The lawsuit between Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan and original Pumpkin drummer Ron Roesing apparently isn't proceeding any further than legal threats.

ChartAttack exclusively reported on Tuesday, June 27 that Corgan was suing the former drummer for supposed copyright violations, after sifting through volumes of legal documents and interviews. Roesing emailed us today to say that he hasn't heard from Corgan's team of lawyers and assumes that the lawsuit has been dismissed or dropped. Although he still hasn't heard from Corgan something he'd like to do is to clear the air.

Fans can now expect to hear Billy, Roesing and Dale Meiners early songs on an album under the band name The Marked. It's doubtful Corgan will have any input on this album. This band was formed in 1984 and was based out of Florida. They returned to Chicago and Meiners quit the band, while Roesing and Corgan brought in James Iha and formed the Smashing Pumpkins.

article courtesy of ChartAttack.com

Rock star Billy Corgan has broken his silence regarding the events that took place last Saturday at the ECW television taping in Peoria, IL. The following is a transcript of his comments on the incident, which was recently covered on MTV, and will air, in its entirety, this Friday during ECW on TNN.

"Let me start by saying that this incident with "Lou E. Imitation" is a complete outrage. For weeks I had been looking forward to singing the national anthem in front of the good people of Peoria, Illinois, an honor bestowed on me by Paul Heyman himself, who had personally invited me to open the show last Saturday night. ECW is my favorite promotion in the world, and never having sung our national anthem in public before, it was an opportunity I just couldn’t say no to.

It started out to be a great night, getting the chance before the show to talk to some of my favorite wrestlers, great guys like Jerry Lynn, Rob Van Dam, The Sandman and Justin Credible. I was nervous about doing a great rendition of the anthem, but looked forward to sitting back after I sang to watch the show. So after the warm reception I received from the crowd when I was announced as a surprise guest, what followed was like a bucket of cold water. Before I could play a note I was attacked by Lou “I used to be the Sign Guy but the Dudley’s left me behind” Dangerously and his band of reckless thugs, Steve Corino, Scotty Anton, and Jack Victory.

It was, needless to say, a unwarranted intrusion upon my performance, and an insult that won’t be easily forgotten. Lou may be the greatest manager in sports entertainment, but he is a no class individual who should be ashamed to call himself an American. Hopefully the fans will get the chance to judge this entire situation for themselves Friday night on TNN"

article courtesy of ECW online

Normally, we shy away from commenting on random acts of rock criticism, but we'd like to commend Lou E Dangerously -- whose day job puts him in the ring as part of Extreme Championship Wrestling -- for his stellar commentary on the solo work of Billy Corgan. The Great Pumpkin commandeered the ring at an Illinois stop on the ECW circuit, with the intention of performing a short solo set. Dangerously, however, gave new meaning to "that doesn't play in Peoria" by interrupting the gig one song in with perfectly sensible threats of violence -- only to have Corgan cold-cock him with an acoustic guitar. Battling Bill was spared a beatdown by the intervention of a passel of Dangerously's arch-enemies, so we'll have to wait a spell in order to find out if he can match ring skills with Handsome Dick Manitoba . . .

article courtesy of Rollingstone online

in a world war 2 bunker tick-tock the rumours are flying flick-flack but who knows the windpipe cracked and that nobody gives a rat’s ass piddle-dum-tweedle-see I told you but nobody would listen all you hear is a lot of wishin soot-soot-beedle-bum and now I’m down in the land of swan song and world war gunners reading racy novels to kill the time-time gotta keep it off my mind-mind so let the games begin or did they already start-start to become annoying boy you gotta-getta a problem mister but I am queer as a 5 legged steer-fear-seer says the fisherman just fishin for wishes and pretty girls da-da-dum-dum it’s just that all my wishes are not yours but many of yours are mine but it’s all good-good-good smiles from ear to ear don’t get lost in the maze of haze and purple smoke cause it’s a psychadelic shack of love and muzak hold your breath it’s comiing soon but not how you imagine in june-june did somebody say it was july?…poppa ow mow mow (look it up!) xo

article courtesy of SmashingPunmpkins.com

with only a limited time remaining, the tapes are still flying...some tapes are in such poor condition that we are cooking 'em up in the oven, but hey the music is still cool...the sun is shining outside but the florescent lights almost do the trick, plus we have the orgone meters set to full so we look almost real...soon we start gearing up for the summersalt tour in canada dry, and I suppose we might actually rehearse for a change so get your signs requesting towers of rabble and soma ready cause we can still read...after that comes the taping of vh-1 storytellers which of course will be full of lies because no one certainly knows what these songs are about, certainly not the singer...we have begun to prepare for the storytellers by finishing the much rumored jack-o-lantern suite, almost 8 1/2 years in the making...the story of the writing of the suite could probably take up the entire hour of the program, between telling the story of meeting the indian sage, the missoula mystic, and the tuscaloosa titan in the barrelhouse barn and finding a rusty guitar in a corner...my fingers just bled until I found the right notes, but I'll save all that for the taping...hope to see you there...

article courtesy of SmashingPumpkins.com

We didn't think they would go without a fight. Now Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan has intimated in two postings on the band's Web site that the band is working on one final album. Corgan announced that the band was splitting in May, blaming "the way the culture is and stuff, it's hard to keep trying to fight the good fight against the Britneys."

"Happy to report that there are some 10-14 tracks that are in some sort of shape or another," Corgan began a July 17 post titled "Making tracks in Chicago, U.S.A." The album would be the band's first with new bass recruit Melissa Auf der Maur.

"It's sometimes hard to jog the memory of what we were thinking or doing at any given moment because some of these songs haven't been worked on in over a year," Corgan explained. "But now is the right time because after the band splits it is not the kind of thing you want to try to finish in 10 years or so, when we go ahead and put out that penultimate box set."

Fans might have guessed something was up on July 15, when Billy sent forth a missive from "Recording Studio, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.," wondering if his fans had "deciphered all the deep alchemical codes of Machina and have now moved on to some 8th generation alt-rap-metal hybrid band's new disc and are peering deep into the meanings there, too."

"It is a weight lifted off my shoulders," Corgan told the Los Angeles radio station KROQ when he announced the Pumpkins' dissolution. "I think that deep down our fans knew that this was the end. It will be nice to let the music be now." But on July 15 he was agonizing online, "My star is fading and I do not know what to do. I stare at the track sheets and wonder where the magic went."

Apropos of not very much, Corgan said he had "written a batch of songs so sad they are almost happy, if you know what I mean. Isn't the planet supposed to end with all this millennial paranoia? But wait, there is a light, and maybe even a plan or too [sic]."

The tracks sounded like they might be taking form when his next message appeared two days later. "So we blow the dust off the guitars and tune up rusty strings and try to make some more emotionless music ... er, I mean heartfelt and deep music that is obviously emotional." Looks like that old Corgan senseless of humor is still there.

Pumpkins fans will just have to hope this isn't all some gag played by the bald jester. Corgan ended his post with a cryptic riddle: "I know you just cannot wait! with the same baited [sic] breath that I had when I cared, er, or when I dared ... So you see it really is all a joke, but the joke is not on you or me but probably them, I suppose ... but I can't say for sure."

