not; Indonesia has a profound history with pirated goods of all kind. CDs and DVDs are no exception to this rule. For example, take a look at this article which was published in the Daily Indonesia newspaper on August 29^th, 2010.

INDONESIA NO.1 IN COPYRIGHT PIRACY IN ASIA

SINGAPORE – Indonesia has the worst record when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) in Asia and Singapore the best, a survey of expatriate business people showed Wednesday.

“Indonesia seems to have lost its momentum for cracking down on IPR abuses and making the system more compliant with international standards,” Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said. Indonesia “has passed new laws that should improve protection of intellectual property, but those rules are not enforced effectively at all, and piracy levels in Indonesia remain among the highest in the world.”

Indonesian pirate copy of Rotten Apples (back)

Indonesia was given the worst score of 8.5 out of a maximum 10 points compared to 11 other Asian economies in the PERC survey of 1,285 expatriate managers conducted between June and mid-August. Zero is the best possible score. More advanced economies fared better, with Singapore heading the list with 1.5, followed by Japan (2.1), Hong Kong (2.8), Taiwan (3.8) and South Korea (4.1). At the other end of the scale, Vietnam was second worst at 8.4, China scored 7.9, the Philippines 6.84, India 6.5, Thailand 6.17 and Malaysia 5.8.

The rankings largely reflect studies by the global software industry, which is alarmed by the easy availability of pirated movies and software in Asian cities despite governments’ pledges to crack down. “Of the emerging Asian countries, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines are all poorly rated not only for their low level of IPR protection but also for such criteria as physical infrastructure, bureaucratic inefficiency and labour limitations,” PERC said.

Indonesian pirate CDs of Rotten Apples (left) and Oceania (right)

China also came under strong scrutiny because of the sheer size of its economy and the presence of large companies “capable of using pirated technology to compete in foreign markets,” said PERC. “Countries like Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia do not have this same ability to inflict global damage through IPR piracy as Chinese companies do.” While China has made strides in clamping down on IPR infringement, its goal of securing transfers of foreign know-how to Chinese firms, using access to its huge market as leverage, remains problematic, it said.

“So far many of the world’s largest multinationals have been convinced that it is worth the risk of transferring key technology to China in order to develop business there,” PERC said. “This policy is not illegal, but it could become a growing source of friction…. The more China consolidates its position as a global economic power, the more other governments will be willing to take off the gloves and fight to protect their interests.” (AFP)

Indonesian pirate copy of Oceania (front)

What does the most recent International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) report say about Indonesia?

2013 SPECIAL 301 REPORT ON COPYRIGHT PROTECTION AND ENFORCEMENT

Special 301 Recommendation: IIPA recommends that Indonesia remain on the Priority Watch List in 2013 and supports the U.S. government’s current evaluation of whether Indonesia is complying with its obligations under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade program due to intellectual property rights and market access concerns.

Executive Summary:  The piracy situation in Indonesia remains severe, and enforcement authorities and courts within the country have not succeeded in sufficiently curtailing copyright infringement. Due to constrained budgets and resulting problems in enforcement through IPO PPNS, Indonesian National Police (INP), and  the Commercial Court in Jakarta, 2012 saw fewer raids and very little movement on infringement cases, whether administrative, civil or criminal. The National IP Task Force, whose establishment had once held out hope for a more coordinated enforcement effort to beat back piracy  in the country, has shown little activity.

Growing  Internet piracy has been met by only limited attempts to halt this spreading problem. Compounding these issues, Customs has now instituted new procedures by which a court case must be initiated before a suspected import shipment will be detained. If true, this would amount to a clear-cut TRIPS violation. In addition, market access restrictions remain significant and must also be addressed. The Indonesian government has issued a draft copyright law, which makes some modest improvements, for example, with respect to dealing with Internet piracy, but heads in the  wrong direction on other matters. Most importantly, even if the government is able to enact an improved legal framework, in the absence of true enforcement and judicial reforms, IIPA members fear that the endemic piracy situation will remain the norm in Indonesia.

For who is interested, the rest of the IIPA report about Indonesia can be read here.

Indonesian pirate copy of Oceania (back)

What to Think

What do I think of all this as a Smashing Pumpkins music collector? As said, I was astonished by the wide scale and shameless nature of the music and cinema piracy in Indonesia. Nowhere on this planet have I seen such a culture openly promoting and executing theft of copyright. The article I found in the Daily Indonesia newspaper was an eye-opener; this is about serious amounts of money that bands and other parties involved are missing out on. Would I promote buying these pirate CDs and DVDs? No, of course not. On a smaller perspective, I can understand the need for cheaper CD and DVD releases on the local market, but on a wider perspective, Indonesia should immediately stop hosting these pirate nests to be taken seriously again by the worldwide copyright powers that be.

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah

(D’arcy Wretzky, James Iha, Billy Corgan & Jimmy Chamberlin)

In a culture that rewards sentimentalism, most bands with The Smashing Pumpkins’ illustrious history would be content to churn out old hits, but the choice to remain relevant in the music industry without sacrificing artistry is a noble undertaking continually pursued by the Pumpkins with Billy Corgan at the helm.

(Melissa Auf der Maur, James Iha, Billy Corgan & Jimmy Chamberlin)

While The Smashing Pumpkins’ intermittent line-ups over the years have divided fans and critics alike (which is the better album, the better guitarist/bassist/drummer, etc.), no one can deny the impact of the Pumpkins’ sprawling discography on the musical landscape over the years.

(Nicole Fiorentino, Jeff Schroeder, Billy Corgan & Mike Byrne)

Obviously, Corgan’s philosophies, both personal and musical, have largely influenced the band’s distinct sound and propelled its purpose, but other musicians were also responsible in molding The Smashing Pumpkins into the formidable band it is at present.

In this 7-part article, we will highlight these eclectic artists who all, at one point, played an integral part in The Smashing Pumpkins’ still unfolding story. We will put the spotlights on Lisa Harriton, Matt Walker, Ginger Pooley, D’arcy Wretzky, James Iha, Melissa Auf Der Maur, and of course:

Jimmy Chamberlin (birthdate: June 10, 1964)

James Joseph “Jimmy” Chamberlin is a songwriter, producer and best known as the first, and so far longest serving, drummer for The Smashing Pumpkins.

Pre-Pumpkins

Born in a brood of 6 children in Joilet, Illinois, Jimmy was raised in a musical family; his father played clarinet and his older brother Paul played drums in a jazz band.  At the age of 8, Jimmy started playing the drums and got introduced to a lot of drumming styles and techniques, including jazz, big-band, Brazilian and Latin rhythms.

“I got all my technical education when I was younger, going through school and then when I was in college. My brother, Paul, has been a drummer since before I was born, and by the time I was eight years old, I had a record collection that consisted of Ian Paice, Cozy Powell and a lot of other great drummers. I grew up listening to the best of the best drummers, whether it was rock, big band or jazz drummers. I appreciated all of it because I couldn’t stand listening to just one style of music as much as I couldn’t stand playing just one style. I did have the rock ethic, though – I definitely wanted the chicks and the fast cars – but not necessarily the long hair and the twenty-piece drum kit.

When I was nine, I started taking lessons from Charlie Adams, who plays drums for Yanni now. He’s an excellent player who’s very much into rudimental playing and I went through a few technique books with him. I took lessons from him for five years, so that gave me a great foundation, plus I played four hours a day on my own at home, listened to my brother, and went to shows. I used to come home from school at 3:00 and sometimes play until 9:00.

Then I took lessons for three years from a teacher who was Charlie’s protégé and who was really into the big-band thing. That was really good for me in the way of technique. And since my dad was a clarinet player, I already had a good idea of what it took to move a jazz song.” – Jimmy Chamberlin on his jazz roots.

Under the tutelage of Charlie Adams, drummer for the jazz band Yanni, his protégé, and a timpanist named Hugh Wilson, Jimmy became an adept drummer, mostly adopting a jazz-styled technique that largely influenced his stint with the Pumpkins.

 “I don’t see jazz as a swing feel or a bebop feel. I see it more as an emotional representation of somebody through music. And that’s what the Pumpkins are to me. I can pretty much do whatever I want in this band and play to the utmost of my ability. And to me, this is the most jazzy situation I’ve ever been in.

The most obviously jazz-influenced things to come out in my drumming are the dynamics and how they really shape the songs. The songs will be balls-out, and just drop to nothing, and I’ll use things like ghost notes and left-handed ruffs, which are representative of a lot of jazz I listen to.”- Jimmy Chamberlin on his drumming technique/style.

Jimmy applied the techniques he mastered in a garage group called the Warrior Band when he was just15 years old.

“I was pretty much good enough at that time to smoke all the other drummers in my area, because I came from a pretty small town. But I didn’t really play in every high school band; I played with this garage group called the Warrior Band, which played Pat Travers-type music and they were all about twenty-five and pretty good musicians. There I was, fifteen years old, playing Friday and Saturday nights, getting sloshed and having to go back to school on Monday. At sixteen, I had a girlfriend who was twenty-three! But I was making $400 a week doing these gigs, and I was totally convinced at that point that music was something I was going to do for the rest of my life.

 My dad, being a musician, was supportive of the time I put into practicing and getting better. But he had six mouths to feed and had to work at a railroad for steady income. So that hindered any career he might have had and it made him think more practically about any musical career I might have wanted. He started stressing education a lot more and I ended up going to Northern Illinois University for about a year. I screwed around a lot, but it was good for me because I got to read some interesting charts and keep up my reading ability. I’ve been reading all my life, and I can still sight-read fairly well.” – Jimmy Chamberlin on his formative years.

At 17, he earned money by playing in a wedding band, then eventually moved to a polka band called Eddie Carossa’s, which had played every Saturday on the local TV show for a stint. Jimmy also played in a local radio show every Sunday and got into a band called Razor’s Edge, which eventually paved the way for him to get into a show band called J.P. & the Cats. After getting more than his fill of playing music, Jimmy quit the band and got a job as a carpenter while working on some stuff in the studio on the side with a guy named Dave Zukowski.

 “I just got totally burned out. I got sick of the road and there was very little stability in my life. Theoretically, I could have played with J.P. for ten years and made a living at it. But I wasn’t going to get rich and I wasn’t going to get any happier in J.P. than I already was. I was getting bored and just wanted to get away from the live gigs.

So I started working in studio stuff with a guy named Dave Zukowski in Joliet and I got a job as a carpenter, which I had done off and on over the years. I really like to build things; it’s my second passion. I was building custom houses with my brother-in-law, and the money was excellent and the hours were a lot more appealing than anything I had on the road with J.P. I was still playing – jamming with a lot of blues bands in town and working with Dave on his original songs. The beauty was that there was no road stress involved – just coming home from work, showering, heading over to Dave’s and having a couple of beers and jamming.

Dave had already had a record out, so there was some light at the end of the tunnel for some success. I was still open to having a life in music. But at that point, if something didn’t ever come along, I wasn’t going to be a frustrated gutter bum. I was happy with my playing and financial success in terms of music wasn’t important to me, mainly because I was pulling in tons of cash in construction.” – Jimmy Chamberlin on his life before getting into The Smashing Pumpkins.

Pumpkins Period

Despite making a profitable living as a carpenter and enjoying a laidback pace after years of erratic schedules brought by playing live gigs, Jimmy couldn’t completely remove music from his life. It seemed fate had plans for the drummer, who recalls the details of how he first crossed paths with the Pumpkins.

“Dave worked at a record store at the time and a friend of Billy [Corgan] came in and said Billy was looking for a drummer for one show at the Metro. Dave told him his drummer, who was me, could go in and kick ass for him. So I called Billy and he told me about the situation, that he had all these original songs and was gonna get signed. And I said, “Yeah, right,” figuring I’d do this one gig and we’d talk more later.

So I went out and saw the band – Billy, [guitarist] James [Iha], and D’arcy – playing at Avalon with a drum machine. Man, did they sound horrible! They were atrocious. But the thing I noticed was that not only were the song structures good, but Billy’s voice had a lot of drive to it, like he was dying to succeed. So I ended up driving from work every Wednesday to rehearse with them. We played that show at the The Metro and a lot of people were impressed, saying we sounded different from everybody else out there.

I kept on working construction but the band slowly became a more and more important part of my life too, but the thing at that point was that I finally had my own apartment, a really nice sports car and a good job. I was making all this cash, but I still wasn’t feeling good, like something was missing. I figured I had to do something with this band or I’d never forgive myself.

So I quit my job and moved up to Chicago. When my money ran out, I sold my car. I worked at a bike shop for a while and lived with this girl, but I was basically in the gutter for three years just so I could concentrate on the band. I went from eating steak every night and driving around in my car to eating hot dogs and beans and trying to get enough money for smokes. But it really didn’t seem weird because everybody in the band had the same drive and determination.” – Jimmy Chamberlin, on his early years with The Smashing Pumpkins

 The rest is Pumpkins history. Jimmy went on to become one of rock’s most prolific drummers, amplified through the years during his tenure with the band. He and Billy Corgan reportedly played the majority of Gish and Siamese Dream, which turned out to be two of the band’s most seminal and defining albums.

While fans and critics alike praised Jimmy’s drumming prowess, most were unaware of his downward spiral behind the scenes due to an escalating drug problem. It was said that he would often disappear for days at a time during the recording of Siamese Dream and go on drug binges. In the middle of their promotional tour for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Jimmy’s father passed away and his struggle with substance abuse grew worse. On the night of July 11, 1996 at Regency Hotel in Manhattan, Jimmy and the Pumpkins’ touring keyboardist at the time, Jonathan Melvoin, had a drinking and heroin session that led to the latter’s overdose and sudden death. The tragic incident prompted the rest of the band to fire Jimmy and replace him with Matt Walker from Filter and Melvoin with Jimmy Flemion of The Frogs for the remainder of the tour. According to an interview, D’arcy Wretzky revealed that, despite their deep regret, they felt letting Jimmy go was the only way for the band to move on and for Jimmy to get proper help and focus on getting clean.