From Mellon Collie to the Crazy World of Arthur Brown in five short years? Let's hope not. The band has a few more weeks in the studio before it returns to the road, with an August 4 date in Vancouver.

article courtesy of VH1.com

I can't figure this out. I think it contains some cryptic message but what do you think...

without focus, without generation, without peer...come whither winters too often seen...felt in devotion, willing in it's uncertainty...cry aloud yes! children to a child...a crown glorious for seeing and naysing, soothsaying into prophecy in measured mercury time...this is our moment, our world, this is our church, our children, our dominion as yet undisclosed, as yet unclaimed...the universe is ours reduced to tiny portraiture...with love and fire and desire and innocence to reckon judgement upon us all...in this duality until we are truly free...this role cast and agreed upon, the child took it's hand...to know no other except in one's heart is to walk forward into oblivion...raised from sleep to be beaten, moved to non-tears from an implied violence that hung in the air at all hours...these terrors and troubles will make you he was told but somehow they continue to break him...a smile is always the great eraser, and the dreams of those future smiles and miles allowed a secret garden to grow,however sad true it all became...it never was you can say, but it was...and it never will be they can say, but it will...something always gets lost along the way...in translation, in memory, in vision, but that is just how it is...so to peer strong into the faces one must see their own face, to wonder reflection and not judge, but this too is impossible...for the accused will one day stand as the accuser...the cord snakes between the legs, one fist raised in power, the other fist raised in solidarity, this is the universal vision of the movement...I used to be a little boy so old in my shoes...for every face slap that imprinted itself as tattoo under my skin, every indignity that scarred itself upon my broken heart, walks with me as ghost and conscience...a boy, a zero, a hero, a goat, a ghost frozen glass, broken, this is all you need to know...the codex every moment in this war without end, the attrition constant, but the victories oh so sweet and pure...in this we drink from mountain springs and let the grand old sun soak us old...to curse one's very existence is a kind of power, especially if you can decide to make the best of that hate, to fuel that anger with the necessity of resignation and purpose...to cloak your pain and fear in the language of sound, the poetry of devotion...a child draws the perfect house with the perfect parents and the perfect hot rod car and the perfect dog, unwittingly signing into a contract bound to be broken...the choices came before all he believed, but somehow the fuzzy glow of intuition didn't seem to cover the tracks of this particular beast...glass disintegrates it all for your entertainment, his purpose to be the atom bomb unsustained and smiling that perfect smile...from the first cord came shiver and from the last cord will come peace...it is a game to be played viciously, so change the names and make up a few new verbs and there you go...this child was struck and a decision made to never never cry again...in this stupid land of the frozen ideal, WHO AND WHERE ARE THEY NOW?? the wooden idols of persecution in the glory of helpless and unending resurrection...who will be there upon your deathbed hour to hold your hand and wipe your brow...who will cast the last stone upon you, will it be the same demons, perpetrators and eviserators from long to haunt and decimate...all martyrs are dead and there going to stay that way...wave after wave of fury crossing the bow till there is little more than charred husks and winking sighs...no more to behold, no more to see, no more...the universe was contracting as quickly as it had been set into expanding malice...the first blow struck revolution, the last bell resonant silence...to match the eyes and the doll faces of the perfect parents with the perfect teeth smiling upon the perfect children. long live rock!!!! What does an outsider stand for if they stand cooly on the inside...can you exist inside and outside simultaneously? or must our heroes forever be on the outside looking in? to prove what? and to whom? a broken ideal for which no rewards are given but grudging respect...the spirit breaks but the will is strong...as soft white light caressed their faces they knew that all was good and all would be forgiven, and that their echo would ring forever on and on...in dull cascades and numb electric parades, the true essence would distill and pervert, becoming an unrecognizable new art in it's distortion...a boy holds his guitar in teenage arms and he is power...a man holds aloft a broken guitar and he is shattered...who will pick up the pieces this time? only God knows the true truth...from child to children passed above heads and hearts, beseeched to know and keep knowing...the revolution is never over, it is just beginning...funny how this revolution was televised and everybody got bored and changed the channel to what? chattering mannequins on angel dust and power prayer...whither winters past but we live on and on and on...again and again we are in cracks and rust and swinging screen doors, never to be forgotten...are you tired yet????

article courtesy of SmashingPumpkins.com

As far as the Smashing Pumpkins, it always ran on hard work, music and motivation. Our bass player was the only woman, and it wasn't an issue. It's based on what you can do. American audiences tend to be white, but we tour the whole world and do have a mixed audience. Symbolically, I think it's a good thing for other Asian kids to see me in this big band. I've met a lot of them, and they say, "It's great to see a Japanese person in this cool band."

Growing up in suburban Chicago, I was always the only Asian person in my school. I can't say I've never seen racism. I definitely had my fair share. Just the typical, stupid things that kids say. But I never really had a problem, and personally, it never held me back.

I think things are getting better. There's less and less racial division in music, with hip-hop and rock 'n' roll mixing, and music is more global now, instead of just American or European. Now hip-hop is king, and I think it's great. When I was in high school, it was kind of underground. Now, when you go to buy a record, no race is implied.

article courtesy of New York Times

happy to report that there are some 10-14 tracks that are in some sort of shape or another…it’s sometimes hard to jog the memory of what we were thinking or doing at any given moment because some of these songs haven’t been worked on in over a year…but now is the right time because after the band splits it is not the kind of thing you want to try to finish in 10 years or so when we go ahead and put out that penultimate box set…so we blow the dust off the guitars and tune up rusty strings and try to make some more emotionless music…er, I mean heartfelt and deep music that is obviously emotional…what else do you want to know…I can tell you that if you want to solve a puzzle you must first understand the point of the puzzle…so what is the point of this puzzle…to confuse? enlighten? enrage? or just titillate…or could it just be for fun, because to save one’s soul you must first learn how to laugh… please understand that I am laughing, not at you, but with you,and I certainly am laughing at myself, so please put your hearts together and laugh with me…I put a little sunshine here between the cracks so you can see that you are inside a box…I of course am trapped in the box you stare at and cannot leave…admission is free to all those that are…(drumroll please)…free!…oh and another thing or two…please check out pumpkins radio which has been carefully collected to draw you deeper…there is also another chapter of the friends and enemies of modern music featuring glass and the machines of god floating around in space somewhere and I will try to wrench it out to you soon…I know you just cannot wait! with the same baited breath that I had when I cared, er or when I dared, or shall I say when I was wuzing my way across the crossings… tracks laid bare for all to laugh at…so you see it really is all a joke, but the joke is not on you or me but probably them, I suppose…but I can’t say for sure…till then s.r.’s…

xo

article courtesy of SmashingPumpkins.com

The Smashing Pumpkins' SIYL video is up for "visionary video" on the VH1 website for the fashion awards. Click here: VH1 VOGUE FASHION AWARDS 2000

article courtesy of Siva

There are 2 new shirts at smashingpumpkins.com.

One is a black shirt with the boy in a bottle artwork from Machina, and the second is a white shirt printed with the person holding the torch.

Both shirts are $20. Go here to purchase one.

article courtesy of SmashingPumpkins.com

buried deep inside some altar of noize I write to you a desperate man.my star is fading and I do not know what to do. I stare at the track sheets and wonder where the magic went. I feel it all crashing down upon me. oh woe is i. how are you?. I am sure by now that you have deciphered all the deep alchemical codes of machina and have now moved on to some 8th generation alt-rap-metal hybrid bands new disc and are peering deep into the meanings there too. shit! I had it all so planned out and curses I have been foiled. I guess all those things they said about us and especially yours truly bill/glass/zero/jackboot7 are true. I can't tell you how sad this makes me. to compensate I have written a batch of songs so sad they are almost happy if you know what I mean. isn't the planet supposed to end with all this millenial paranoia. but wait there is a light. and maybe even a plan or too. must finish machina soon or will perish like tangerines. takus carus allus ovus youse

xo Source - (C) 2000 smashingpumpkins.com This update was added by Aaron

article courtesy of SmashingPumpkins.com

Yes! Hello and howdy Space Rangers, this is your Captain, William Corgan, of the Starship Wreck-a-prise, Smashing Pumpkins, and don't forget to watch our exclusive webcast on July 13th on virginjamcast.com. Yes, it's your (probably only) last chance to see us because we're exploding forever and it's a great concert, filmed recently in Los Angeles. I can personally vouch that it's very good, so please watch. Audio Link

Yes, tomorrow July 13th (seems an appropriate day) is your chance to link up with commander William Corgan and the rest of the crew of the Smashing Pumpkins in their first ever video webcast. This webcast represents the first live footage of The Smashing Pumpkins released since 1994. The show was shot during the May 23rd performance at L.A.'s Universal Amphitheater, the day of the break-up announcement. For any last minute information on the webcast, or a stop at the manic, mystery-filled Smashing Pumpkins message board visit .

Once you register for the webcast it will qualify you to get a free download of The Everlasting Gaze, recorded live at the L.A. show. And, Speed Kills, previously available only on the MACHINA vinyl release. So join us tomorrow, it may be your last chance to see them.

See you there...

article courtesy of SmashingPumpkins.com

A blockbuster lineup topped by the Beastie Boys, Beck, Rage Against The Machine, the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Smashing Pumpkins will be featured on a remixed, remastered version of the DVD documentary Free Tibet, set for release from Palm Pictures on August 29.

The release revisits the first Tibetan Freedom Concert, held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park over two days in June 1996 and adds bonus content like a version of the Beasties' "Root Down" from the New York City Tibetan Freedom Concert and audio commentary from B-Boy Adam YauchSpike Jonze. Dolby Digital audio has also been enhanced for the new release. Other acts spotlighted include Bjork, the Fugees, Pavement, Sonic Youth, A Tribe Called Quest, and blues legend John Lee Hooker.

San Francisco's Tibetan Freedom Concert -- spearheaded by the Beastie Boys to raise awareness about the political struggles of the Tibetan people -- was the single biggest American benefit concert since 1985's Live Aid.

Meanwhile, a new book, Tibetan Freedom Concerts 1996-1999, When The Iron Bird Flies, documenting the movement through the lens of photographer Danny Clinch, is also in the works. Look for that some time this fall.

article courtesy of Launch.com

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters are among the guests who'll be heard on the long-awaited first solo album from Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, which is due out on October 10.

A spokesperson for Divine Recordings, the label issuing the LP, told MTV News that "Iommi" will also feature guest shots from Phil Anselmo of Pantera, Henry Rollins, and System Of A Down's Serj Tankian as well as Skin of Skunk Anansie, Peter Steele from Type O Negative, and The Cult's Ian Astbury.

In an interesting twist for Corgan, Divine Recordings is owned by former Pumpkins manager Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy (see "Ozzy And Wife Hook Up 'Divine' Label Deal"). Ms. Osbourne and Corgan are currently at odds over issues stemming from the demise of their brief relationship in January, which sparked several rounds of verbal sparring. A lawsuit is still pending.

Corgan was well acquainted with Iommi long before signing with Osbourne Management, as he recorded his tracks well over a year ago. The album has been in the works since early 1998.

Other releases on Divine include last month's Black Sabbath tribute "Nativity In Black II" and the first full-length from Montreal's Slaves On Dope, a band currently making the rounds on Ozzfest 2000. The group's "Inches From The Mainline" will hit stores on October 3, according to a label publicist.

article courtesy of MTV.com

From the official site's message boards... hello children, starseekers, mystics, clowns, predators and nymphs, howareyouiamfinethanks! first let me amble to you that I am sorry I have not communicated more as of late…after the deeply emotional sendoff of what was possibly our last ever show in america (not!) I retreated my person into andalusia to find tango and flamenco and spanish beauty much sought after in the midwest…after tripping through our new video shoot in london I zipped to tokyo brightly and did not have a computer the whole time…even now as I write this on someones faded powerbook (who I believe used to chair a kiddieporn startup) I regret the omission of my oh so important cloying barbarianisms to the fitful faitful and the frail faithless…our tour of japan was a huge success, the biggest we have ever had, so we send our heartfelt thanks out to all the fans who came to the shows, many traveling by bullet train to see multiple dates…we are humbled by the grace of you…we hoped to repay a little back last night by playing a two-set show, the first acoustic and the second a full electric set…arigato gazimas nippon!…what else can I tell you? jonas akerlund directs the new video (try try try) with filming having been done in london and stockholm…we aren't very bright…all prophecies thus far have come true…we are going to korea for the first and last time and are looking forward to play a place that as recently as 1995 banned our records…it should be interesting as it is always an honor to meet fans in a country none of us have ever been to…the demotion of evil continues to move forward on this humble planet, and it is a good thing…the children of this new world, their dna unscrambled to be explained, will hopefully never tolerate the stupidity of generation present and past…may the joy and innocence of youth transform this place holy, and let no tear be shed for we are all responsible, to take credit and blame…traveling this earth as we do, we are lucky to play part and witness how the western conception of the world, with it's mcdonalds materialism, doesn't mean so much as family, life, and tradition…may the truth echo in your ears like it does mine…yes, only love will win…it always does… xo

article courtesy of Smashingpumpkins.atomicpop.com

July 13th on Jamcast.com there will be a internet broadcasting of the May 23rd, 2000 show. For more details go here Jamcast.com here.

article courtesy of Jamcast

It seems as if our friend Billy Corgan is helping out his Internet fans. He has released his demo tapes of new recording sessions to people online so that they can be heard. I don't have any hosted here yet, but you can find most of them at JJChow's MP3 page.