For his part, Jimmy was arrested and charged with heroin possession. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and subsequently underwent drug rehabilitation. On October 8, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct, avoiding over a year in jail.  In 1998, Jimmy was reinstated as the Pumpkins’ drummer after the band had recorded and released Adore – ironically, it was then bassist D’arcy’s turn to leave the Pumpkins, this time for good. The band was able to release their concept album Machina/The Machines of God and it’s follow-up Machina II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music for free via the Internet before disbanding in 2000. During this period, Jimmy went on to collaborate on another musical project with Billy Corgan, the alternative rock group Zwan that was made up of members of The Smashing Pumpkins, Slint, Tortoise, Chavez and A Perfect Circle. Zwan was only able to release one album, “Mary Star of the Sea,” before acrimoniously disbanding in 2003. In 2004, Jimmy formed his next project called the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex and released its first studio album “Life Begins Again,” which Corgan appeared on. On June 21, 2005, Corgan announced his plan to revive the Pumpkins in a full-page advertisement in the Chicago Tribune, which Jimmy responded to and accepted in February 2, 2006. The Pumpkins eventually reformed without James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky, releasing their 7^th album Zeitgeist in 2007. In 2009, Jimmy left the band, stating on his blog:

“By now you have heard the news of my departure from the Smashing Pumpkins. I will say, without going into any unnecessary details that this represents a positive move forward for me. I can no longer commit all of my energy into something that I don’t fully possess. I won’t pretend I’m into something I’m not. I won’t do it to myself, you the fan, or my former partner. I can’t just, “Cash the check” so to speak. Music is my life. It is sacred. It deserves the highest commitment at every level and the Pumpkins are certainly no different. I’m sorry but it really IS that simple. There is no drama, bad blood, or anything else but a full commitment to music. My best goes out to Billy and I’m glad he has chosen to continue under the name. It is his right. I will continue to make music with the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex as well as pursuing other musical interests. I feel that I have a long way to go and a lot to give. Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support through all of this. I am constantly humbled by all of you! It is an honor and a privilege to play music for a living and I don’t take it for granted not even for a second. Stay tuned” – Jimmy Chamberlin

Post-Pumpkins

Jimmy has been holding drum clinics since departing the Pumpkins in 2009; in the middle of one of these, he announced that his next project would be a band called This, a “progressive, symphonic pop” outfit consisting of multi-instrumentalists Mike Reina and guitarist Anthony Pirog. In 2010, they released a 6-track record entitled “Great Civilizations” made available for download in digital format only on iTunes and Amazon, which was subsequently removed after initial confusion over the band’s name. In December 2010, they re-appeared with a different name, Skysaw. On June 21, 2011, Skysaw released the extended 10-song version of “Great Civilizations” under Dangerbird Records and did a series of shows in support of the album with their label mate Minus The Bear. On August 23, 2012, Jimmy announced to the attendees of his drum clinic in Chicago that he had left Skysaw.

Trivia

- has 2 children with wife Lori Chamberlin: a daughter named Audrey (born December 2002) and a son named Lucas, who was diagnosed with Juvenile Myositis, a rare and debilitating auto-immune disease. In September 2010, Jimmy (in cooperation with Cure JM Foundation) won a bid of $250,000 (with the help of votes from a poll contest held online) as grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project to fund further research about this disease. In August 2011, Jimmy and his wife Lori participated in the Chicago Half Marathon & 5K to further help the foundation.

(Lucas Chamberlin, Jimmy’s son)

“A sincere “THANK YOU” to the fantastic brotherhood of drummers and musicians for helping us fund JDM research! It is an honor to be part of such a strong community and I am touched to the bottom of my heart with the response that we received from all of you! God Bless all of you!!!!!!!! ” – Jimmy Chamberlin (from Yamaha Drums’ Official Facebook Page, September 2, 2010)

*for more information on Juvenile Myositis and how you can help, please visit: http://www.curejm.org

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Chamberlin
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0150250/
http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6203/page28.html&date=2009-10-25+07:57:16
http://landslide.2007.org/omnipedia/tragedy.htm
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jamesandlori-chamberlin/chicagohalfmarathon5k

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah

We continue the former Smashing Pumpkins band members series with Matt Walker (birthdate: May 21*, birth name Matt Snyder*)

 Matt Walker is an American musician, composer and producer, best known for his stints as a drummer for The Smashing Pumpkins, Filter and Morrissey.

* The year of birth of Matt Walker, and the reason for changing his last name from Snyder to Walker, is unknown at the moment. As far as we know this information has not been made public until now.

Pre-Pumpkins

In the mid-1980s, Matt began his career by playing drums for a range of Chicago bands like Scott Bennett & The Obvious, The Clinic, and Peat Moss and Tribal Opera until joining the band Filter in 1994. Matt toured with Filter in support of the album “Short Bus” until 1996.

Pumpkins Period

After the fatal overdose of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in July 1996 that resulted in Jimmy Chamberlin being fired from the Pumpkins, Matt auditioned for the drummer position and was hired as replacement for Chamberlin.  This, coincidentally, happened the day after the Filter tour ended. He finished the rest of the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness tour and stayed on until the beginning of the Adore tour. With the band, Matt also recorded several tracks on Adore, as well as the track “The End Is The Beginning Is The End” for the official soundtrack of “Batman & Robin”.  Along with Billy Corgan, James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky, he appeared in the music video for the track.

“Upon arrival in L.A., we were brought straight from the airport for a fitting of the tight black suits, as well as the harnesses for the flying sequences. It is very humbling to be a skinny, pale, white, mid-western kid suddenly on display in front of a panel of seamstresses, costume designers, and random rigging professionals in nothing but your underwear and a multi-belted harness wrapped tightly around your midsection. I felt very…pale. I’m sure Jimmy is glad he missed that bit.” – Matt Walker on the set of “The End Is The Beginning Is The End” music video.

In addition to touring and recording, Matt also collaborated with Corgan on the soundtrack for Ransom and with Iha on the latter’s first solo album “Let It Come Down”. He played with the Pumpkins again during their final show at The Metro on December 2, 2000, before their disbandment  and again during the band’s 20^th Anniversary Tour in November and December 2008, as well as a benefit concert at The Metro in July 2010.  

Post – Pumpkins

In 1998, Matt left The Smashing Pumpkins to record the first album for his own band, Cupcakes, which was signed to DreamWorks Records. John Mellencamp’s drummer, Kenny Aronoff, replaced Matt for the Adore tour. Matt went on to pursue other collaborative efforts with the band Ashtar Command, made up of former Filter member Brian Liesegang and Chris Holmes, and Jim Dinou, with whom Matt co-created the band Impossible Recording Machine. In 2002, he filled in for an ailing Butch Vig on Garbage’s European tour and played on their album “Bleed Like Me”, which was released in April 2005.  Matt also recorded and toured with Billy Corgan in support of the latter’s solo album, “TheFutureEmbrace” and joined Morrissey in 2006, playing drums on his albums “Years of Refusal” and “Swords.”

While on hiatus from Morrissey, Matt wrote and performed with other artists under the moniker “of1000faces” and also became a member of the band theMDR, which contributed to the 2007 MySpace/SPIN Smashing Pumpkins tribute album with the Corgan-penned track “Signal To Noise.” In June 2012, Matt ended his stint with Morrissey following their tour in North America, after their stop in Stockton. The news comes after Matt Walker had previously taken to Twitter to declare that ‘things are weird and getting weirder’ ahead of a show in the Philippines during Morrissey’s recent tour. Morrissey added the following words to his leave.

“Our little covered wagon has lost drummer Matt Walker, who was eager to bring his term to an end. No bargainings could persuade him to stay, and his interest drew its last breath at Stockton.”

“Behind the kit, Matt was a greyhound unleashed, and his great work on Years of Refusal will always and forever speak up in his favor. His exit is sad, but he had no wish to continue, and a branch falls away.”

Matt Walker visiting Nijmegen, NL, in 2010

Matt has also collaborated with Adam Ant of the band Adam and the Ants by co-writing and playing drums on the track “Marrying The Gunner’s Daughter” from the Adam Ant album “Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter”, which was released in January 2013.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Walker_(drummer)
http://hipstersunited.wordpress.com/category/band/matt-walker/
http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2002/05/matt-walker/#.UVfwCKW9ZlI
http://www.live4ever.uk.com/2012/06/morrisseys-drummer-quits-after-weird-tour/

Article by Derek Miller

Bob Stern, the creator of the Vinyl Schminyl Radio, sits down with SPfreaks to discuss his history in radio, meeting and speaking with Billy Corgan, and his opinions on vinyl.

Diverse Radio Background

When I was a kid I used to go to downtown Chicago to WLS and WCFL to watch the DJs.  I love music and realized that’s what I wanted to do.  I never did any radio in high school, but I did in college.  As a matter of fact, the first college I went to I started a small student-run radio station and then went to the University of Illinois and worked for probably one of the largest student-run radio stations in the country, WPGU.  I ultimately worked in Woodstock, IL, for WXRD, which was at the time a progressive rock station.  I didn’t want to bum around from one small station to another.  So I told myself by the time I’m 25 years old if I don’t get to a better market, then I’m going to go into radio advertising sales.  The day after my 25^th birthday, I started in radio sales.  I’ve always had a love for radio and never wanted to get out of it, but I did.  About 10 years later I worked for a local Chicago station, WCBR, called the Bear, and worked part-time there for a year.

Meeting Billy Corgan

I wouldn’t call myself a close friend with Billy because I’m really not.  But here’s how he and I met. Right around the corner there [was] a place called the Ravinia Wine Shop.  A year ago in February, [2012], they had a grand opening with a bunch of local people and the owners are friends of Billy’s.  I mentioned to the owners that I would like to get Billy on the podcast, and he happened to be there that night. That’s where I met him and we talked for quite awhile.  I said I’d like to get you on for an interview.  I didn’t want it to be a Smashing Pumpkins interview; I wanted it to be a classic rock interview.  His knowledge of music is just about as good as anybody’s.

The interview was actually held at the wine shop.  We spent an hour talking face to face.  When I was in college, I interviewed quite a lot of people (rock stars, if you will), and this was probably the best interview I’ve ever done. Because it was the most intelligent interview I’ve ever done.  It was a conversation more than an interview.

Please click the picture to listen to the Vinyl Schminyl Radio Hour featuring Billy Corgan

Broadcasting from Madame Zuzu’s

The Led Zeppelin show was recorded Saturday (April 6^th, 2013) and we ran it on April 13.    It’s the second time we’ve actually done that.  We did one back in February and featured Pink Floyd for the hour.  Billy, who owns Madame Zuzu’s and invited me to do the podcast, spent the entire evening with us this time and joined us for a few minutes on the air.  It was fun.

Vinyl Schminyl Radio

Three years ago (April 26^th, 2010), I decided to start Vinyl Schminyl Radio.  The first cut that we played was Harry Nilsson’s “Jump Into The Fire”.  I was thinking of a name for the podcast, and I thought of his Nilsson Schmilsson album.

At the beginning, I was digitizing my old vinyl.  I don’t do that as much anymore because I can find the songs on iTunes or similar outlets.  But I did bring a lot of cuts from vinyl in the first year, year and a half, but after that it’s been more digital-based.  I wanted it to be vinyl based, and it was for quite some time, but then it kind of took off and I decided let’s just put the songs out.

Yesterday was our 700^th show (April 16^th, 2013).  In July 2010, we started the Vinyl Schminyl Radio Hour.  Before that, it was a Monday through Friday thing and we’d feature a song and a back-story.  I did that for the longest time. Now I try to do it every other week, or sometimes two weeks in a row.  If you go to Vinyl Schminyl.com you can see a list of all the Radio Hours I’ve done.  I’ve done over 60 of them.

Let’s Talk Vinyl

Vinyl is a great format and the jury is still out whether vinyl is better or worse.  I know vinyl is making a resurgence. At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame there’s a big vinyl section there.  In my interview with Billy last year, we talked about him rereleasing albums on vinyl and the Beatles rereleasing albums on vinyl.  But truth be told, unless they come up with a vinyl iPod it’s going to be mostly digital.  Even CDs are on their way out.  I still have a pretty big CD collection too, but there are some things that are still not available on CD.  That’s when I take a look at my vinyl collection and try to put that out there.  I still use vinyl from time to time, but definitely not as much as when Vinyl Schminyl started.

Is Vinyl Superior in Quality?

Vinyl is probably of superior quality, because if you have a completely clean copy (no scratches) and are listening to it on a really nice turntable and really nice speakers, that’s when the magic happens.  I have a really nice set of speakers.  My turntable isn’t quite as nice, but one of these days maybe I will fork out some big bucks for a nice one.  From time to time, I do enjoy sitting down and listening to a good album.  On the other hand, I like listening to a good CD through a good sound system as well.  I’m not as much of a purist as you would think I am.  It’s about the music and not so much about the technology of what the music sounds like.  But it’s got to sound good.  If it’s a well produced and well mastered album, it will sound good on CD as well as vinyl. There is a difference, but nowadays with iTunes they’re releasing the higher quality MP3s that sound a lot less compressed.

MP3 vs. CD

There’s another argument there that you’re certainly losing a lot of information with compression on MP3 vs. the CD file.  So personally, I’d like to listen to CDs rather than MP3s, but on the other hand, I only have a streaming music system, so pretty much everything that comes into our living room is MP3.  If I’m down in my “man cave”, where my studio is, I fire up Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in surround sound on my SACD player. That’s an experience in itself.  There are sounds on that album I never even knew existed!

I just acquired an entire case of brand new, unused, unplayed original Mobile Fidelity Lab series vinyl.  I did a whole week of songs just taken from those albums.   Abbey Road, Eagles, Steely Dan.  I still haven’t gotten to everything that’s in there.

Any Album that Must be Enjoyed on Vinyl?

I would honestly say none.  When I was a kid, the first record that I bought was The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – mono version. I would listen and listen and listen to that album, but I would never say there was an album that I would only listen to on vinyl.

To answer your question, I’m more about a well produced album than I am about the vinyl copy of it.  Now with that said, there are some new pressings of vinyl, for instance, Smashing Pumpkins; Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.  I know what the CD sounds like, but I want to hear what the 180-gram vinyl sounds like as well.  I would love to take a listen and hear the difference.

I like [The Smashing Pumpkins]. I think their material is really cool.  I have learned to appreciate their sound more since I met Billy.  To be honest, I have not heard any vinyl of theirs, but I will tell you Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and even Billy Corgan’s solo album [The Future Embrace] I think are really cool.  They were all really well done albums.  The solo one had mixed reviews, but I think it was tremendous.  There was a cover song on it by the Bee Gees, “To Love Somebody”, which I played on Vinyl Schminyl.  [Billy Corgan] was actually really happy that I did that.  When I told him that we’d be featuring that, he was pretty jazzed.  You never hear that song on the radio!

Stereo vs. Mono

The reason mono was such a big thing, well; let’s take it back to The Beatles.  When The Beatles were in the studio, originally their stuff was only done in one channel.  At that point, everything was coming out of one speaker which generally was a radio or record player.  It didn’t really matter if it was stereo or not.  Most stuff was produced in a mono and a stereo version.  There was stereo back then, but for most people, that would be like the audiophile version.  I even had a stereo back then, but the reason I bought the mono version was because it was anywhere from one to two dollars less.  But if you notice, when they rereleased The Beatles catalogue, they released a mono and a stereo version.  And a lot of people like the mono version because that’s the way they were originally recorded and intended to be listened to.

Any Vinyl You Are Looking For?

There was a band called Fallenrock in 1974.  They had this song called “She’s a Mystery”.  The album was called Watch for Fallenrock.  If I could find that – they have it at Amoeba Music.  Been trying to get my hands on that song and incorporate it into one my shows. I’m probably the only one in America that has a “jones” for that song.

Record Store Day 2013:  No Alternative

[The album] sounds familiar.  It was a compilation album from 1993, yeah.  I’m looking at the setlist here, and there are pretty cool songs on here.

Contemporary Artists

I watch The Grammy’s every year.  I really like Mumford and Sons.  I like Adele.  I think she’s phenomenal.  I like Train.  I like the Black Eyed Peas. I enjoy Jack White as well.  The Grammy’s, there is so much diversity, there really is. If it sounds good to me, I’ll download it or buy the CD the next day.

Advice on Putting Together a Podcast

Make sure you have something to say.  Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it.  I’ll say this for musicians too; just because you can play the guitar, doesn’t mean you’re going to be a rock star.  I’ll never discourage anybody from finding common ground and putting their stuff out there, but make it the best that you can make it.  There’s a lot of podcasts out there.  And there’s a lot of, excuse me, crap out there.  The one thing I’m proud of about Vinyl Schminyl is that it offers up good information, it’s done in a professional manner, and the quality of the hosting is pretty good too.  Make sure you have a good product, because if you have a good product then people are going to listen and you will get positive publicity.

Please note that Bob is celebrating his 3^rd anniversary of Vinyl Schminyl Radio today.  Make sure to visit his website to check out his newest podcasts every week!

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah

Let’s move this series forward with Ginger Pooley (birthdate: April 22, 1977)

Ginger A. Pooley (formerly known as Ginger Reyes or by her stage name Ginger Sling) is the bassist for California pop punk band Halo Friendlies and more widely-known for her brief stint as the touring bassist who replaced Melissa Auf der Maur in The Smashing Pumpkins.

Pre-Pumpkins

Ginger was born in Chicago, Illinois and hails from Peruvian ancestry. She has been writing and playing songs since freshman high school and was in a Christian ska band in La Crescenta, California called the Israelites. She also attended classes at UCLA from 1998 to 2000, where she obtained a degree in History.

In 2004, Ginger released a five-track EP entitled ‘Room EP’ under the moniker ‘Ginger Sling’ and label Pineapple Heart Records with the music video for her song ‘Faith’ directed by Djay Brawner. The following year, she released a follow-up EP entitled ‘Laguna Beach Demos’ under the same label. In 1999, Ginger became the bassist for the all-girl pop punk band Halo Friendlies, replacing Cheryl Hecht.

 (Ginger Pooley and members of Halo Friendlies)

Pumpkins Period

In 2007, the new line-up for The Smashing Pumpkins was announced, with Ginger Reyes taking over bass duties from Melissa Auf der Maur, Jeff Shroeder replacing James Iha on guitars and new touring keyboardist Lisa Harriton. The new line-up was debuted in Paris on May 22, 2007, the Pumpkins’ first gig since their farewell show at The Metro on December 2, 2000. On July 10, 2000, Zeitgeist was released and yielded 2 singles with music videos, both of which Ginger appeared on: ‘Tarantula’ and ‘That’s the Way (My Love Is)’.

 (Ginger Pooley, Jeff Schroeder and Lisa Harriton)

Post-Pumpkins

While touring in support of Zeitgeist, Ginger became engaged to Kristopher Michael Pooley, the Pumpkins’ touring keyboardist for their 2008 20th Anniversary Tour. The couple married in Los Angeles on June 22, 2008 and on October 17, 2009, they had a daughter named Talula Victoria Pooley. In March 2010, Ginger left the Pumpkins amicably, stating:

(Kristopher Michael Pooley and Ginger Pooley)

“With sorrow and yet with much thankfulness for the opportunity to have played in the Pumpkins, I am sad to say that I can no longer tour with the Pumpkins. Although I’ve been blessed beyond belief over the past few years through playing with the Pumpkins, my priority now is to keep our little family unit together, which includes my husband and my baby.”

(Ginger Pooley and Talulah Victoria Pooley)

Ginger played bass for the Glee Live! concert tour from 2010 to 2011 and has released a self-titled EP in July 13, 2011 on iTunes. Ginger worked on the EP with the help of her husband Kris (keyboards, backing vocals, guitars), producer Ben West, Aaron Sterling (drums), Greg Suran and Pete Thorn (rhythm and lead guitars).

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Pooley
http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/more/NID/438/The_Smashing_Pumpkins_Reveal_New_Lineup.utr
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1051978/smashing-pumpkins-return-to-the-stage-in-paris
http://www.avclub.com/articles/help-wanted-pumpkins,39018/
http://hipstersunited.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/ginger-pooley-gleeful-about-baby/

Disclaimer: All pictures/images used in this article are courtesy of Google Images (unless otherwise specified). The writer does not claim ownership for any photos and no infringement is intended. We respect all photographers and try to credit sources to the best of our knowledge; if necessary, we will credit or remove any pictures at the photographer’s or representative’s request. Please e-mail us: TheSPfreaksTeam@gmail.com to be credited for your work or to have your content removed.

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah
(with additional input by Arthur van Pelt)

Pumpkins of the Past continues with D’arcy Wretzky (birthdate: May 1, 1968)

D’arcy Elizabeth Wretzky is the original bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins. Known for her trademark platinumblonde hair and rather laconic persona, D’arcy’s tenure with the Pumpkins lasted through 6 albums, before abruptly leaving in the midst of recording for “Machina/The Machines of God” to reportedly pursue an acting career.

Pre-Pumpkins

Born and raised in Michigan, D’arcy grew up in a brood of 3 girls (the older sister is Kelly, while the younger sister is Molly). Their mother was a lounge singer, while their father worked as a pipefitter.  She joined choirs and learned to play the violin and oboe at an early age. A self-described tomboy, the young D’arcy displayed a propensity for music and yearned to join a band from her childhood.

“I never could have withstood being in a band without training from growing up with my sisters. It started when I was born – my older sister was very jealous. Once, in winter, she locked me outside in my diapers. I was thrown into large bodies of water countless times. I had to retaliate. Remember in ‘Apocalypse Now,’ when Brando said you have to horrify people into submission? Well, I was a tiny, scrappy kid that did outlandish things. I was known for throwing knives. Defending myself helped turn me into a tomboy. I played ‘Cowboys and Indians’ instead of with dolls; most of my friends were boys.” – D’arcy Wretzky on her childhood.

(D’arcy Wretzky – photos from her high school yearbook, L.C. Mohr High School)

And retaliate she did. D’arcy learned how to defend herself from physical and mental abuse, shifting from her classical training to learn bass guitar. With the influence of males in her hometown, combined with her bass expertise, D’arcy was able to get into bands and express herself musically.

“I was always like, I’m going to be in a band when I grow up. Always. Ever since I was probably six years old.” D’arcy Wretzky on her determination to play in a band.

After graduating from high school, D’arcy traveled to France. A French exchange student she knew had a friend who needed a bassist, so D’arcy flew to Paris with him to meet with this friend. But, by the time she got there, the band had already broken up. After the Paris incident, D’arcy decided to travel around Europe for a while. After finding herself in Europe, she traveled back to the United States. On the way back, she was stranded at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, carrying what she brought with her on the plane (her bass guitar and her prized teddy bear). She called her parents in Michigan to come pick her up, but they weren’t home at the time. D’arcy started wandering around Chicago, and ended up liking the city so much that she didn’t want to go back to Michigan. D’arcy lived with her sister (who lived in downtown Chicago) for a while before moving in with the lead singer of the band she was in. Besides dating this guy, he was also her boss at the diner she worked at. After months of living with this friend and going to gigs, she ran into Billy Corgan outside one of the local clubs she frequented at the time, leading to that fortuitous event in The Smashing Pumpkins’ history.

 (D’arcy Wretzky and Billy Corgan)

 “[It was at a] local Chicago goth club called The Avalon. They played that Bryan Ferry song at Avalon every night at the close, when they were kicking everyone out. I was outside talking about a live band that plays there all the time and that I liked. Some asshole just butts into my conversation while we are standing on the sidewalk and says, ‘What the hell were you talking about? That band was crap and besides that, they were put together by a record company’. I said, ‘How would you know that. Can you tell just by looking at them?’ And he says, ‘I can tell by the way a guy jumps around on stage’. I said, ‘I jump around on stage and I wasn’t put together by a record company’. He says, ‘Yeah well, what do you do’. I say ‘I play bass’ and he says, ‘I have a band and I’m looking for a bass player. Here’s my number. Give me a call’. And that was it. My friends came and tore me away at that point because we were about to come to blows. It wasn’t as calm as it sounds.”

“Looking back, if that happened today, I would probably just write him off as an idiot.”

“I went to his house because he said he was looking for people to write with. But he said, ‘Before we can write together you have to learn these songs.’ And he handed me a tape of 40 or 50 songs. Of his. We’ll start writing when you learn these.’ But every week there’d be 10 more new songs. I’m thinking, this is completely insane, but I really loved the music!” – D’arcy Wretzky on meeting Billy Corgan for the first time.

The first time she went over to his house to audition she was so nervous she couldn’t even hold the instrument, but Billy decided to have her join The Smashing Pumpkins because he thought she was nice and interesting and he needed to get the band off the ground. Billy Corgan and James Iha had already met, and soon, the trio started playing as a three-piece unit backed by a drum machine. During those sessions, D’arcy had to sneak out of her house just to attend band practice. They eventually met Jimmy Chamberlin through a guy Billy knew. They had a lot of help from Joe Shanahan, the manager of the Cabaret Metro, who booked them with many gigs. With local Chicago label, Limited Potential, the first and very limited vinyl-only single, ‘I Am One’, was released in May, 1990. Sub Pop Records eventually heard the band, which allowed The Smashing Pumpkins to put out their second official single (again vinyl-only) in November, 1990, titled ‘Tristessa’. The quartet eventually moved on and found a more permanent place at Caroline Records where they recorded their first full album: Gish. After releasing the Lull EP in October, 1991, on Caroline Records, the band formally signed with Virgin Records, which was affiliated with Caroline. With Virgin Records, the Gish album was re-released, and thus began an illustrious career for The Smashing Pumpkins that currently spans numerous studio and live albums, EPs and singles, and still counting after 25 years.

“I’ve never been friends with the name. It’s a stupid name, a bad joke.” – D’arcy Wretzky on the name of the band that made her famous.

Pumpkins Period

D’arcy is the credited bassist for the 6 Smashing Pumpkins studio albums following the band’s inception, from Gish to Machina/The Machines of God. She provided lead vocals to ‘Daydream,’  and Smashing Pumpkins‘ cover of Blondie’s ‘Dreaming’ as well as backing vocals on some Smashing Pumpkins songs, such as ‘Beautiful,’ ‘Cupid De Locke’, ‘Farewell and Goodnight’, ‘1979’, ‘Where Boys Fear To Tread’ and ‘The Bells’. D’arcy also co-wrote ‘Daughter’ and dabbled in other musical projects. She provided vocals for Catherine’s ‘Hot Saki and Bedtime Stories’ and even appeared in their video for the single ‘Four Leaf Clover.’ At the time, D’arcy was married to Catherine’s drummer, Kerry Brown, who has also produced several Smashing Pumpkins songs and collaborated with The Smashing Pumpkins countless times. Along with D’arcy, James Iha, Adam Schlesinger (bassist from Fountains of Wayne, Ivy and Tinted Windows) and Jeremy Freeman, Kerry Brown is a co-founder of the independent record label Scratchie Records. D’arcy has also contributed vocals for Filter’s ‘Take A Picture’ and ‘Cancer’.’

D’arcy Wretzky and Kerry Brown

“In high school, I was buddies with guys. It got really weird when they got crushes on me. But I was always interested in some man I didn’t know at all. I completely broke that pattern with my husband. Kerry and I knew each other from the studio [he's a drummer]; then he came on tour with us [for the group's first album, Gish] as a producer. We were a poor rock band, and he had to share rooms with me and Billy [Corgan]. So I had known Kerry for several months, and I knew all his good points. Like, he talks in his sleep – basically, that’s how I found out he liked me. And you know what? He doesn’t even remember.” – D’arcy Wretzky on how she met her ex-husband Kerry Brown.

  (D’arcy and Billy on her wedding day)

With all the stress of the non-stop touring, Billy Corgan was starting to become depressed. His childhood problems started to resurface, and he was losing focus. When they finished touring, and went into the studio to record their second album, Siamese Dream, they had about seventy-five percent of their songs written. It was a stressful time for all of the members of the band, and Billy ended up recording all the string parts for the album by himself. Unfortunately, Billy, being a guitarist, didn’t add many prominent basslines to Siamese Dream, leaving D’arcy bass parts either drowned out by the guitars or taking the back seat in most tracks.

“You have to have a lot of faith to make all the compromises and give up a lot.” – D’arcy Wretzky on recording Siamese Dream. 

“It’s like being married to four people you never even wanted to date.” – D’arcy Wretzky on being a member of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Siamese Dream was the album that really placed The Smashing Pumpkins into the spotlight, but problems began to arise in the band. Jimmy Chamberlin began to have problems with drugs, which never seemed to go away completely. The band went on, but there were always disagreements from then on. After Siamese Dream came the third and fourth albums, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Adore. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, a double album, included a lot of writing from all of the four members of the band. In Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, D’arcy found an outlet for her classical training. She was able to branch out musically, going from grand orchestral basslines blending with the strings of ‘Tonight, Tonight’, to the straight rock of ‘Jellybelly’ and ‘Tales of a Scorched Earth’. You can ever hear the influence of these myriad basslines in the music of Paz Lenchantin, another female bassist that Billy Corgan would meet in Zwan in later years. After Siamese Dream, this musical freedom was definitely a welcome change. The whole band was on a high.

After Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Jimmy Chamberlin was kicked out of the band for his recurring drug habit, and The Smashing Pumpkins went on as a three-piece band to record the album Adore. Adore was a darker, more electronic album that didn’t sell as well as Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, despite the efforts of D’arcy and her provocative posing. Once again, D’arcy‘s distinctive classical style was slightly squashed on this album. The one song that really stands out, bass-wise, is ‘Shame’, a track reminiscent of the Gish era. D’arcy leads the song, her thick bassline entwined with a simple guitar lead. But aside from her contribution to ‘Shame’, D’arcy was not a very noticeable part of the album.

During Adore‘s release, the Pumpkins immediately went back to touring. They toured internationally, but it wasn’t the same without Jimmy. Billy re-hired Jimmy as a drummer late into the Adore tour, but the band still wasn’t the same. After the international Adore tour, The Smashing Pumpkins went back to their roots, and went on an eight-show club tour. During this tour, the band showcased some fan favorites from older albums, as well as material for a new album, Machina/The Machines Of God.

Unfortunately, D’arcy never got to play on the Machina tour. After the small club tour was finished and the new album was recorded, D’arcy decided to quit The Smashing Pumpkins to pursue an acting career. It wasn’t a made out to be a major thing; D’arcy just wasn’t there one day. It was announced in a press release a couple days after she left, and she was replaced by Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur.

“I’m like James [Iha], I need a creative outlet outside the Pumpkins… I need to do things my way, with my ideas. I come from a classical music background and sometimes no one understands my way of reasoning and of doing things.” – D’arcy Wretzky reflecting on herself. 

Post-Pumpkins

Despite leaving The Smashing Pumpkins to pursue an acting career, D’arcy hasn’t been seen much since late 1999. There were rumors that she was slated to play a comedic mafia hitwoman in the indie film “Pieces of Ronnie” alongside Mickey Rourke, but the film never went through.