Piecing together the paper trail, no comments and ancient band lore, ChartAttack.com has learned that Billy Corgan, frontman and founder of The Smashing Pumpkins has initiated a lawsuit against Ron Roesing, former drummer of The Marked. Corgan and Roesing formed the band in 1984/1985 that would later evolve into the Pumpkins 1987. Apparently the lawsuit stems from the release of Hopefulness and Oh So Finite Happiness, a charity double-disc that Roesing supposedly put out that has raised the ire of William Corgan's lawyers. When ChartAttack.com contacted lawyers Leslie Frank and Jill Berliner from the L.A. law firm King, Purtich, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner to comment on the lawsuit, they flatly refused. Tyson Parker, national media manager for the band's label Virgin Music Canada was unable to respond to questions. However, we have obtained the paperwork related to the suit, which states: "This firm represents William Corgan. Roesing is illegally exploiting our client's name to promote goods and services, falsely implying that our client has granted him an exclusive license to sell or otherwise exploit phonorecords containing the Masters and Compositions." We spoke to Roesing, who now lives in the United Kingdom, about the lawsuit and early Pumpkin history which he says has been re-written by Corgan. "What they are supposedly suggesting is that I have this CD, Hopefulness and Oh So Finite Happiness. I haven't sold that CD. I haven't made any profit from that CD. I took samples from Billy," Roesing says about the lawsuit. "They are just sending out a generic threat. They haven't a clue what they are doing." Both parties won't answer questions directly relating to the suit, but Roesing was able to allude to what the lawsuit stems from: "They are talking about a sample that I put in a song called 'Smugly,' which is my nickname for Billy. They don't know when I put it out [Hopefulness and Oh So Finite Happiness]. If I put it out. They don't know anything. They make all these demands and on the last page [of the legal brief that ChartAttack.com has read] they say they don't know anything." Granted it's done in legal speak that reads something like this: "Nothing contained herein or omitted herefrom is intended or shall be construed as an admission of any fact... claims or remedies which our client has assert or may assert in connection with this matter." Much of ChartAttack.com's interview with Roesing was conducted off the record, as his lawyers have asked him not to comment on the case. While Corgan's lawyers continue their fact-finding mission through the courts, Roesing says, "On the album they are suggesting that I used material that belonged to Billy." Essentially this is what the dispute stems from. Even though the Pumpkins rose to fame after Roesing left the band, he doesn't harbour much ill will towards Corgan or The Pumpkins. In fact he says, "I'm trying to make amends with William. It is my personal belief that this fax and lawsuit was not generated by him. I want the public to be aware that this is how his law firm operates. I want them to know that Billy is suing me, which is pathetic, if we were friends for a very long time [up to Gish], which we were, he wouldn't be suing me. I have been very good about not suing him. Our friend Jonathan [Morrill] sued him for half a million dollars regarding The Marked videos." According to CDNow.com on May 22 Jonathan Morrill, owner of J.M. Productions filed a lawsuit accusing Corgan of breach of contract, stealing and allowing the commercial release of a video/documentary from 1986 entitled Video Marked. Morrill claims that Corgan stayed with him when the singer lived in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1986. A video documentary was made during this time, of which only two copies were ever made - a master and a backup. Corgan allegedly took the backup with him back to Chicago. "Billy claims all his stuff got stolen from the early Marked material and early Pumpkin material prior to Jimmy [Chamberlin] joining. I don't know if that is true or not, I read that and people have told me that," Roesing says. Morrill claims that Vieuphoria, released in 1994 to coincide with the B-side compilation Pisces Iscariot, contained footage that he shot for Video Marked. Interestingly enough he approached Corgan about releasing the documentary and was told that the frontman didn't want to release it, citing poor audio quality as the reason. It wasn't until 1999 that Morill became aware that Vieuphoria contained material from Video Marked. Roesing has contacted the same law firm that is representing Morill to counsel him should Corgan continue to pursue the suit further.

article courtesy of Chart Attack

Not much is known about The Marked, but as the many lawsuits begin to pile on about a band that was formed over a decade ago, more people have become interested in this facet of The Smashing Pumpkins' history. ChartAttack.com spent some time sifting through band lore, discographies and early interviews along with questioning Roesing about Pumpkin's history. Sadly, history is written by the winners and in rock n' roll much is changed and embellished to suit the needs and whims of artists. In the September 1998 issue of Chart magazine we wrote: "The Pumpkins got off to a rocky start in early 1988. Not fitting in with any popular music scene in their native Chicago made it nearly impossible to get gigs. When they did finally land a spot at the prestigious Cabaret Metro (now just The Metro), it was as a three-piece - a simple drum machine kept time." Roesing disputes this claim. He says the first incarnation of The Smashing Pumpkins actually came from The Marked. "We formed a band together. He was bragging to some girl about what a great guitar player he was. I was standing nearby and we kind of locked horns when he saw me. I have a birthmark on my face, which almost matches the birthmarks on Billy's wrists." They named the band after this fact and moved to Florida to find some gigs. According to the dedicated fansite netphoria, "The music was a goth-metal style. [They] used the same kind of idea of the Smashing Pumpkins of loud music and soft music and trying to put it all together, but the band wasn't that really good and Billy's singing wasn't the greatest. The Marked played around 1986, they eventually returned to Chicago about twenty gigs later, and broke up." Roesing remembers it this way, "It was Billy and I, then we added Dale Meiners, which alot of people seem to forget. Dale then quit at the end of '86. We then changed it [the name] to The Smashing Pumpkins in '87. There is a demo, The Nothing Ever Changes demo, which has James Iha, myself and Billy Corgan on it." According to a discography the track listing for that album is, "It Suits Me Well," "Breathe" and "Heart and Cross." This listing also claims along with the band that a drum machine played on the last two tracks. Roesing suggests otherwise, especially when it comes to the amount of material he and Corgan recorded under The Marked.

article courtesy of Chart Attack

On July 13th, there will be a webcast of the Smashing Pumpkins concert from the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. The show, taped at the band's West Coast performance on May 23 just hours after Billy publicly announced the breakup of the group, will be broadcast worldwide at 2:00PM EDT and 10:00PM EDT right here at www.smashingpumpkins.com, as well as a few other places we'll announce before then. Songs on the webcast will include "1979," "Ava Adore" and "I Am One." Other songs include selections from the new album MACHINA/the machines of God such as "Stand Inside Your Love," "Glass and the Ghost Children" and the current single "I Of The Mourning." If you miss the first webcast, you'll be able to watch it at your convenience from July 21 through July 23. Billy's take on all this: "1994 was the last time we released a video with any live footage. This is a great opportunity for everyone who missed the last US tour to see a high-quality webcast of the band live in concert." Also: You can all go to www.virginjamcast.com today and download two free Smashing Pumpkins songs - a live version of "The Everlasting Gaze," recorded at the May performance and "Speed Kills," a b-side from the Machina / the machines of God recording sessions and not found on the album. These will be up for the next three months. Also beginning July 13 and for the subsequent week thereafter, for 2 bucks each at the site above, you can buy two additional tracks recorded live at the Los Angeles performance-"Heavy Metal Machine" and "Blue Skies Bring Tears". Source - (C) 2000 smashingpumpkins.com This update was added by Aaron

article courtesy of NoiseViolation.com

The Pumpkins added some new pictures from Japan. Check them out here.

article courtesy of NoiseViolation.com

crackle crackle, is this thing on...hello space rangers, back from the dead for more...here we is in japan and boy are we having a good time...every successive album has been better and better received here, so we send a big thank you to all of our japanese fans around the world...so far we have played 3 shows...sendai, yokohama, and hiroshima, and tonight we take on fukuoka...we transmit our good thoughts to all of you out there somewhere...when we finalize the european dates we will post them as soon as we can, cause I know some are starting to go on sale now...so don't forget that seeing as it is your last dash chance to see us, you don't want to miss it...also I'm starting to see copies of the vinyl version of the album, which of course contains glass and the machines part 2, so grab them while you can because the record company usually only makes about 10,000...is the story any clearer, probably not considering the way I used to write...so enjoy the tangents, hold onto the strings, there are more surprises to come...for anyone who dares to care, we are going into the studio in july to complete some of the extra special machina tracks...so beware!!! talk to you soon xo

NoiseViolation.com

Confirmed European Dates!