She was arrested January 25, 2000 on the west side of Chicago after she allegedly purchased three bags of crack cocaine. She could have faced a felony charge, but was not formally charged with a crime. She succesfully completed a court-ordered drug education program and charges were dropped. This incident only fueled speculation about the real reason behind D’arcy’s sudden departure from the Pumpkins, as reportedly revealed by Billy Corgan in one of his blog posts. “D’arcy was fired for being a mean spirited drug addict, who refused to get help,” Corgan disclosed. Whatever the reason, the seemingly troubled ex-bassist of The Smashing Pumpkins has never publicly confirmed nor refuted these claims and has, in fact, retreated from the public eye to become something of a recluse.

D’arcy is said to own 3 antique stores in Michigan and since leaving The Smashing Pumpkins, she has become a trained and registered masseuse. In December 2004 she was known to study acupuncture, having been inspired by her sister Molly‘s successful acupuncture treatment to quit smoking.

In July 2009, D’arcy resurfaced in a phone-in to Chicago’s rock radio station Q101 and chatted briefly with host Ryan Manno. The 13-minute conversation revealed that D’arcy had been holed-up at a horse farm in Michigan since disappearing from the spotlight and had been keeping busy running the farm. She also spoke about missing Chicago, Marilyn Manson’s family, the sad passing of her boyfriend just days prior to the call, a piqued interest in Davy Jones of The Monkees being a horse jockey and the Silversun Pickups (the latter of which she denied sounding anything like Billy Corgan at all).  D’arcy went on to describe Corgan’s voice as “unusual” and compared it to that of a Tibetan monk’s, further commenting that she wished he would “pay more attention to his pitch.”

Trivia

- D’arcy is a Trekkie and fan of The X-Files: “I’m a big STAR TREK fan, but I’m not into the conventions or the ears or anything like that. I’m surprised they put THE X-FILES on the air, because the theories on there are so close.”  

- During her senior year of High School, D’arcy got into a bad car wreck and hurt her leg. She had to have surgery on it. After the surgery they overdosed her on morphine which gave her the nick name “Sister Morphine“.

- Filter’s song ‘Miss Blue’ is said to be about D’arcy, who collaborated with the band on 2 of their songs.

- A journalist once wrote that D’arcy didn’t care about music, only make up, so she attacked him with her lipstick. On another occasion, a reporter asked: “D’arcy, is your hair really that white?”

D’arcy‘s answer: “No, do not let your eyes deceive you. It’s actually a big black afro. The white that you see is really a trick we do with mirrors.”

- D’arcy once dated and was engaged to former Smashing Pumpkins band mate, James Iha. They split in the middle of the Gish tour. As mentioned above, Kerry Brown was talking in his sleep, which was how D’arcy found out that Kerry really liked her. D’arcy then broke up with James Iha, and started dating Kerry, putting a large strain on the band. It is rumored that D’arcy also dated actor Mickey Rourke.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D’arcy_Wretzky
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0942155/
http://www.starla.org/articles/darcy.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/mymomdarcy/dbiolng.html
http://billypumpkins33.tripod.com/allaccordingtozwanalina2/id3.html
http://everything2.com/title/D%2527Arcy+Wretzky
http://billycorgan.livejournal.com/2004/02/17/
http://www.spinner.com/2009/07/16/radio-host-reveals-dark-details-behind-darcy-call/
http://www.spinner.com/2009/07/15/former-smashing-pumpkins-bassist-darcy-wretzky-resurfaces-on-ra/
http://www.tmz.com/2011/02/10/smashing-pumpkins-bassist-darcy-wretzky-jailed-arrested-horses-farm-michigan-ticket-failure-to-appear-bench-warrant/

Disclaimer: All pictures/images used in this article are courtesy of Google Images (unless otherwise specified). The writer does not claim ownership for any photos and no infringement is intended. We respect all photographers and try to credit sources to the best of our knowledge; if necessary, we will credit or remove any pictures at the photographer’s or representative’s request. Please e-mail us: TheSPfreaksTeam@gmail.com to be credited for your work or to have your content removed.

Pisces Iscariot, the name of the Pumpkins’ 1994 compilation album, is a clever astrological commentary on Judas Iscariot. His name lives in infamy as the notorious turncoat who sold-out Jesus to the Romans for a mere thirty pieces of silver. I guess you could say, Judas didn’t give a Silver… FUCK about Jesus! (my apologies, but this struck me as an obligatory insert?) The point is, if I was to make an educated guess regarding Mr. Iscariot’s sign, I would have a short list of: Cancer, Gemini, or chiming in as my #1 speculative answer – Pisces! Why? Because when Pisceans feel that their emotional needs are not being fulfilled, they can turn incredibly selfish. With eleven other disciples licking clean JC’s dusty feet, it must have been a frustrating competition for the big Jay’s attention. Judas “Pisces” Iscariot probably got mad jealous, and rationalized his betrayal as just reciprocation for himself being ignored. Pisceans are also known to be spiritually malleable. They can up and convert to a new faith faster than Saul became Paul!

Let’s start with the Aries. Sorry to say, but you’re doomed if your leader is a Pisces. Despite being back to back on the zodiac chart, these two signs could not possibly be more polarized. The Aries is far too fiery and too aggressive for the sentimentally vulnerable Pisces to handle. For instance, James was always a quiet fellow, but under his calm facade I assume he had big feelings. I would not have wanted to be in the same room when the urge spurred him to express said larger-than-life dramatizations. Also, the fact that he was often silent and soft spoken probably meant that when he had something to say it carried a lot of weight for Billy to bear. Trust me, I was raised by an Aries grandfather, and have a horde of Aries friends. When they’re right, man are they ever right; almost in an omnipotent sort of manner. When they’re mad… well, I don’t want to talk about that. As for Nicole, I don’t know a lot about her. But from what I do know, she seems really, really nice. However, since we’re pretending astrology isn’t a load of hogwash I’ll make my prediction that of the new members she would be the first to leave. Aries + Pisces = recipe for eventual toxicity.

Next up is D’arcy, the Taurus. It should also be mentioned that Ginger is a Taurus. This is actually considered a positive combination with a Pisces. Perhaps this is why Ginger left the group amicably and is still on excellent terms with Billy (as far as I know). As an Earth sign, Taureans are logical, passive, and organized people. A Taurus can help to ground a Pisces, and prevent their wild imaginations from devouring them whole. As for D’arcy, since I’m insisting astrology is apodictic, my only explanation for why she’s not still in the band, and nay, why her and Billy are not blissfully married, is – drugs. It’s gotta be the drugs, because planetary alignments cannot lie and are never wrong. If it wasn’t for the drugs, astronomy says that Taurus and Pisces would be perfect, absolutely perfect. Imagine that I’m quoting the complete lyrics for the song, “Perfect” here.

That brings us to Jimmy who is a categorically typical Gemini. Don’t believe me? Read up on Gemini. It’s amazing that he and Billy worked together for as long as they did. The Gemini is represented by “the Twins.” They are two-faced. One side is your best friend, and the other side is vicious venom. Neither side has an explanation for the other. It is also the least compatible sign with Pisces of any sign in the entire Zodiac. The Gemini have a habit of telling white lies for the sake appeasing others or for protecting themselves. Pisceans are often labeled as masters of manipulation, but they do it by tinkering with facts and are careful not to lie. They value honesty and transparency, qualities that a secretive Gemini would struggle to deliver. What can I really say about Billy and Jimmy? There was a Doomsday Clock ticking in their hearts, and it most certainly WAS broken.

Finally, we’ve arrived at the super-awesome-lovable-charismatic-artistic-and delightfully eccentric Aquarians. I say this without bias, because I am totally not an Aquarian. Nope. Not even close. *whistling* Jokes aside, Pisces and Aquarius jive well together. As lovers they comprehend each other as perhaps no other signs can. As friends they can be as close as family. As artistic contributors, they are the best possible match you could hope for. Both signs are fiercely devoted to their work. There is only one thing to beware; the ego of the Aquarius. If they feel that they are not being allowed their fair share of input into the creative process, they can become very cross indeed! Mutiny might also occur if Jeff and Mike ever reach a point in which they feel that their skill sets have surpassed Billy’s. Still, Aquarians are the best hope a Piscean like Billy has for maintaining a stable roster. A fortuneteller would likely predict that Billy, Jeff, and Mike will still be making music together well into their golden years. Here’s to hoping.

I hope you’ve had as much fun reading this article as I’ve had writing it. I’m not claiming the Zodiac is factually accurate, or that divination is real, but it is neat to think about, isn’t it? Even if you are a skeptic, you have to admit that Billy does seem to embody the qualities of a Pisces. You might not be able to trust astrology as a science, but there does seem to be some level of validity to it. A horoscope writer would condemn the old band as destined for disaster, but would bless the current incarnation as kindred forces to be reckoned with. As with everything you read on the internet, I encourage to you to investigate and come to your own conclusions. As for Billy’s former affiliates, perhaps a support group might not be a bad idea. If you went outside of SP’s ranks and invited the Zwan-squad, the side project performers, and all the hired touring help, it would be quite a mixer!

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah

Next former Smashing Pumpkins band member in this series is Lisa Harriton
(birthdate: November 18, 1980)

Lisa Rae Harriton is an English musician who is best known for her brief stint as the touring keyboardist and back-up vocalist for The Smashing Pumpkins in 2007.

Pre-Pumpkins

Lisa was born and raised in a musical family – her mother Terry Harriton is a Los Angeles studio singer, while her father Michael Harriton is a composer and musician; her older brother Steven is a guitarist. At the age of 8, Lisa was already working as a studio singer at Disney, Integrity Media and Word Records. She was schooled at the Royal Schools of Music in London, where she received a distinction after graduating with a degree in classical piano.

In May 2004, Lisa completed her degree in Jazz Piano at the University of Southern California, where she was trained privately under the tutelage of Alan Pasqua, one of the premier jazz pianists in the world today. Her education influenced her music, which is described as soulful pop infused with jazz and world influences. Over the years, Lisa has performed in Japan, China, Peru and Los Angeles jazz clubs and worked with other musicians like Ingrid Jensen, Joe LaBarbara, Darek Oles, Larry Koonse and Ernie Watts. On June 24 2005, Lisa married fellow jazz pianist Alex Navarro, but the couple divorced in 2007.

Pumpkins Period

After the new line-up for The Smashing Pumpkins was announced in 2007, Lisa was debuted as the new touring keyboardist for the band (along with Ginger Reyes on bass and Jeff Schroeder on guitars) during their May 22, 2007 show at Le Grand Rex club in Paris. She also appeared in music videos for ‘Tarantula’ and ‘That’s the Way (My Love Is)’, as well as on The Smashing Pumpkins’ documentary concert film ‘If All Goes Wrong’.

(Billy Corgan and Lisa Harriton)

 “When I play with the Pumpkins, I think really texturally with splashes of color.  I think as a composer and an orchestrator, not just as a keyboard player. It’s a really cool mix with Billy, because he definitely thinks that way in the big picture. He’s really inspiring… I think Billy respected that I had a different background than anyone else in the band.  He is very supportive and never makes me feel stupid.” Once she began playing with the group, things gelled quickly and the band had a lot of fun together. “I love to play free,” she says. “We sometimes just jam. It is a great environment for taking chances. Billy is appreciative if you jump off the cliff and commit to your choice.” – Lisa Harriton on performing with The Smashing Pumpkins.

Post-Pumpkins

On March 9, 2010, Billy Corgan announced that he had started auditions for a new keyboardist and new bassist for The Smashing Pumpkins (after Ginger Reyes announced her departure to focus on her family), signaling Corgan’s intentions to take a different direction with the band’s sound. For her part, Lisa stated that, after touring with the Pumpkins from 2007 to 2008, she was eager to start working on her new solo album and residency at Tutuma Club de Jazz in New York.

(Lisa Harriton with Adam Lambert)

Since working with the Pumpkins, Lisa has toured/performed with Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) Adam Lambert, Ke$ha and Natalia Kills, opening for the Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry and Bruno Mars.  She can also be seen in Adam Lambert’s music videos ‘Whataya Want from Me?’ and ‘For Your Entertainment’. Lisa has also been working with Matt Sorum (from Guns N’ Roses) as keyboardist/background vocalist in his new band, Diamond Baby and can be seen in their debut video ‘Last Rockstar’, which features a star-studded ensemble that includes Jane Lynch, Juliette Lewis, Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and Verne Troyer. She was set to release her debut solo record in summer of 2012 under Broadstroke Records.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Harriton
http://www.last.fm/music/Lisa+Harriton
http://hipstersunited.wordpress.com/category/band/lisa-harriton/
http://www.mi.edu/about-mi/faculty-profiles/lisa-harriton
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Lisa-Harriton

Concert Review by Jeroen Savelkouls

Date: June 20^th, 2013
Venue: Live Music Hall
Capacity: 1,200-1,800
City & Country: Cologne, Germany
Tour: Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013 Tour
Personnel: Billy Corgan, Jeff Schroeder, Nicole Fiorentino and Mike Byrne
Duration: ca. 2h15m

No orb, no video projections, and limited lighting showed up for their first show of the European leg of the Shamrocks and Shenanigans tour. The Smashing Pumpkins largely ignored periphery visual distractions and focused on a tight gig and balanced set list; these ingredients were more than enough on Thursday evening to convince the crowd of approximately 2,000 in the extremely hot Live Music Hall (LMH) in Cologne (Germany) that this band is still relevant.

Coupons

It was not the first time singer and lead guitarist Billy Corgan played in this venue. The Live Music Hall was also his stage of choice for one of his solo shows in 2005. During the last visit of the Pumpkins to Cologne two years ago, however, the band preferred the much larger Palladium. Considering that 4,000 tickets back then didn’t sell, it seemed like a wise decision to scale down their ambition. This time around they found themselves playing in a full house which is beneficial to both the band and audience.

The doors opened at 7pm. At that time just enough people were there to occupy the first two rows, but right before supporting act NO started their show the hall quickly filled up. NO is six piece guitar band from Echo Park, Los Angeles, often compared to The National. They are touring in Europe since June 15 and will be playing during the next few weeks in Tilburg (the Netherlands), Gent (Belgium), and Paris (France). Their gig in Cologne is the only one which sees the band opening for the Pumpkins.

NO turned out to be a very energetic band and its musicians obviously enjoyed their time on stage very much. With their radio friendly pop/rock songs the ensemble around lead singer Bradley Hanan Carter swiftly won over the crowd. They played ten songs of their debut EP, Don’t Worry, You’ll Be Here Forever, to be released as their first proper album later this year. Afterwards, Carter handed out coupons with codes for downloading a couple of their songs for free. Commercially, maybe not the smartest thing to do (or perhaps their EP is sold out), but it did generate a lot of good will.

Blank Page

Shortly after 9pm, it was the Smashing Pumpkins’ turn. With the reissue of The Aeroplane Flies High box set to appear next month and announcements on Twitter and Facebook about ‘surprises’, many were curious which gems the band would dig up from their back catalogue. And could we expect new material, too? One song on the set list Corgan already gave away in a tweet a few days before the show was the second to last Adore (1998) track “Blank Page”.