September 16th, 2000 - Berlin, Germany - Arena September 18th, 2000 - Hamburg, Germany - Sporthall September 20th, 2000 - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Ahoy September 21st, 2000 - Frankfurt, Germany - Ballsporthall September 23rd, 2000 - Oberhausen, Germany - Arena September 24th, 2000 - Munich, Germany - Ollympichall September 26th, 2000 - Rome, Italy - Palaghiaccio September 27th, 2000 - Bologna, Italy - PalaMalaguti September 29th, 2000 - Milan, Italy October 1st, 2000 - Marseilles, France - Dome October 2nd, 2000 - Toulouse, France - Zenith October 15th, 2000 - Zurich, CH - Hallenstadion October 16th, 2000 - Lyon, France - Halles Tony Garnier October 17th, 2000 - Angers, France - Amphitea October 19th, 2000 - Paris, France - Bercy October 22nd, 2000 - Oslo, Norway - Spektrum October 23rd, 2000 - Stockholm, Sweden - Hovet October 25th, 2000 - Helsinki, Finland - Hartwell October 30th, 2000 - Glasgow, Scotland - SECC October 31st, 2000 - Manchester, England - Apollo November 1st, 2000 - Birmingham , England - NEC November 3rd, 2000 - London, England - Wembley Arena

Smashing Pumpkins Schedule U.K. Dates LONDON--Smashing Pumpkins will play their possibly last ever U.K. dates in late October and early November, according to British news reports. In a Los Angeles radio interview in May, frontman Billy Corgan said that the group, which formed in 1989 in Chicago, will split after this tour. The new British dates follow a European tour which was cut short earlier this year after Corgan came down with a throat infection before a gig in Manchester, England. The Pumpkins will play U.K. stadium shows in Glasgow, Birmingham and London, and make up their missed show at Manchester's Apollo Theatre. The transcript of the Los Angeles interview has been posted on the band's official website. Corgan told KROQ's Tami Heide, "It's true I am here to finally announce that the band is going to break-up at the end of this year. ... We felt that before the start of this album that we had sort of come to the end of our, sort of, road--emotionally, spiritually, musically. So we wanted to make one more album, together. That was the intention of getting Jimmy back in the band was to make one more album and sort of end on a good note--you know, between each other, more importantly than the public part of it." Corgan's plan to keep the original line-up intact for one last album and tour was waylaid last September when Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky left the band to pursue an acting career. Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur quickly replaced Wretzky, and the Pumpkins launched a world tour in support of "MACHINA" earlier this year. Wretzky, meanwhile, was arrested and charged with possession of crack cocaine in January. The charges were dropped on May 19 after Wretzky completed a drug awareness program. Trouble continued to plague the Pumpkins into the new millennium as Sharon Osbourne, wife of rocker Ozzy, announced in January that she was resigning from her position as the band's manager due to a cantankerous relationship with Corgan.

LiveDaily.com

rat tat tat, ka boom, boom...did somebody hear something? thanks to all for memories to last lifetimes...you have stained our souls with rock and iodine...we are not weary so much as resigned to fate's sealed kiss...we love you, never forget... this tour was a blast, a real humdinger...you had to be there and if you were we hope it moved you an inch...until we meet again in some other country we wave hello and goodbye... it sure rains a lot wherever we seem to go...coming next, part 3 of glass and his synthetic army...peer hard children because the mystery is unraveling more quickly than I thought it could...so if it is the end of the usa...so be it... if it isn't, well there are plenty of surprizes ahead so look out and wash your feet, and your mouths are as filthy as mine... xo

article taken from Noiseviolation.com

Hello All, Your trustworthy Hierophant here presenting the first offering of the Official Mailing List, including the latest, much anticipated, edition of chards of glass, Billy Corgan's personal writings for smashingpumpkins.com. As far as the site goes, Smashing Pumpkins Radio is coming soon, an "on the road" update with photos from from Salt Lake City, The MACHINA documentary, and new embedded animations that give further clues into the mysteries of MACHINA. That should keep you all busy until the Smashing Pumpkins hit the road (or should I say ocean) to Japan and entertain you all with more tales of Glass, Zero, June, and the Machines of God.

For part 2 of glass and the synthetic army check the MACHINA vinyl, now available.

Until next time I remain, humbly,
The Hierophant

article taken from Noiseviolation.com

Billy Corgan always believed world conquest was a perfectly reasonable goal for his band, the Smashing Pumpkins, even when they were nobodies. When he and his bandmates climbed the rock summit, circa 1995, riding high on multiplatinum albums such as "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" and selling out shows at Madison Square Garden, he acknowledged that he had sacrificed just about everything to get there. And Corgan always said that when the day came that they couldn't stand on the mountaintop anymore, he'd rather jump than get pushed off. Does this guy ever do anything that doesn't involve a headache, an ulcer or a platinum record? The answer came a few days ago when Corgan announced that the Pumpkins, his band of 13 years and 22 million album sales, would break up at year's end. Fans were stunned; one caller wept on the air at Los Angeles rock station KROQ when Corgan made the announcement. Some members of the music media interpreted it as a desperate attempt to goose record and concert-ticket sales. But for Corgan, the announcement was utterly in keeping with the do-or-die ethos that has ruled the band since he, James Iha, D'Arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin first played together in 1988. After rocketing to fame with three increasingly potent albums that established Corgan as one of the premier songwriters of his generation, the Pumpkins juggernaut began to falter in 1996 when drummer Chamberlin was ousted for drug abuse. Then the artistically ambitious 1998 album, "Adore," failed to sell as impressively as the band's previous releases. Last year, Chamberlin was reinstated, and Corgan insisted during sessions for "MACHINA/The Machines of God" that the album would not have been attempted otherwise. "It was going to be the full band back together or that would have been the end of it," Corgan said in an interview in August. When "MACHINA" was finally released Feb. 29, its songs were structured like late-night letters to the band's inner-circle of fans, friends and family. "As you might have sensed we won't make it home," Corgan sings on the album's final song, "Age of Innocence." But in interviews, Corgan refused to confirm rumors that the band was breaking up, even though he had told friends months before that was the intention. The album debuted impressively, but quickly sank down the charts. Though it has sold more than 500,000 copies, "MACHINA" has proven no competition for the pop darlings of the day. In an interview following the break-up announcement, Corgan said the Pumpkins will continue to tour through early November and will put the finishing touches on an album's worth of unreleased "MACHINA" material this summer, with an unspecified release date. He is already brainstorming with Metro owner Joe Shanahan about some farewell shows at the club. And, for the first time, he talked about life after the Pumpkins.

Tribune - Why did you deny the break-up rumors until now?
Corgan - I didn't want the release of the record to be obscured by this; I wanted the music to be addressed separately from the band's status. Now that all that has calmed down, I felt it was the right time. There is no particular controversy swirling around. Some people are speculating that [a nasty January break-up with manager] Sharon Osbourne was the reason. But you could call her - she knew this was the last record, so did everyone involved in setting it up. I chose to announce it now because we're going into the final stages of tours in Japan and Europe, and I didn't want people ticked off at me around the world that we didn't tell them before we came.

Tribune - You mean that if you had sold 2 million records in the first week you'd still be breaking up?
Corgan - It's God's truth that whether this record sold one copy or 100 million, it wasn't going to change anything. This was the last record. And if you listen to the record, look at the artwork, it's screaming this is the last record. The concept of the record, the story inside the record, is about the band ending. It doesn't mean we won't do more recording - there is stuff we want to do before we break it up, and I talked to Joe [Shanahan] about some different ideas about how to end up at the Metro - but this is the last slide down the mountain, at 100 miles per hour. [He laughs.]

Tribune - what gave you the feeling that this had to be it?
Corgan - A lot of things. I understand why people would want to blame it on [the poor sales of] Adore or the Jimmy [Chamberlin] situation, but it just seemed time in our hearts to complete the circle, bring Jimmy back, make one more Pumpkins album, try to heal and leave on a completed note. It's not a reaction. It has nothing with sales. It was just time.

Tribune - And everyone in the band agreed to this?
Corgan - Oh yeah. Trying to expression the emotion in the literal world of the word, is hard. It's like the athlete who decides to stop playing two years before everyone is telling him to get out. We wanted to make a decision on our own terms, in our time frame, with our own sense of class about it. Being in this band is not the easiest thing, mostly because of our public posture. Our fans feel one way about us, and everyone else feels another way about us, and it wears on us.