Like many of their recent performances, the band started out with “Quasar” and “Panopticon”, the first two tracks of the 2012 album, Oceania. The songs were played tight and fast; approximately as they were released on the studio album. Corgan, dressed in a shirt with picture of wrestler, The Sheikh, seemed a bit disgruntled about the sound (and a guy throwing empty beer cans at the stage), but in the first few rows such nuances were difficult to distinguish. It was annoying to hear the singer’s voice often drowned out by the music. That made it hard to follow along with the lyrics; especially the newer songs that not everyone seemed to know that well.

The same went for the third song of the evening, “Starz”, which was played in a slightly different way than the version on Zeitgeist (2007). Subsequently, the vocals on “Rocket”, “Space Oddity”, “XYU”, “Disarm”, and “Tonight, Tonight” (including the ‘reprise’ version) turned out to be less of an issue since most of the crowd yelled along with Corgan. With the first notes of “Rocket” the crowd lost any hesitation it might have had and the band seemed a bit more relaxed. The David Bowie cover, “Space Oddity”, turned out almost as popular as some of the bands own classics; apparently, the musical love between the Pumpkins boss and the 66 year old British singer is shared by their fans.

Led Zeppelin

Next, a few songs off Oceania – “Pinwheels”, the title track, “Oceania”, and “Pale Horse” – were followed by fan-favorite “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, “Ava Adore”, and “One Diamond One Heart”. At around two thirds of the set list, the band thought it time to deliver on a promise; for the first time since November 12^th, 2000, they played “Blank Page”. With Corgan behind his Mellotron and the beautiful backing vocals of bass guitarist Nicole Fiorentino, the song developed from a fragile ballad to a rocker; this was definitely one the high points of the evening.

The first real surprise of the evening followed immediately after: “The Imploding Voice” off the 2000 album MACHINA/the Machines of God. Although maybe not the most well-known song among casual fans, this fast and loud version turned out to be a real crowd pleaser. The same went, of course, for “Zero” (with an new intro), “Stand Inside Your Love”, and to a lesser degree, for the last song of the main set, “United States” (without the Star Spangled Banner in the middle section). Concluding with two encores, the evening ended with the Led Zeppelin song, “The Immigrant Song”, “Today”, and “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” off the Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness (1995) album.

Surprises?

The biggest surprise of this show turned out to be that there were no real surprises. Since 2011 the set lists developed slowly into their present form, without any radical changes; apart from a few songs and two covers – of which one is been on rotation for quite some time now.There was not much new to see or hear in the Live Music Hall. Considering the absence of sophisticated visual elements like they had on their recent US tour, ‘Cologne’ was very much a basic show; but if basic is always this good, I’d settle for it any day.

Set List

Quasar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcoXmrctikw
Panopticon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF2W1UEAQ48
Starz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRurwPXFm4Y
Rocket http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9CsTyIHPGE
Space Oddity (David Bowie cover)
X.Y.U. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXrdzWrk5YM
Disarm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYWboai3PBA
Tonite Reprise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-lBBdH6hLU
Tonight, Tonight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Zq8MRE5WA
Pinwheels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFiqFpHUK2M
Oceania http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMIwfMZ4-Ao
Pale Horse
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Ava Adore http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1d30bPK_8w
One Diamond, One Heart
Blank Page
The Imploding Voice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6ysi2jEdA
Zero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oNlyPOOBRo
Stand Inside Your Love
United States

—encore1—
The Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
Today

—encore2—
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah

Melissa Auf der Maur (birthdate: March 17, 1972)

Melissa Auf der Maur is a Canadian musician and photographer who is widely known for her role as bassist for the American alternative rock band Hole. Born with a mixed German-Swiss heritage to parents Nick Auf der Maur and Linda Gaboriau, Melissa’s surname literally ‘On the Wall’ in German (‘Maur’ is derived from ‘Mauer,’ which means ‘wall’ in German).

Pre-Pumpkins

While majoring in photography at Concordia University in Montréal in 1993, Melissa met guitarist Steve Durand (who was a fellow student at Concordia at the time) and formed a band called Tinker with him and drummer Jordon Zadorozny. It was during this time that Melissa happened to catch one of The Smashing Pumpkins’ earliest shows in Montréal, where one of her friends named Bruce threw a bottle at Billy Corgan in the middle of the show, prompting a brief scuffle. After the show, Melissa apologized to Corgan ‘on behalf of Canada’ and struck up a conversation with him, which led to the two becoming pen pals and keeping in touch over the years.

(Melissa Auf der Maur with the members of Hole)

As Tinker began to gain a solid reputation in the local music scene, The Smashing Pumpkins returned to Montréal for the latter’s Siamese Dream tour. Melissa decided to write a letter to Corgan asking whether Tinker could open for the Pumpkins at one of their shows, which eventually happened. Corgan was so impressed by Melissa’s bass skills that he recommended her to Courtney Love as replacement for bassist Kristen Pfaff (who died of drug overdose) in Hole. After initially turning it down, Melissa eventually joined Hole and fulfilled bass duties for the band for 5 years.

“Billy Corgan – he’s not so huggable, but I love him. When I was nineteen, the Smashing Pumpkins played at this punk-rock bar in Montreal. My roommate threw a bottle at Billy and they got in a big fight. So I went up to Billy after the show and apologized on behalf of Montreal. Then we became pen pals, and a few years later, Siamese Dream came out and I wrote a letter to the PO Box on the Siamese Dream album: ‘Dear Billy, do you remember me? I finally got my band together. Can we open up for you when you come to Montreal?’ Somehow, they got that letter.

So basically, my band’s fifth show was opening up for the Smashing Pumpkins. And my big brother, my inspiration, was standing on the stage, watching me play.

And when I walked offstage, he put his arm around me and said, ‘Kid, you’ve got it.’ And I said, ‘Really?’ Six months later, he called me and said, ‘I think you should come play in my friend Courtney’s band.’ And it all seemed like a very big mystery, and I originally said no. Then I thought about it and realized that it was my ticket out of Canada. I like rock & roll fairy tales.” – Melissa Auf der Maur on meeting Billy Corgan

Pumpkins Period

Melissa was tapped by Corgan as a replacement for D’arcy Wretzky. She played bass for the entire duration of The Sacred and Profane Tour in 2000 and appeared in the music videos for ‘The Everlasting Gaze’ and ‘Stand Inside Your Love’ before The Smashing Pumpkins briefly disbanded in 2000.

Post-Pumpkins

Currently pursuing a solo career, Melissa has released 2 albums, a short film and has won at the 2011 Independent Music Awards in the Indie/Alt/Hard Rock category for her project ‘Out of Our Minds.’ She has also guested in several music festivals and appeared in ‘The Greatest Canadian’ TV series and indie film Collaborator. Melissa is currently residing in New York with filmmaker husband Tony Stone and their baby daughter while balancing art, motherhood and acting.

Trivia:

- Melissa said that the Pumpkins’ 1991 album, ‘Gish,’ inspired her to play rock music.
- Is also a photographer: some of her photos were featured in the exhibition The Kids are Alright at Sotheby’s in New York City, along with photos by Yelena Yemchuk, an artist-photographer who frequently collaborated with The Smashing Pumpkins, one of Corgan’s ex-girlfriends and the muse for ‘Stand Inside Your Love.’
- Shares a birthday with Billy Corgan (March 17), although Corgan is 6 years older.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Auf_der_Maur
http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/moreCelebritySkin/melissarollingstone.html
http://entertainment.ca.msn.com/movies/features/former-hole-bassist-makes-her-acting-debut-in-collaborator
http://www.spinner.com/2009/02/11/auf-der-maur-talks-smashing-pumpkins-hole-reunions/

Disclaimer: All pictures/images used in this article are courtesy of Google Images (unless otherwise specified). The writer does not claim ownership for any photos and no infringement is intended. We respect all photographers and try to credit sources to the best of our knowledge; if necessary, we will credit or remove any pictures at the photographer’s or representative’s request. Please e-mail us:TheSPfreaksTeam@gmail.com to be credited for your work or to have your content removed.

Article by Shaharaine P. Abdullah

The last former band member of Smashing Pumpkins in this series: James Iha
(birthdate: March 26, 1968)

James Yoshinobu Iha is an American musician best known as the original guitarist and co-founder of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Pre-Pumpkins

James was born in Chicago, Illinois in a second-generation Japanese-American family. He and his brothers were raised in a middle-class suburb in Elk Grove Village; James attended Elk Grove High School.

“I was born in a suburb of Chicago. You know those John Hughes movies like ‘Sixteen Candles’ and ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ and stuff like that? My high school was sort of like one of those high schools. It wasn’t as much fun as those movies were though [laughs]. I grew up there and it was a very nice middle class suburb, really boring but nice. I was a fan of music cause my brother was a big fan of music and I used to look at his records and he had all the classic rock records. I sort of went through every different phase of music. He was into like Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, The Who and I got into all those. Then I got into my own things, like heavy metal. Then I got into New Wave, which became a lifelong journey into music [laughs]” – James Iha on his formative years.

Growing up, James describes his childhood and home life:

“I was cool [laughs], I guess. I think I was a quiet kid and music was definitely an exciting thing to me. Music and film…my mom used to play like a nylon string guitar and she would play sort of like children’s lullabies. That was really nice but it was definitely rock music that got me excited and wanting to do something similar.”

After high school, James took classes at a local junior college for 2 years and majored in Graphic Design at Loyola University Chicago before eventually dropping out in order to fully commit himself to The Smashing Pumpkins in 1987.

Pumpkins Period

In 1987, James was a guitarist for the Chicago band Snake Train when he met Billy Corgan through a mutual friend. At the time, Billy Corgan was already spreading the word around that he was in a band called The Smashing Pumpkins and decided to make it official with himself at the helm as the vocalist, James as the guitarist and support from a drum machine. The duo met D’arcy Wretzky later on and made her the bassist, while Jimmy Chamberlin was made drummer.

D’arcy and James became romantically involved from 1988 until 1991, when they eventually split before a scheduled performance at the Reading Festival in 1992 during the band’s Gish tour. After a brief strain between them, the two remained friends and continued to be involved professionally, with The Smashing Pumpkins and other musical projects, including the now-defunct independent label Scratchie Records.

James is the credited guitarist for all Smashing Pumpkins albums, until the Zeitgeist period. He wrote and provided vocals on a number of Smashing Pumpkins songs, such as ‘Blew Away’, ‘Bugg Superstar’, ‘Take Me Down’, ‘…Said Sadly’, ‘Believe’, ‘The Boy’, ‘The Bells’, ‘Summer and ‘Go’, and co-wrote ‘I Am One’, ‘Soma’, ‘Mayonaise’, ‘Plume’ and ‘Farewell and Goodnight’. He also sang the band’s covers of The Cure’s ‘A Night Like This’ and Syd Barrett’s ‘Terrapin’. During this time, James also collaborated with other bands, appearing on recordings of bands like Ivy and The Sounds, as well as released his first solo album ‘Let It Come Down’ with a music video for ‘Be Strong Now’.

In 2000, Corgan announced that The Smashing Pumpkins would be disbanding and playing their final show at The Metro in Chicago, where the band played their first ever gig as a four-piece in 1988. On December 2, 2000, the band played a 4-hour-long set comprised of 36 songs to an audience of 1,100 or so. Made up of family, friends and fans, some of whom travelled hundreds of miles just to be in attendance. At one point during the emotionally charged show, it was reported that James (in memory of the relationship that he and D’arcy had shared and maintained over the years), lamented her absence and expressed his gratitude and love for her. After the show, according to Corgan, James left the venue “without saying goodbye to me or Jimmy, a real final fuck you in my eyes… outside of a phone conversation about business in 2001, I haven’t seen him since.”

When Corgan decided to revive The Smashing Pumpkins in 2005, only he and Chamberlin were retained from the original line-up, despite Corgan’s insistence at the time that the door was always open for the others to return. Reasons why James and D’arcy didn’t re-join are unclear, but James has commented about the matter in later interviews, saying “I was never approached by the band or Billy about returning to the band. That never happened.”

Post-Pumpkins

James has pursued a myriad of projects since departing the Pumpkins in 2000. He has collaborated with, remixed and produced a number of records for other bands and artists, including Ivy, Fountains of Wayne, Team Sleep, Cat Power, Karen Elson, Michael Stipe, Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino, Chris Martin, Annie, Chara, Isobel Campbell, Whiskeytown, The Blank Theory, The Sounds and Ladytron. James has also joined a number of bands as guitarist, such as A Perfect Circle, Tinted Windows and Vanessa and the O’s while doing stints as a DJ during A Perfect Circle’s hiatus in 2004. He has also scored the Japanese movie ‘Linda, Linda, Linda’ and produced a cover of Bobby Darin’s ‘Splish Splash’ for the soundtrack of ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’ and collaborated with longtime friend and manager Isao Izutsu by starting a clothing label called Vaporized (formerly known as Vapor).

James is currently promoting his second solo album Look To The Sky, which was released in March 2013.

Trivia

- is near-sighted and sometimes wears glasses

- Designed shirts and runway modeled for designer Anna Sui.

(James Iha, photographer Steven Meisel & fashion designer Anna Sui)

- Under the flagship Beams, James owns a Japan-only men’s clothesline named ‘Vaporized’ (formerly called ‘Vapor’).

(James Iha walking on the runway)

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Iha
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0407286/
http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/58867/james-iha.html
http://www.gettyimages.co.jp/detail/ニュース写真/james-iha-of-smashing-pumpkins-models-anna-sui-fashions-during-ニュース写真/113898989
http://jamesiha.chu.jp/jamesiha/vapor1/vapor18.html
http://www.virtualjapan.com/wiki/Vaporize
http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/09/interview-james-iha/
http://www.antiquiet.com/news/2010/12/billy-corgan-final-smashing-pumpkins-show-metro/
http://hipstersunited.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/corgan-calls-iha-one-of-the-worst-human-beings-ive-ever-met/

Disclaimer: All pictures/images used in this article are courtesy of Google Images (unless otherwise specified). The writer does not claim ownership for any photos and no infringement is intended. We respect all photographers and try to credit sources to the best of our knowledge; if necessary, we will credit or remove any pictures at the photographer’s or representative’s request. Please e-mail us:TheSPfreaksTeam@gmail.com to be credited for your work or to have your content removed.

Article by Jeroen Bakker
Pictures by Jeroen Savelkouls and Arthur van Pelt

(Poster Tilburg 013)

Date: July 26th, 2013
Venue: Paradiso
Capacity: 1,200-1,500 (sold out)
City & Country: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Tour: Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013 Tour
Personnel: Billy Corgan, Jeff Schroeder, Nicole Fiorentino and Mike Byrne
Duration: 2h30m

Date: July 27th, 2013
Venue: 013
Capacity: 2,000-2,200 (sold out)
City & Country: Tilburg, the Netherlands
Tour: Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013 Tour
Personnel: Billy Corgan, Jeff Schroeder, Nicole Fiorentino and Mike Byrne
Duration: 2h15m

‘She likes surprises,’ Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell sings on their hit album Superunknown. Well, I do not know who ‘she’ is, but I do know that I like surprises too. That’s why I was so happy to read that Billy promised us some unexpected things on their Shamrocks and Shenanigans tour. What would the band have in store for The Netherlands?