Tribune - You put a lot of that on yourself, though.
Corgan - In 1989, when we were playing clubs in Chicago, I came to the conclusion that the only way we were going to be noticed and get out of Chicago was to make people uncomfortable and it sort of wormed its way into the DNA of the band. The concerts we played between 1991 and '94 were very confrontational and ticked a lot of people off, and we're still paying for it. There comes a point where you'd rather just walk away and let the music be on its own, because we seem to ruin the music [he laughs] - my personality, my public personna just seem to cloud the picture all the time.

Tribune - Do you regret that?
Corgan - I take some responsibility for what happened with Jimmy because our schedule was so arduous. I just keep pressing the accelerator faster and faster: more recording, more touring, more everything. At some point you begin to pay for all the burning the candle at both ends.

Tribune - So why not walk away now instead of putting it off till the end of the year?
Corgan - I'm enjoying the concerts much more than I ever have because we can see the end of the road coming. Selfishly, we're just trying to savor it a little bit more. We could have quit after we put the album out. But we're trying to get as much out of it as we can, and leave everybody feeling like they got one more chance to see us.

Tribune - So the idea would've been for all four original band members - you, James, Jimmy and D'Arcy - to go on tour to bring it full circle?
Corgan - Absolutley, but in typical Pumpkins fashion, the best-laid plans didn't work out. We didn't go into this thinking she was gonna leave. We appealed to her very deeply: "You've only got one more year, just stay on the ship." But she just didn't want to. [Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Mauer has replaced Wretzky for the current tour.]

Tribune - I know you're going to keep making music. The question is, will it be considerably different from what you did in the Pumpkins?
Corgan - Me in the future is not going to be the me people understand now. I'm not going to try and create a second Pumpkins. I know that I need to get out of the loop of whatever is going on right now. I still believe in the idea that the better artists endure. Generation X isn't buying records right now, but they will again at some point, and they will turn to people that they know. And I'll be there, because I'll have lived the same years and been through the same things. People only know me this one way: the button-pushing Pumpkins king. There's plenty of me that hasn't been revealed yet.

Tribune - You started out with the Pumpkins vowing to reach millions of listeners at all costs. Is reaching that big audience still as important for you?
Corgan - No, it isn't. The Pumpkins have always existed on the fine line between commerce and integrity and that friction is what we fed on. But I'm really tired of the game. That doesn't mean I won't continue to be a commercial artist in some form, I just won't go at it in such an aggressive, antagonistic way.

article taken from Chicago Tribune

On Tuesday, May 23, Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan announced on L.A. radio that the band — one of the biggest of the Alternative Era — would be breaking up by the end of the year because of sagging record sales and an unwillingness to continue “fighting the good fight against the Britneys of the world.” This news, along with the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain and the breakup of Soundgarden three years ago, effectively ended Alternative music as a viable (and commercial) music form. The following article was written after the band’s May 21 show in Santa Barbara and before Corgan’s announcement.

I go to a lot of concerts. Sometimes at clubs, sometimes in big venues. Most of them have their memorable moments. At their best, rock shows give you a chance to reflect upon the band — its strengths, its weaknesses, its lasting value — in the company of fellow fans.

But I can’t say I’ve ever had quite the experience I had from recently seeing Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins. It wasn’t the greatest show, it certainly wasn’t the worst, but its emotional impact was undeniable.

And it wasn’t a feeling of elation or being transported or some such out-of-body experience. It was only sadness. And emptiness.

The Pumpkins were fine, I suppose. If anything, the show highlighted the fact that, beneath Corgan’s out-of-control ego and ambitions, this was a great group at one time. No, I was sad because it dawned on me. The feeling was building as the show was chugging along, but it finally came to a head near its conclusion.

It’s over.

The Alternative music scene that was supposed to save rock n’ roll — it’s over. When the show ended, the crowd went berserk one last time, but I just stood there. This music I had cared so much about — rock music that defined an era (for better or worse) — was coming to an end.

Right in front of my eyes.

And all I could do was stand there and watch it walk away.I’m no idiot. It’s been clear for a while that the naïve idealism of the movement had fallen away and been pushed aside — if it had ever been there in the first place. Hard rock has merged with rap in groups like Limp Bizkit. Hip-hop has fully entrenched itself within the mainstream culture. All the young dudes in the Backstreet Boys and Hanson have brought back peppy fun to the charts. Just seeing someone dressing in flannel now seems laughably old-fashioned. “Grunge” is a punchline — like “disco.”

How dumb we were to hope for so much.

Alternative (or grunge, or the “Seattle scene”) had meant the end of the pretty-boy hair rockers in Warrant. However, the Smashing Pumpkins represented the oversized, commercial version of the movement’s anti-rock star mantra. Like Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots (even — oh Lord — Bush), the Pumpkins rode that alternative wave until around, oh, ‘96, when they squeezed the last drops of blood out of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and the fad finally went splat, and the albums finally started going south. Currently, Corgan and his group are touring to support a decent but lackluster new effort, MACHINA/The Machines of God, and like their peers, it’s not selling, and it’s not getting many raves.

This hurts someone like Corgan more than it does a brooder like Eddie Vedder, who seems content just to make music. Even when I saw him at ‘94’s Lollapalooza (ahhh ... remember Lollapalooza?), Corgan was determined to be a Huge Rock Star. He trumpeted the typical lines about how evil stardom was, but who really believed that coming from him?

With that in mind, I couldn’t imagine how such a talented perfectionist-egomaniac could handle the media and audience disinterest.

But my girlfriend still loved the Pumpkins and wanted to see Corgan live. So I wasn’t going to have to wonder for long what Corgan was going through. I was going to see it firsthand.

Now, I’ve experienced put-on-a-brave-face tours before. Catching U2’s PopMart show, I was partially inspired and partially heartbroken to see Bono amidst the tacky schtick and inflated ticket prices informing us that they had “eaten the corporate snake before it ate us.” But the unshakable scent of dead meat hung heavy over U2, putting an unbearable damper on the evening.

On the Pumpkins’s new tour, Corgan found himself in a similar position, and he answered the call with the opener, “The Everlasting Gaze,” an overheated rocker that reminds us, none too subtly (and none too convincingly), “You know I’m not dead.” From there, the band — with ex-Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur (in a sad example of alternative incest) — launched into about half a dozen salvos from MACHINA. Not what I was expecting at all — I figured Corgan would stick to the hits so as to not lose the crowd. I shouldn’t have worried, though. The audience was positively magnetized by his very presence. Were these people watching the same show I was?

Even at his best, Corgan has always seemed like a hopeless alt-rock contradiction, and one moment at the show illustrated this perfectly. Wanting the crowd to clap along during a dramatic break in “Heavy Metal Machine,” he seemed disappointed by the subdued response. (Simply imagining Kurt Cobain or Layne Staley engaging in such cheap stage antics only makes Corgan’s attempt more pathetic.) But then Corgan snarled, “Don’t worry, we’re almost done here, and then the Backstreet Boys will be out.” It was a throwaway joke with more bile to it than necessary, and the crowd seemed momentarily awoken from the adoring trance.

Look, Billy, it’s not our fault you guys aren’t at the musical center anymore. And mocking your lessers only makes you look petty.

He joked, sorta, that he was only kidding, and that “I’m too old to be booed.” But the comment left a dark stain. It’s bad enough when I’ve got skepticism in my heart. It’s death when the guy on the stage has it, too.

As the band turned toward its deep catalogue of earlier hits, I briefly remembered the promise alternative held. Instead of the parties-and-girls routine of ‘80s rock, grunge (or so the theory goes) returned to the powerful introspection and debilitating angst of youth. The idea was that Nirvana and Soundgarden and the rest of these bands crystallized a generation’s inability to relate to anyone outside its age group. They — we — were victims of divorced parents and a stumbling economy and no jobs and no future and nothing left to rebel against. (Man, our lives were pretty tough back then, huh? Thank God for the music.)