It was almost two years ago that the Smashing Pumpkins hit The Netherlands during one of their tours. They then almost sold out the huge Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, where they treated the die-hard fans to a lot of obscure tracks and b-sides. Very enjoyable for the fans that own every single version of Zeitgeist, but in a big venue like the HMH, there are a lot of casual fans just looking for some 90’s super hits.

Those fans would have been very happy with the songs Billy, Nicole, Mike and Jeff threw into the audience at the beautiful Paradiso, Amsterdam (in the old days it was used as a church!) and the recently restored and modernized 013, Tilburg venues. Where Corgan refused to play a ‘greatest hits show’ in 2011, the nights at these places were packed with alternative rock classics; “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, “Today”, “Zero”, “Ava Adore”, “Rocket”, “X.Y.U.” and “Tonight, Tonight”, just to name a few. But Smashing Pumpkins never aimed to be a nostalgia act. There was a lot of room for more recent material too. A hard rocking version of “Starz” was definitely a highlight, but also the Oceania album tracks were greeted with much enthusiasm from the crowd. An acoustic rendition of “The Celestials” even had people singing along to this tune. A great and well deserved compliment for the ‘new’ band.

Billy the Gardener
About halfway into the set at Paradiso, Amsterdam, Billy started to chat with the audience, exclaiming that he was getting ‘as they say in America, long in the tooth. That’s called old.’ He laughed about stopping to tour and focus on gardening. People laughed, but after Billy said that he wasn’t joking, some crowd members clearly felt a bit uncomfortable. Is he really planning on quitting rock ‘n’ roll style touring?

The banter was quickly forgotten when Billy was invited to eat Dutch pancakes with a girl in the audience, so Corgan could only reach for his Mellotron to roll into one of the highlights of the night. ‘If there is a God, I know he likes to rock…’. The die-hard fans in the audience couldn’t believe their ears. “If There Is A God” hadn’t been played live for over 12 years! Yet here we are, listening to Billy and Nicole singing without a doubt one of the best songs off the (so far) internet-only album Machina II / Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music. The cheering from the crowd spoke for itself: this really was a surprise, just as Billy had promised. And a very pleasant surprise indeed.

Stadium settings in Amsterdam
At Paradiso, Amsterdam, the band continued to rock through some monumental hits before treating the audience to another track not played in a long time: “The Imploding Voice” from 2000 record Machina / The Machines of God. At this point, the bad thing about the concert really started to show; the sound was way too loud and mixed in an unbalanced way. It was almost like the sound engineer used the settings for a stadium! Because I was in the front row, I had a lot of direct sound coming from the band’s amps and monitors. The voice amplifiers were behind me, so the vocals got drowned in the mix more than once. After the show I heard (as far as I was still able to hear) that the sound wasn’t that good on the balcony either, so it wasn’t just because I stood completely in front of the stage. The people at the mixing desk obviously had an off night, as it would appear.

The Pumpkins can’t be blamed for this though, because they gave all they could. Jeff showed once again that he knows his guitar’s neck even better than the back of his hand.  Nicole stole the hearts of many with her sweet backing vocals and rocking bass skills.  Mike hit his toms and cymbals like they had to be destroyed at the end of the show, and Billy did justice to the print on his t-shirt: ‘Je suis un rockstar’. The band was really tight and professional, never missing a beat.

After spoiling us with two encores at Paradiso, Amsterdam, the band left the stage for the last time, leaving behind an extremely satisfied crowd. The sound problems were the only thing that kept this awesome show in Amsterdam from being really, really awesome. And we are not alone with our very positive review: Dutch music magazine Oor (Ear) created a raving review too on this Amsterdam show, to be found here (warning: Dutch language, but beautiful pics!).

Another show and a second SPfreaks meet-up in Tilburg
Luckily, for the band and the fans alike, the band got another chance one day later. With buzzing ears, sore throats and tired legs from the night before, we headed down south in The Netherlands to the city of Tilburg for another night of fuzzy rock and oceanic tones. This night was not only a Smashing Pumpkins show, but also another SPfreaks members meeting. Quite a few SPfreakies showed up again, one even driving all the way from Germany to see the band play! It was cool to get together to see our favorite band for another time.

The summer heat outside had found its way into the venue. The audience was hot before a single note was played, so warm-up act Beware of Darkness didn’t have to do much. During their opening act, we did notice the sound was a lot better than in Paradiso, even in the front row. Nice! Now we could finally hear the band sing properly!

The Pumpkins cranked out almost all the songs they played the night before, but they changed the order up a bit. Due to time constraints, a few songs like “Immigrant Song” were skipped. And starting with “Tonite Reprise” leading into “Tonight, Tonight” was a smart move. What a way to open a show!

The improvement in sound was clearly noticeable, which made the show even more enjoyable. However, it was noticeable the audience was a little more stiff than in Amsterdam. It was plain to see that a somewhat bigger venue brings a wider and more critical crowd. However, all time classics such as “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and “Zero” got even the most difficult visitor to jump.

Billy didn’t say anything about last night’s banter anymore, so I think we can conclude that he was joking when he said they wouldn’t be touring anymore. And walking back to the train station with rain falling down and lightning illuminating the sky, I realized we should hope they were joking. The Smashing Pumpkins showed once again that they are so much more than a revived 90’s band. This band is still moving forward. Sometimes stumbling, sometimes incomprehensible, but always fascinating. I don’t know where the band is headed to next, but I do know I’ll be glad to follow them wherever they go.

Setlist Paradiso Amsterdam

Quasar
Panopticon
Starz
Rocket
Space Oddity [David Bowie]
X.Y.U.
Disarm
Tonite Reprise
Tonight, Tonight
Pinwheels
Oceania
If There Is A God
Thirty-Three
Ava Adore
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
The Imploding Voice
One Diamond, One Heart
Pale Horse
Zero
Today
Stand Inside Your Love
United States

Encore 1:
The Celestials (acoustic)
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans

Encore 2:
Immigrant Song [Led Zeppelin]
Cherub Rock
(1979 was on the setlist for this encore, but was not played)

Setlist 013 Tilburg

Tonite Reprise
Tonight, Tonight
Cherub Rock
Starz
Space Oddity [David Bowie]
X.Y.U.
Disarm
Quasar
Pale Horse
Ava Adore
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
The Imploding Voice
Pinwheels
Oceania
If There Is A God
Thirty-Three
One Diamond, One Heart
Today
Zero
Stand Inside Your Love
United States

Encore:
The Celestials (acoustic)
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans

Interview by Monita Rajpal, CNN

SPfreaks is happy to present the full transcript of this interview to you, as provided by CNN Transcripts. Images are screenshots from the interview.

TALK ASIA - Interview with Billy Corgan (Aired August 23, 2013 – 05:30:00 ET)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Monita Rajpal, Anchor, CNN International (voiceover): It was one of the biggest bands of the ’90s. Known for their angst-ridden and dreamy songs, The Smashing Pumpkins are still drawing in crowds by the thousands, some 25 years after their debut.

Founded by lead singer-songwriter, Billy Corgan and Guitarist, James Iha, their first album reached gold status. But the follow-up, “Siamese Dream”, fared even better. Thanks, by and large to the song, “Today”, which peaked at number four on the alternative rock charts, solidified their status as rock stars.

It was their third album, though, that would see the band truly skyrocket. “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” sold more than nine million copies with four singles hitting the pop charts, including “1979″ and “Tonight, Tonight”.

After a drug overdose killed the band’s touring keyboardist and led to the arrest of drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, in 1996, the remaining band battled on to make two more albums.

Both failed to produce a single that would chart higher than “Ava Adore” at number 42 on the U.S. Billboard charts. And in 2000, Billy Corgan announced the end of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Seven years later, Corgan resurrected the band with new members. Today, they’re back on the road with a new album and throngs of loyal fans.

This week, on “Talk Asia”, Billy Corgan shares the drama and dysfunction of one of alternative rock’s most influential bands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJPAL: Billy Corgan, welcome to “Talk Asia”.

WILLIAM CORGAN, SINGER-SONGWRITER AND FRONTMAN, THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: William now.

RAJPAL: William Corgan.

CORGAN: William Corgan.

RAJPAL: When did that change?

CORGAN: I’ve been morphing for a while, so -

RAJPAL: Really?

CORGAN: Yes. I’m going to go William now.

RAJPAL: Do you feel more serious?

CORGAN: No, no. It’s just – that’s actually my birth name.

RAJPAL: Do you feel more grown up, though?

CORGAN: No. Just “Billy” gets uncomfortable at some point.

RAJPAL: Really?

CORGAN: Like, wrinkles and Billy – it just doesn’t work.

RAJPAL: Well, William -

CORGAN: Thank you.

RAJPAL: — The Smashing Pumpkins have finally made it to Hong Kong. What took you so long?

CORGAN: I don’t know, you know, it’s a weird world. Because, you know, I’ve been to Thailand and, you know, other places in Asia. And why we never came here, I don’t understand.

RAJPAL: Yes. What do you believe has been the means to the success or the longevity of The Smashing Pumpkins? I mean, we look back from the formation in 1988 to, you know, “Gish” in ’91 and now, “Oceania” today. What do you think has been the means for its longevity?

CORGAN: Well I have a saying, which is, “Crazy is good for business”. I think rock and roll really is about being a bit crazy. And that sounds like a line from a Scorpions song, but – like, “Crazy”.

(LAUGHTER)

CORGAN: It’s not a corporate thing. It’s been turned into a corporate thing, but really, people like me – you can’t invent people like me. We kind of come out of weird places and strange backgrounds and we can’t be sort of prototyped or copied. Although we can be imitated, we can’t be copied.

So I think that’s really what it is. I mean people – in essence, they have to go to a live band event to see this one-of-a-kind thing. And it’s no different than King Kong, you know, in chains. Like, “Rrrr”. You know, that’s how I feel sometimes. I mean, there I am. I’m a flawed thing, but there’s only one of me. And if you want to see that one of the thing, there it is.

RAJPAL: Did you always embrace that uniqueness?

CORGAN: No. Nor do I now. But, you know, like, when I was young, I hated my voice because it was so strange. And my father has a very strange voice, too. So it would be like, “Wow, why do we have these weird voices? Like, shouldn’t we have more normal voices and stuff?” But then you realize that that’s at the heart of identity.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Which, in a world of, kind of a lot of imitation – and you see imitation in fashion – all levels of culture. So to have any level of distinction in a world that’s really intent on copying is actually a blessing. But for years, it felt like some sort of weird curse.

RAJPAL: When we look at your album, “Oceania”, do you think it’s an album that you could have made, say, 20 years ago?

CORGAN: No, nor would I have wanted to. Because different circumstances at the beginning of what’s called the grunge era. It was really about sort of stimulating an audience and the mosh pit was probably the most important factor on whether or not a crowd was considered a good thing or a bad thing. So you’re making music to kind of create this propulsive, kinetic environment. You’re not writing songs for people to get married to. That sort of happens later.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: If you would have asked me, you know, the 20-year-old me, about the kind of album I’ve made on “Oceania”, the 20-year-old me says some of it’s boring. But sometimes it takes those spaces and those kind of quietude to find something else. And I think we all go through that as we get a little bit older – we look for sort of different simplicities. And there’s a simplicity in “Oceania” that my earlier work doesn’t have. Where I was so intent on constantly proving something.

RAJPAL: I’ve read that you came to writing the album -

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: The album, itself – I understand it’s supposed to be this – taken in its entirety, as a journey – not just as singles. But there are -

CORGAN: That’s kind of a press line. But I – I’m glad you read that, but -

RAJPAL: But in -

CORGAN: It’s kind of a – honestly, it’s kind of a bull-[EXPLETIVE DELETED] press line.

RAJPAL: Really?

CORGAN: Yes, because, in this day and age, you’re sort of forced to make a comparative reason – like why even bother making an album?

RAJPAL: Sure.

CORGAN: And so we were like, “Well, we’ve made something – you’re kind of forced to listen to the whole thing or you’re not going to get it”. And people actually, then, listened to it.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Because if you follow in the other culture, it’s really about just trying to come up with 12 singles.

RAJPAL: When you look at – I guess I read that you came – you approached it from actually a place of being happier than you have been in a while.

(LAUGHTER)

RAJPAL: Is that -

CORGAN: Did I say that?

RAJPAL: Was that not true?

CORGAN: No, no, that’s true.

RAJPAL: Does that, in itself, pose challenges, when it comes to songwriting?

CORGAN: There’s a long established concept that gets bandied about, which is “Misery makes for great art”. And I actually think this is – if we were asking a Shinto Monk, I think they would laugh at this idea.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Because you’re basically saying, “Suffering’s good for business”. And I don’t think suffering’s good for business. Crazy’s good for business, suffering isn’t. I think suffering or the gestalt of, “Here I am, ripping my heart open” – I think that lasts for about two or three albums.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: At some point, you have to mature into the deeper work. Most people are living lives of sort of survival. And constantly posing an existential crisis, either through fantasy or oblivion, really has been pretty much explored in rock and roll. At least in the western version of rock and roll. Maybe not over here in Asia, but we’ve sort of, kind of, been through all that.

RAJPAL: So what are you exploring now?

CORGAN: God. I once did – a big American magazine was doing a thing called, “The Future of Rock”.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: And, you know, they asked 50 artists, “What’s the future of rock?” And my answer was, “God”. And they said, “What do you mean?” And I said, “Well, God’s the third rail of -” What is it? “Social security is the third rail of politics in America”. Well, God is the third rail in rock and roll. You’re not supposed to talk about God. Even though most of the world believes in God. It’s sort of like, “Don’t go there”.

I think God’s the great, unexplored territory in rock and roll music. And I actually said that. I thought it was perfectly poised. And, of course, they didn’t put it in the interview.

RAJPAL: What would you say to Christian rockers, then?

CORGAN: Make better music.

(LAUGHTER)

CORGAN: Personally, my opinion – I think Jesus would like better bands, you know?

(LAUGHTER)

CORGAN: Now I’m going to get a bunch of Christian rock hate mail.

RAJPAL: But that’s interesting -

CORGAN: Just wait, here’s a better quote -

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Hey, Christian rock, if you want to be good, stop copying U2. U2 already did it. You know what I mean? There’s a lot of U2-esque Christian rock.

RAJPAL: Sure.

CORGAN: Bono and company created the template for modern Christian rock. And I like to think Jesus would want us all to evolve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJPAL (voiceover): Coming up, Billy Corgan reveals the sad inspiration behind one of his newest singles.

CORGAN: Well, I had two losses. Losing her as a mother and losing her as a friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORGAN (singing): When they locked you up they shut me out/But gave me the key so I could show you round. /Yet we were not allowed. /Omens of the daydream. /But caught as you’re bound in Thorazine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJPAL: I’m curious about the single, “Pale Horse”.