Although “Disarm” and “Cherub Rock” from the Pumpkins’s ‘93 breakthrough, Siamese Dream, nailed that generational distrust, their encore of “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” emerged — even more painfully now than at its initial release — as an awkward how-to schematic of the archetypal grunge anthem. (Let’s see: Animosity in the lyrics? Check. Soft verse followed by loud chorus? You got it. Singer howling about his grief? Bingo.)

Of course, the crowd ate it up — I probably would have five years ago, too — but the moment has passed. “Despite all my rage/I am still just a rat in a cage” is an empty complaint, meaningless and deeply silly. And, at one time, we all fell for it.

Near the outset of the show, Corgan offered a cryptic greeting, welcoming us “to the dying embers of a revolution,” and I frankly think the significance of the comment whizzed past most people in the audience. There was no crowd response, and he proceeded into the next song without any follow-up line.

But he knew. His band continues to bring his songs to their greatest potential in concert, substituting Corgan’s obsessive studio doctoring with the immediate, gut-level combustion of a live performance. No matter how many tunes off the new record he plays, though, he can’t fool me into thinking that his moment lies in the here and now. I don’t think he can even fool himself anymore.

Corgan and the other alt-rockers tried to make a difference, and hey, for a while they did. In Utero, Vs., Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, The Downward Spiral, Live Through This and Dirt are albums that either you loved or somebody else loved, and you’d argue about them in your dorm room or at your first job. For a while, it was Heaven. But it’s over.

Many of those bands imploded or were ruined by drugs or just couldn’t write good songs anymore. Corgan, however, because he always was the most shamelessly grandiose of them all, wouldn’t go out like that. He’s fighting to the bitter end, pretending as if we still live in a world without MP3s or a rambunctious economy. The fans remained under his bald-headed control that night, as if under the same spell of nostalgia. I even saw a half-hearted attempt at a mosh pit. But he knows. And so do I.

When the show ended, Corgan ominously announced that they might not be back through this neck of the woods “for quite a while,” perhaps hinting at the rampant breakup rumors that circle the band like vultures. There were looks of concern and confusion all around me.

He slowly walked to the edge of the stage, shaking hands and receiving teddy bears and roses by the dozens. He kept waving and blowing kisses. And then it struck me. It was like watching Johnny Carson’s last night. There was this mythical figure, looking at us with bewilderment, simply saying thanks and goodbye. You could feel an era ending, a curtain going down that wasn’t ever going back up again.

Corgan’s farewell can’t compare to Carson’s, but I know he would love nothing better than to think that his departure could create such feelings. The fans obliged, cheering long into the night.

It was sometime during this moment that my girlfriend told me how much she missed college.The show’s over. I’m back in the car, lost in thought. A whole era’s over. It’s been done for some time, but this just about clinches it.

Just like Nevermind slammed the lid down on the hair-rock days, something’s coming around the bend to officially end alternative. Techno? Rap-rock? Teen pop? I dunno, but something. It’s the way music works.

I shouldn’t get too sentimental about all this. I only really liked about half of the bands I’ve mentioned, and the Pumpkins will forever be a band almost as good as its ambitions — almost. Actually, that might as well be the epitaph of the whole alternative legacy. Almost.

But I’m sad. Musical movements, like marriages or the forming of a band, start with noble intentions and high ideals. Then come the compromises and disappointments and the rocky roads and the tough choices. It won’t end up perfect, but the good ones leave their mark. And a lot of great memories.

I hadn’t realized it when I surprised my girlfriend with the Pumpkins tickets, but I went to say goodbye to that era — and to enjoy one last go-round with what’s left of it.

article taken from Ironminds

In the studio journals that Shirley writes on Garbage.com she wrote this...

Can't believe that Billy Corgan is going to pull the plug on the Smashing Pumpkins stating that he's tired of fighting the good fight against the millions of Britneys in the world! I mean.......all the more reason to keep going if you ask me. And to be honest...the enemy is NOT Britney. It's Christina Aguilera. (Because she takes herself so seriously, fakes modesty and actually believes she is as thought provoking and ground breaking as Madonna). Her and that Vitamin C opportunist with that hideous Graduation Song. Give me a fucking break.

article taken from Garbage.com

Over the past few years, the Smashing Pumpkins have resembled a revolving door, with members going in and out and in again. This year's release of the eclectic and explosive MACHINA/the Machines of God looked like a turning point. It seemed like frontman Billy Corgan had finally put the past behind him, and was grasping the present with clenched fists. It appeared as though ousted drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was amicably back in the band, and that ex-Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur had nicely filled the high-heels of departed member D'arcy Wretsky. And it looked like Smashing Pumpkins were diving full-force into their career, once again, creating emotionally charged, cutting edge rock songs that shimmered and shuddered with vigor.

But during a radio interview on Los Angeles rock radio station KROQ May 23, Corgan announced that he will dissolve the group at year's end. "We're at the end of our road emotionally, spiritually, and musically," Corgan told KROQ. "It's time to tell the truth and let the truth be known. It is a weight lifted off my shoulders… I think that deep down our fans knew that this was the end."

The band's current U.S. trek ends May 30 in Portland, after which the Pumpkins will embark on a European and Asian tour that will last through the fall. Indeed, you may have seen the last of the Pumpkins (at least in a live setting), but they're not quite done yet. The band will appear on an episode of VH1 Storytellers in August and Corgan says he wants to film another video. Most strikingly, he told KROQ the group will probably head back into the studio in July to cut another record using material left over from the MACHINA sessions. "We have some other things to do," stated Corgan simply. "We want to do more recording."

The decision to disband, follows a protracted period of drama and lineup changes that date back to the 1996 tour promoting Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and the overdose death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, which took place on tour in June of that year. Consequently, drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, who had not reigned in his own drug habit, was tossed from the band. After a one-album hiatus for 1998's toned-down and underrated Adore, a clean Chamberlain returned during 1999, but bassist D'Arcy Wretzky opted to leave after MACHINA was recorded, and was replaced by former Hole member Melissa Auf der Maur. "We squeezed a lot into 10 years, I'll tell you that," Corgan told Guitar.com in what may be his last guitar publication interview as a Pumpkin. "All this sort of drama, the comings and goings, it's all been very, very difficult."

Yet Corgan told KROQ he's not breaking up the band because of internal discord. He's simply fed up with the vacuousness of the contemporary pop scene. "There's nothing wrong inside the band," he insisted. "[It's just that] it's hard to keep trying to fight the good fight against the Britneys."

In Corgan's final interview with Guitar.com he seemed enthused about his latest accomplishments, yet somewhat dismayed by the apathetic culture he's surrounded by. In some ways, he's as lost as a film star who's immensely successful, but constantly under surveillance. Not that Corgan is constantly being watched by others, but he's hyper-critical of himself and unable to rationalize his recent fall from mainstream grace - especially considering he's recently made some of the best music of his career. Indeed, Corgan stands firmly behind MACHINA as more than just the return to form the critics hailed it as, and hints that the band's swan-song will probably be even more mind-blowing.

Guitar.com: Some have said the Pumpkins sell-by date has been rapidly approaching for a while.
Corgan: Well, we definitely have other things planned. Everybody wants the dramatic ending or whatever. I think that’s missing the point. [Up until now] the band has somehow kept going. [Many times I’ve thought], maybe we’ll break up just to prove everybody right.