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: And I was wondering what the origin of the title of “Pale Horse”. Was it – did it come from, and this is just my interpretation – but did it come from the -

CORGAN: It’s like “Trainspotting”.

RAJPAL: The New Testament -

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: The Bible – the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – the last horse is Pale Horse.

CORGAN: I had no idea.

RAJPAL: — Which symbolizes death.

CORGAN: Had no idea. But, in your sentient intuition, what you did pick up on is that it’s a song about my mother.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: And it’s really about the point where my mother left my life around four years old (ph). So it is really reflective of death. Symbolic -

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: — not literal. And, of course, she later died when I was 29, from cancer. So I had two losses. Losing her has a mother and losing her as a friend. So, yes, the song sort of deals with that. But I had no idea. But that’s interesting how the unconscious works, so -

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: I’ve never been a big bible reader, so -

RAJPAL: Well, neither have I, but I just was curious about “Pale Horse” and the origins of that. Another single that I really liked in “Oceania” was “One Diamond, One Heart”.

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: It’s beautiful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORGAN (singing): However you must fight/Within your darkest night/ I’m always on your side. /Lovers as lonely as lanterns lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJPAL: There’s a line in it that says, “However you must fight, within your darkest night, I’m always on your side”. How hard do you think you’ve had to fight to actually get to this point where you are now? Actually, perhaps, in a different place – in a potentially better place?

CORGAN: Oh, yes. Yes. The great thing about rock and roll is, if you want to fight – like, fight the system, fight the man, fight the government, fight the people in front of you – it’s Don Quixote all over again. You’re really chasing windmills. And then the business sort of is predicated on creating a competitive atmosphere, where you want to obliterate your competition, because it sort of engenders more sales.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: And people start doing stupid stuff – stunts and -

RAJPAL: Did you buy into that?

CORGAN: You do on some level. I grew up in sports, so it sort of always made sense to be competitive. Like, if you’re going to try to dunk on me, I’m going to dunk on you.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: And there’s something beautiful like, you know, you read about how the Beatles and Stones would sort of take turns trying to get the number one song. I don’t think there’s anything bad with that. But realistically, artists are really in a race with their own ability. And if you too much focus on the culture – the culture’s always going to give you the wrong information. It’s been proven time and time again that cultures really don’t know what they want. Hence, you know, great artist like Johnny Cash dies, and everyone’s like, “Oh my God, Johnny Cash was great”.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Well, I bet if you look to Johnny Cash’s career, there are about 30 years, there, where people weren’t paying a lot of attention to Johnny Cash. Why didn’t they pay attention to him all along? Well, they were busy doing something else or they were fascinated with this trend, or something. And then we realize, “Wow, what a great treasure Johnny Cash was, not to American culture, but to the entire world”. Ultimately, the public’s going to abandon you, the record company’s going to turn on you at some point when you don’t sell enough – so it’s really an integrity game.

RAJPAL: How do you keep your integrity?

CORGAN: You have to have a root of some sort of belief system. And, for me, you know, I sort of work on the love concept, which is, you know – is what you’re doing engendered of love or is it engendered of some sort of material construct? And I think there’s plenty of evidence to prove that material constructs fail.

RAJPAL: Did it start out that way, when you created the band? Did it start out?

CORGAN: No, no. I wanted to get the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] out of my city. And it wasn’t even – it was like the Wizard of Oz – sorry for the swear.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: I wanted to get the heck out of my city. It was like “The Wizard of Oz”. I just wanted to get on the Yellow Brick Road and get somewhere.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Because where I was, was just so, like, I mean, you know.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: So leaving is a conceptual thing. Fighting the thing out there – the dragon out there- – it’s all conceptual. But if you don’t have the spiritual background, the cultural background, somebody doesn’t find you at an age and say, “You’re talented, you’re special” and get you in a system that’s going to support you.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Rock and roll is basically, you know – it’s a system of exploitation.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: And I hate to use the word because it’s honestly disrespectful, but it’s a slave system. It’s an indentured sort of slave system where they kind of lock you in and then they play tricks with your mind and try to get as much out of you, predicated on the idea that you’re only going to last four or five years.

RAJPAL: But that system -

CORGAN: Yes?

RAJPAL: — did get you recognized. Did get you -

CORGAN: Did it?

RAJPAL: Didn’t it?

CORGAN: Where are all my fans? There’s no one waiting in the lobby over there.

RAJPAL: Security.

CORGAN: I don’t see anyone waiting over there.

RAJPAL: But they have been. They’re coming to see you.

CORGAN: No.

RAJPAL: They’re going to – you sell tickets.

CORGAN: Yes, that’s just.

RAJPAL: People still buy your albums. People still know who you are. Your music was heard.

CORGAN: It’s meaningless.

RAJPAL: Really?

CORGAN: It’s meaningless. The only thing that means anything is what you create. That’s where the great Beatle line, you know, “The love you make is equal to the love you take”. Or I always get it wrong. But I mean, that’s really what it is.

So my experiences in music really have to do with the people I’ve met, the things I’ve seen, the ability to absorb different cultures, different ideological frames. Come in contact with people who have no relationship to “Gilligan’s Island” and the silly, weird ’70s world that I grew up in.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: It’s fantastic. It’s a spiritual education. And what I’ve created out of that journey is the value. Whether anybody gets it or doesn’t – that’s really, honest, inconsequential.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJPAL: So we have this side of William Corgan.

(LAUGHTER)

RAJPAL: Then we have the other side as well -

CORGAN: She’s a very good interviewer. I like her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORGAN (singing): Believe in me, believe, believe/ That life can change that you’re not stuck in vain./ We’re not the same, we’re different./ Tonight, tonight, tonight/ So bright/ Tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJPAL: So, when you look back at the albums that you have created.

CORGAN: Yes?

RAJPAL: Such as multi-platinum albums like “Siamese Dream” -

CORGAN: Right.

RAJPAL: “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” – what are your interpretations of that time, now?

CORGAN: I see them as faithful postcards to where I was. And they are inherently beautiful for what they express in their limitations.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: But I see them as limited within their moment.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: But it’s also the culture’s moment, too. So, for example, you listen to music from the early ’90s, there’s idealism. You listen to music by the end of the ’90s, that idealism is gone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORGAN: Today is the greatest/ Day I’ve ever known. / Can’t live for tomorrow/ Tomorrow’s much too long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJPAL: Songs like, “Today” -

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: From “Siamese Dream”.

CORGAN: Right.

RAJPAL: “1979″ from “Mellon Collie”.

CORGAN: Right. I did write those.

RAJPAL: “Zero”.

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: Those kind of songs -

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: — those are important indicators of the certain emotion that was – at least that you felt, at that time.

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: What are your memories of your life at that time?

CORGAN: I was miserable. I was totally miserable. So I was operating off of more of an idealism. Like, who I wanted to be or who I wished I was.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Because who I really was or how I felt I was, was miserable. Because I had no frame by which to deal with the situation I was in.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: I was in an unhappy band. I’d sort of found whatever I needed to find and – but it wasn’t this magical thing I thought it was going to be.

RAJPAL: What about, then, the success of those albums? Like, I love “Siamese Dream” -

CORGAN: Well, they were good.

RAJPAL: Well, you were happy with that, though, right?

CORGAN: Yes, but you could argue that the success of those albums is very much a communication between two limited perspectives. So if you make dumb music for dumb people and dumb people buy it, it doesn’t mean it’s good.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Well, if you make repressed, middle class, white, suburban, existential crisis music and a bunch of people just like you buy it, is that success?

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: I mean, yes, it’s success in the form of communication. But is it success in being true? No, it’s not true. It’s true to its corner, but it’s not true.

RAJPAL: Where does this need to -

CORGAN: Ruin my career?

RAJPAL: –search – no. No, no. To search and seek these kind of answers – come from?

CORGAN: I don’t know. I think you’re just born with it. What do they say in America? You have a high BS meter. You know what I mean?

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: Yes, I stopped going to the – you know, I was raised Catholic and I stopped going to church when I was eight. Because I was like, “What is this?”

RAJPAL: So, you know, there are some shrinks out there who would say -

(LAUGHTER)

RAJPAL: — and bear with me for this one -

CORGAN: Have you been to a shrink?

RAJPAL: Well, haven’t we all? There’s some shrinks out there who would say that the people that we are connected to, or we find ourselves connected to, are there to help us reconcile certain issues or -

CORGAN: Karmic wounds.

RAJPAL: Yes. And the people that we are most intimate with, whether our partners, band mates – they are there to help you recognize and work though those issues.

CORGAN: Right.

RAJPAL: Is that what The Pumpkins were for you? The original band?

CORGAN: No.

RAJPAL: No?

CORGAN: No, we were four strangers who agreed on a musical vision. And we did more harm than good.

RAJPAL: In what way?

CORGAN: It was destructive.

RAJPAL: But then, some could say, well, if you look back at your – say, when you were growing up – same kind of dysfunction, right?

CORGAN: True, true.

RAJPAL: What did you learn about yourself in that experience?

CORGAN: Which one?

RAJPAL: The first band experience.

CORGAN: I would say the key experience for me, from the original version Smashing Pumpkins was, “What is loyalty?” What is loyalty? Because I had a false concept of loyalty and I rode that ship all the way to the bottom. When most people wiser than I, would have jumped off the ship when it was to their benefit.

So people always say, “What’s your greatest career regret?” It’s when the band blew up in ’96, that I didn’t jump off and make a new ship. I rode that ship all the way to the bottom. Like, literally, until it was like the bubbles were coming up and I was sitting there like -

RAJPAL: Is it kind of like, you know, when you’re staying in a bad relationship, that you’re always hoping that something will change. That things will work out in some way, shape, or form.

CORGAN: Yes. I’m sure you’ve only had successful relationships, but I mean, if you’ve ever been there where you’re breaking up with somebody for the ninth time -

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: And you’re like, “Ok, this is real”, right? You know.

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: We did a lot of that. We didn’t really break up so much as we were like, “OK, now it’s going to be like this, or it’s going to be like this”. And then, of course, nothing would change.

RAJPAL: What about when it comes to what you learned about yourself from your family?

CORGAN: False loyalty.

RAJPAL: Again?

CORGAN: I think a lot of people really struggle with false loyalty.

RAJPAL: I read that your dad said that you’d saved his life? On many occasions?

CORGAN: He’s being generous.

RAJPAL: That there was an article where he was quoted as saying that, “I grew up in a house of no love or emotion and it kind of sticks with, you end up passing it on to your kids”. Is that -?

CORGAN: That’s fairly accurate.

RAJPAL: Really?

CORGAN: Yes. Accurate.

RAJPAL: Your dad was a musician.

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: Still?

CORGAN: No, he doesn’t play anymore.

RAJPAL: did you ever want to be like him?

CORGAN: Oh yes. My father was my idol.

RAJPAL: Really?

CORGAN: Yes, I wanted to – I mean, this bad posture I took from him, too. He’s very charming. He, you know, was very handsome and I mean, he looked and moved like a rock star, so -

RAJPAL: When did you finally feel – or have you – a sense of stability in your life?

CORGAN: Never.

RAJPAL: Never?

CORGAN: Never. No. I’ve invested in one particular concept and it’s – I would say as we – it’s a wash. I’m happy to have done what I’ve done and I feel privileged to have communicated. Blessed to have been recognized, where many people don’t -

RAJPAL: Yes.

CORGAN: But yes, personally devastating.

RAJPAL: What do you think will be your legacy?

CORGAN: I think I’m a radical. I think I’m an artistic radical and I think I’ll be recognized as one. I’m a really good musician and a songwriter, but I think my real legacy will be as a radical. I am a radical in an era when there are very few radicals. In my business – I know there’s plenty in other places. But in my world, which is supposed to be full of radicals, there’s actually very few.

RAJPAL: So we have this side of William Corgan -

(LAUGHTER)

RAJPAL: Then we have the other side as well -

CORGAN: She’s a very good interviewer. I like her.

RAJPAL: — where we have the tea-drinking, tea shop-owning, and pro- wrestling-loving man.

CORGAN: Boy-child.

RAJPAL: Very different elements. Or are they the same?

CORGAN: Same.

RAJPAL: Pro-wrestling — what’s that about?

CORGAN: It’s fun.

RAJPAL: See? You do have fun.

CORGAN: Yes.

RAJPAL: Really?

CORGAN: In quiet moments. When no one’s watching.

RAJPAL: William “Billy” Corgan -

CORGAN: This is where you say, “Goodbye”.

RAJPAL: Thank you for your time.

CORGAN: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

END

Article and images by Geo Folkers

When Billy Corgan announced a few weeks ago that no official celebration was planned for the 25^th Anniversary of Smashing Pumpkins playing live gigs, there was one fan of the band called Matt Sams that felt like ‘this ain’t gonna happen!’.

And when Saturday, October 5th, 2013, marked the spot as being the exact date 25 years after the Smashing Pumpkins took the stage as the first four-piece line up at the Metro, Chicago (IL) in 1988, a plan was born in Matt’s head. And when it all came together last weekend, Madame ZuZu’s Teashop in Highland Park (IL), was the ultimate place to be for a Smashing Pumpkins Fan Event never seen before in the bands’ fandom history.

Sales awards corner

It all started when Matt posted his ideas on the Forum of the Smashing Pumpkins website, and soon other fans applauded at the idea of organizing a Fan Event in Chicago (IL). Madama ZuZu’s, the Corgan-owned teahouse, was hired, artists were approached for playing live music, poetry reading and trivia games were planned, Smashing Pumpkins inspired art was supposed to be created, SPfreaks members were contributing parts of their memorabilia collections for a rare-Smashing-Pumpkins-items-exhibition, an anniversary cake was organized, and more. Online flyers for the fan event were made and spread around, and when even the Smashing Pumpkins used their highly anticipated social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to highlight this fan-organized event, there was nothing standing in the way anymore of a remarkable and joyful day for the fans of our favorite band.

‘bat strat’ guitar replica and Machina / The Machines Of God era items

And it all happened as planned. Live music was played in several sessions during the day by Matt Sams himself, who performed “El Sol”, “Eye”, “Lily (My One And Only)”, “Soma” and “To Sheila”, and by Greg Bates(*), who performed “1979”. Together Greg and Matt performed “Today” and “Cherub Rock”, and both artists had the audience singing along to those longtime Smashing Pumpkins fan favorites.

Greg Bates (left) and Matt Sams (right)

Between the acoustic gigs by Greg and Matt, another Smashing Pumpkins fan, Joy Goscinski, versed multiple Blinking with Fists poems. Then, the trivia games were a lot of fun with many laughs. Crayons, colored pencils, and paper were left out on the tables in Madame ZuZu’s Teahouse for coloring Smashing Pumpkins inspired art. And at some point, ZuZu’s even contributed an anniversary cake by surprise! Meanwhile, Matt Sams, being the organizer and host of the event, did a great job on keeping things moving.

“The Everlasting Gaze” video guitar

As said, SPfreaks had a grand opportunity to set up and show some really rare Smashing Pumpkins memorabilia that showcased the musical history of the band. These memorabilia included one of the original props from the Grammy awarded “Tonight, Tonight” music video (a moon), and several fans took the one-of-kind opportunity to have themselves being photographed with the life-size video prop. Also on exhibit was Billy Corgan’s “Everlasting Gaze” music video guitar, a fan-made replica “bat strat” guitar, rare vinyl and demo tapes from the early days of Smashing Pumpkins, tour posters, a huge collection of career-defining CDs of the band, and several Gold and Platinum sales awards that the band had earned while building their musical legacy.

Billy Corgan on Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

Then, at around 8:30 PM, a ‘surprise’ visit from Mr. Billy Corgan himself came next! He brought with him an original “Zero” shirt, one of the Gish album guitars, a set of antique photos that had inspired him during the creation of the monumental Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness album, and the original artwork of the Machina / The Machines Of God album. He shared these artifacts with the gathered fans with joy, and surrounded the items with many personal stories and great musical visions. Next to this, he brought ten prizes that he personally gave away to some lucky fans during another trivia round with-a-twist. Who had thought that we were allowed to ask Billy Corgan questions about his musical career, and then, when he didn’t know the exact answer, he would give a prize to the person who brought in the question. One of the questions to Billy, for example, was how many live performances the Smashing Pumpkins had done since 1988 to date. Since Billy didn’t know the answer precisely (being a little over 1,250), he gave away a copy of the Adore vinyl!

Billy Corgan on Machina / The Machines Of God

Matt Sams, who performed some Smashing Pumpkins songs while Billy Corgan was watching, would later declare: “It was kinda nerve-wracking to perform SP covers in front of Billy… I was afraid he was gonna come up to me and say: Wrong chord… nope… wrong again… YOU’RE RUINING MY SONG!!! lol”. However, that didn’t happen, and at the end of the night, fans left in great spirits, joining for photographs with Billy and his guitar, meanwhile holding the original “Zero” shirt that he had brought, and sharing many stories of how the art and music of Smashing Pumpkins had affected so many lives.

We would like to close this article with a big thank you to Matt Sams for bringing this fan event to life. Another thank you goes to Madame ZuZu’s Teahouse for hosting this event, and welcoming all visitors during the day. And thank you to the performers, being Greg Bates, Matt Sams, and Joy Goscinski. Also thanks to Linda Dodge, for all her help, and several fan outlets “out there” for contributing prizes to the trivia games.

And last but certainly not least, a big thank you also goes to Mr. Billy Corgan for taking the time to attend this fan event, meanwhile sharing so many personal anecdotes that were unknown to the fans so far. It was the icing on the cake of a really great day, a day that was highly anticipated on social media worldwide, and a day that many must have felt sorry to have missed in person!

(*) Greg Bates played with Billy Corgan in a band called Coat Of Eyes around 1984, and when Coat Of Eyes called it quits, Billy would play in a band called The Marked. After The Marked ended, Smashing Pumpkins was raised in 1987 by Billy Corgan and James Iha. Greg and Billy are still friends.

Please enjoy some more pics of the event:

The Media Corner at ZuZu’s

“Tonight, Tonight” video prop (moon)

Billy Corgan drawing

The Madame ZuZu’s Teahouse anniversary cake

Billy Corgan signing a sales award

The guys having a good time!

Interview and Article by SPfreaks

SPfreaks recently had a chance to catch up with Nicole Fiorentino and Meghan Toohey after their Record Release Party for their newest release, Ellis Bell.

Ellis Bell (front cover)

The Cold and Lovely recently had a Record Release Party for your new EP, Ellis Bell. How did it feel to showcase those songs for the first time?

Meghan – It felt great. Because of some scheduling conflicts with Patty and Mel, we have a new drummer (Erin Tidwell) and keyboard player (Jennifer Goodridge) playing with us now and they are really adding new energy and excitement to the band. We never really got a chance to even feel like a band before with Nicole touring all the time and Mel living in NYC; but now we actually rent a rehearsal space together and enjoy the process of practicing. For a first show I thought it was solid and the songs went over well live. I can’t wait until we’ve had a few months of rehearsals under our belts.

Does The Cold and Lovely have any particular history at the Bootleg Theater? Any particular reason you wanted to have the record release at this location?

Meghan – I’ve played there a few times with other artists and always liked the vibe and thought the room sounded good. They also have a projector set up and we knew we were going to have our video set up be a big part of the show.

Poster from Record Release Party

The new release is an EP – was this intended from the beginning? Did you ever want Ellis Bell to be a full album?

Meghan – We had a strong group of songs and thought it would be great to just get something out quickly. The first record wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be sonically, so this time around I wrote songs specific to a style of production, as opposed to try and fit a song to that style.

How would you describe the vibe of the new release? Where was your band at the time?

Meghan – I definitely think I was ready to work. When Nicole came home from the last tour and listened to the mastered album, we basically both agreed we had something special with these recordings and we should make a run of it with the band.

Ellis Bell was the pen name used by author Emily Brontë in the 19th century. What is the significance of Emily’s work on the band?

Meghan – I’m a huge nerd and love all things from the Romantic literature period. I had read Wuthering Heights and loved it. I ended up binge watching Masterpiece Theater and A&E classics and it came on one night. I got obsessed with the story; which lead to writing the song based around the plot line. I ended up researching Emily Brontë and discovering the name “Ellis Bell”.

Emily Brontë (portrait by brother, Branwell Brontë)

The Cold and Lovely is a powerhouse of women in a rock band. Is it important to remain an all female band? How does that play into the music?

Nicole – I think it’s an exciting time for women in rock. There are a lot of all female bands right now (HAIM, Savages, Warpaint, etc.) and it feels like a resurgence to me, because when I was a teenager I was really into Riot Grrrl and that played a huge role in why I became a musician. If I can inspire one young girl to play music then I feel like I’ve done my job. Nothing is more heartwarming to me than someone telling me I am one of the reasons they picked up the bass – especially girls. Rock and roll is still a male dominated world and I feel really good that I have been able to claim my stake in it. I want other girls and women to feel empowered in that way. That’s why we want to keep The Cold and Lovely all women and why we are so involved in Rock Camp for Girls.

Speaking of women in music, how do you feel about Miley Cyrus’ recent controversy to include Sinead O’Connor’s open letter rejecting “prostitution” in music? Is it okay to be a woman in rock and be sexually provocative?

Meghan – I think it’s ok to be sexually expressive as a woman. Where I get lost is the fact that we are dealing with a young woman who has grown up as a role model to young girls. Miley’s choices are her own, but they kind of bum me out because I think she should have a sense of responsibility to a bigger community than just girls that are comfortable being overtly sexual. Madonna also had amazing songs and style. To me, Miley is trying to shock people and I just think she’s boring – but that’s my own opinion. Give me a great song and then take your clothes off or leave them on…

The Cold and Lovely is still fairly underground, but you have a very strong and committed fan base. Can you attribute that to any one thing in particular – perhaps everyone’s history in some very iconic bands?

Nicole – I think it doesn’t hurt that we are all seasoned veterans; it piques people’s interest for sure. And I think there are a lot of Smashing Pumpkins fans out there who wouldn’t have necessarily heard of us otherwise. I am so grateful for all of [their] continued support in my projects outside of Smashing Pumpkins. But I think ultimately the music speaks for itself. Maybe people are drawn to it because of the names attached, but they keep listening because it’s solid music. I am confident in saying that. ; )

How did you meet all the members of The Cold and Lovely? How did your band come to fruition? Meghan mentioned “Not with Me”, at the show, as something that you wrote together which convinced her to start a band. Is it that simple?

Nicole – Meg and I met through mutual musician friends about six years ago. I listened to some of the demos she had on her computer and was astounded that she hadn’t released any of them yet. Around the time I joined Smashing Pumpkins, she decided to start working on those demos and wanted to do a proper recording of them. I said I wanted to be involved as much as I could because I loved the songs so much. We met Patty at Rock Camp for Girls; where we all volunteer. Soon after, we got into the studio and recorded our first self titled LP.

Who do you consider, as a group, to be some major influences on your musical style? Reversely, who do you consider to be very relevant in today’s competitive, evolving, and oft watered-down climate?

Meghan and Nicole – The Cure, Led Zeppelin, Heart, PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine. Listing relevant artists is tough to approach. We love a lot of “newer” bands like Radiohead, Silversun Pickups, Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, Tegan & Sara, etc. There’s also tons of amazing new music out there, but there’s also lots of crap. It almost takes more effort now to find your new favorite band in a sea of home recordings and/or people being able to post their music everywhere independently. I miss being able to go into record stores and browse and listen or check out “Staff pick”.

You personally played a Fender for a very long time and switched over to a Reverend. At the show, Meghan mentioned having some guitars custom made. Do you also have custom basses? Which do you prefer? Live vs. studio make any difference?

Nicole – Yes, I’ve been playing Fender since I was 14 years old. My first bass was a white Fender Jazz and it got stolen out of my car within the first week of moving to LA (note to self: never leave an instrument in your car in downtown). I am also playing both the Justice and the Decision basses by Reverend now; both of which I adore. And I recently got a beautiful bass from my friend, Lindz McKay, who builds replicas of vintage guitars. He built one for me that mimics an early 70′s jazz bass and I fell in love with it. His company is Bonneville Guitars. I really love [playing] Reverend with Smashing Pumpkins because they’re super punchy and cut through the wall of guitars. The Bonneville is great with The Cold and Lovely because it’s got a warmer tone. I mostly used a ’62 Fender Jazz on Oceania because you can’t beat the sound of a vintage guitar on a recording; but I don’t like to travel with expensive gear. On Ellis Bell I used a Fender Mustang with totally dead strings for that smooth, yet dirty, tone.

You responded once on a Twitter Q&A to having liked cassettes; especially because of the mix tape aspect. Did you ever make one or were you ever the recipient of one? Do you remember the songs?

Nicole – Someone made a mix tape for me right before I moved out to LA from Massachusetts, and I loved it so much that I listened to it all the way across the country in my U-Haul. The songs became my anthems for one of the biggest steps I ever made in my life. My favorite was “The Bluest Eyes in Texas”, the Nina Persson version. I still think a mix tape is one of the best gifts you can give someone you care about, because it gives them a peek at what songs have personally inspired you, and, if you choose the right songs, gives them an idea of what they mean to you. ; )

Feedbands.com is a website that is subscription based and releases one vinyl EP/LP per month. Do you enjoy the medium and are you a subscriber? Is The Cold and Lovely pursing a release through Feedbands?

Nicole – I think it’s an incredible way for new bands to get people interested in their music. Basically, you submit your songs to Feedbands, and if they dig them, they let their subscribers vote for whether or not they will print your vinyl. Once a month they print vinyl for whoever got the most votes and ship them out to their subscribers. So as a subscriber, you get a new vinyl in the mail each month from a band that you voted on! We are in the running to have our vinyl printed right now (we only have CDs/digital available at the moment). You can sign up for a free trial period and vote for us. After that I believe it is $14.95 a month. Not bad for vinyl lovers!

SPfreaks is very dedicated to collecting and preserving the legacy of musical output. Is there anything The Cold and Lovely find yourselves collecting?

Nicole – Shoes and VHS tapes.
Meghan – Rocks and music gear.

Check out five songs played live at the Record Release Party!

For more information on tours and releases available by The Cold and Lovely, please visit their website. SPfreaks would like to thank Nicole and Meghan for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer a few fan questions and wish them good luck with the new EP!

If you are going to be in the Los Angeles area on October 30th, why not stop by the Viper Room to see The Cold and Lovely play live?  Tickets available here.

Interview by geo folkers

In late 1988, early ’89, Mark Ignoffo had an opportunity to work with a young Smashing Pumpkins. Here are a few questions that Mark was kind enough to recently answer:

You had an opportunity to work with one of the greatest bands ever.  How did you come to meet the Smashing Pumpkins?

Well, as with most things it was merely by chance. My family was having a garage sale and I was selling an old Farfisa organ. A young guy stopped by and saw the organ and asked if I played keys and the conversation morphed into my recording studio which was located in the basement of the house at the time. He said, “man there is an incredible guitar player you have to hear. He works down the street at this used record store.” So somewhere in the next few weeks I stopped in at the “Record Hunt” and met Billy.

What was the Smashing Pumpkins like in the early years?

At first, it was just another band that I was going to record. Most everyone that does a demo has the grand dream of being discovered. It was immediately obvious that Billy was a phenomenal guitar player, but in the music industry, talent doesn’t mean success as you can tell by listening to the radio. I wasn’t familiar with some of the bands he liked, such as Dinosaur Jr. which I think was good because I approached the recording with the perspective of not trying to “match” a sound. I remember him telling me he really liked some of the Beatles production techniques and I believe he was reading a book about it at the time. James was always a pretty quiet guy in the studio. Nice but never said too much. Jimmy was mostly there just to do the drums and didn’t usually come in for the overdubbing. D’arcy was easygoing but one Saturday morning session she made it known she was not a “morning person”. Not in a mean way, but she would have preferred to start later. It got a little tense sometimes between them but never tension towards me.

How often did you work with the Smashing Pumpkins?

I worked with them for approximately a year but I don’t recall if we started late in 1988 or early in 1989. It was in February of 1990 that I moved my studio to Florida and I remember completing the last of the recordings right before I left.

Was there something special about working with Billy Corgan? His drive or work ethic?

I can say without a doubt that he was the driving force of the band. I’m sure even he would admit maybe being a bit of a tyrant at the time but he knew what he wanted and expected everyone to do their part. They had limited funds and didn’t want time wasted in the studio with someone doing a million takes. I will tell you that I feel we had a great relationship working in the studio together. It was always professional but relaxed, especially when we were mixing. I think to this day that his amp was one of the loudest I ever recorded in the studio.

You played the organ on “Rhinoceros”. How did that come about?

This was a bit of a surprise thrown at me while working on the song. He said he wanted to do an alternate version of the song with a keyboard solo. Billy knew I played keys and my background was deeply rooted in the progressive rock bands. Rick Wakeman was my favorite keyboardist at the time and still is. The first thing he said was I don’t want you to play any of that Wakeman stuff like a typical solo you would play. He said I want it to be really weird… really odd. It was done on some small synth with a very limited range and I don’t think they were even full size keys. Even though I had a Hammond B3 he wanted the synthesized organ sound. Maybe he just wanted to see me struggle to play on that little keyboard [laughs]. I think that by doing it this way he didn’t want me to think out a more structured idea. So I tried not to think musically and just play weird. After a few takes he said something like “yeah like that”. I probably had a confused look on my face [laughs]. There is also another song with heavy organ in the background but you have to really listen closely.

Are there any Smashing Pumpkins songs recorded no one has ever heard that you were involved with?

Not that I’m aware of. I think everything is out there.

I’d like to give a big thank you to Mr. Ignoffo for the time to answer a few questions. He continues to be active with music and is the Owner/President of Reel Time Duplication in Daytona Beach, Flordia.