Guitar.com: What happens to all the other stuff now that you’re calling it a day?
Corgan: We’re gonna finish it, no matter what. All the people who were so convinced we felt the need to return to rock will be amused to hear how rock the stuff we left off is. If we were trying to return to rock [on MACHINA], we didn’t do a very good job. The record does rock, but it rocks differently than Mellon Collie or Siamese Dream or Gish.

Guitar.com: Did MACHINA rock because Adore didn’t, or is that too simple of an explanation?
Corgan: Yeah. In a cynical way, people have sort of pointed to our return to rock with sort of a jaundiced eye: “Oh, they had to come back and play rock because they couldn’t sell any records.” But there’s about five heavy songs that we left off the album. This could’ve been a real, real rock record, but at the end of the day it just didn’t work for us emotionally, so we just didn’t put that stuff on there.

Guitar.com: Conversely, could it have been a much quieter album?
Corgan: There was a lot of quiet stuff that didn’t make it, too. I guess the best way to describe the album is it’s sort of the middle of the sessions, sort of like the fine middle. The more riff-rocky stuff got left out. The more wistful, been-there-done-that ballads got left out. We sorta tried to stick to the stuff that was more in the middle, ‘cause that seemed to be the stuff that worked over time. We worked on the album for 10 months, so you have of opportunity to figure out what you want to do.

Guitar.com: You evolved considerably since your inception.
Corgan: I think you say that, but you don’t realize it until you actually get there. People assume that when the band moves on to a new style it loses the ability to play the old style, which is not true. When we’re practicing, we’ll start to revert to something, like Pumpkins 1992, and we sort of look at each other and go, “Oh, man, we’ve already been there. Maybe we like the song, but we’ve got to get off this horse. We’re on the wrong horse.”

Guitar.com: So how did you turn it into a different horse?
Corgan: I think you just make a conscious effort to destroy what you’re doing and just try to figure out something new. We’ll change the drum part. We’ll just change anything.

Guitar.com: And then you try to bring the older material into the same sonic orbit as the new stuff, right?
Corgan: Yeah. We sort of found a nice balance between older material and newer material. For the past three albums, we tried to reinterpret the older material through the straw of the new album, as if the old material was written for the new. A song like “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” sounds more like it was written with “Everlasting Gaze” than in 1994. That’s the only way to describe it. The style and approach and what we’re trying to achieve emotionally, it’s all current. It’s not old.

Guitar.com: Does that refresh the songs for you?
Corgan: I don’t know. I like destroying everything and making new things out of that. That seems to be a character trait I have no control over

article taken from Guitar.com

I came across the transcript for the May 23 interview with Billy Corgan on KROQ. I've made it accessable online for everyone to see here. Check it out--it helps to explain the whole situation. For those of you who think this is a rumor, it's not and it has been speculated for quite some time. And any news of the future Europe and possible US tour will be posted here as soon as it's made possible. Thanks.

It's with much sadness that I found this latest news.....

Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan called into Los Angeles radio station KROQ on Tuesday (May 23) afternoon and announced the band's demise.

"We thought about telling people right when [MACHINA/the machines of God] was going to come out, but then we thought it would be all about that and not about the music," said Corgan. "But now that the album is out, it's fine. We wanted to make one more album to leave things on a positive note."

The band will finish its current U.S. tour, head to Europe, Japan, Canada, and maybe South America before the end of the year and then that's it (a final U.S. tour is possible as well). The Pumpkins will tape VH1 Storytellers in August, and an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno is scheduled as well. Corgan said that fans can expect more releases from the Pumpkins as well. "We have another album's worth of songs left over from MACHINA we're gonna try to finish starting in July. We also might do some additional live recordings," he told KROQ.

"It is a weight lifted off my shoulders. I feel like I've been walking around with this weird secret. I think deep down our fans really knew that this was the end," said Corgan. "If you really listen to the album, it's in the album. We brought this thing to what we felt was a really strong conclusion and it freed us to enjoy it."

During Corgan's radio announcement, fans were calling in in tears and talking with the singer, who has touched millions since the band's humble beginnings in Chicago in 1989. When one caller expressed her sadness over the breakup, Corgan said, "I'd rather look at it as an accomplishment of hanging in there and making some great music ... If you think about all the positive things, all the good things, it's not sad."

Over the past year, the band has been plagued with shake-ups and lawsuits (original bassist D'Arcy Wretzky left the band last September; the band was dumped by its management in January; so the announcement shouldn't present too much of a shock to fans.

As for future plans, Corgan reports that drummer Jimmy Chamberlin would really like to race cars, guitarist James Iha would like to continue making music, and Corgan isn't sure what he wants to do. "I'm lucky because at least in my personal situation, I can do whatever I want to do. Now whether or not I can do them well or anybody cares is another question. It's been 13 years but who I am on the other side of that, I don’t know."

"It's about completing the circle and leaving things on a positive note," said Corgan. "We have really enjoyed this year -- more so than any other year that we've ever been a band. That's about it. It's about leaving everybody with a nice kiss and one more swing."

article courtesy of allstar news

can god be found in electricity? if there is a god, I know he likes to rock...will we find God in san diego?...if there is a god, I know she's watching me... when I stare into this screen it is not a matter of what to say but what not to say...expression is most ultimately limited by fear...my ideal state is to say whatever whenever as long as it rings true at that given moment...of course that also means that you must be prepared for an equal and measured response... but it is always possible that you do not always mean what you say, which in my case has never been a problem...and conversely not everyone responds with complete integrity...so what am I not saying by saying all of this? good question...what does this mean if it has no meaning?...what does glass feel if he has no feelings?...so who is glass? who was zero...who will be june...my reflection, dirty mirror, there's no connection to myself, I'm your lover, I was your zero, I am the face in your dreams of glass...those who dare to seek the answers hidden within the tightwound ribbons of machina need look no further...all signs point to each other...all words flow into one big song...as I have always said I have just written the same song over and over and therein may lie the blessing and curse...how does one find peace in towers made of glass? who dare seek answers when the comforts are laid bare and are always more that willing...a rare golden age has put stars in your eyes but there are no stars truly...a harmonic convergence of the highest order has changed all the rules...so who weeps in this time? no one but I... not for the past because it was beautiful, but for the future...in that we seem to stand alone...respect is faith...faith is all we have left...xo

Taken from NoiseViolation.com

the rumors smear as we hang in time immemorial, faces becomes friends, and the miles fulfill the destiny that we began in a rusted silver van slipping on snowy chicago streets...punch drunk and dizzy from volume both swarmed and declared, I say hello and bid you adieu...coming and going faster by the minutes, the buzz of texas humidity fills the air...stark and inviting, dark and dangerous, every highway seems to head into infinity, the glare the ends of the earth pushing you back into a cool retreat...sorry to all in new orleans, we waved as we crept passed and promise to come by the end of the year...we haven't forgotten you and don't blame you if you forget us, for we are terrible children...do you wanna know the secrets, have you been following the plot...I must admit that I am amused that few have found the key to unlock the box...maybe the story must unfold for the obviousness of this particular theatre to reveal itself...I don't know, I guess I expect too much these days, especially after we survived that frightening millennium scare when everything was supposed to blow up...but no, everything is still here, the plastics are safe and the silicone rotting at it's pre-described rate...as we tighten our skin oh so ever tighter, seek and find our spirituality in droning talk shows, and blah blah ourselves straight to hell, I must say that it is an exciting time to be an artist...as the plates shift and the old ways topple, the true dogs will be remembered and become immortal in death as brave warriors who stood up to their time...it has melted right in our hands and maybe it is for the best...so mystery awaits in the future, cassettes mailed and bootlegged thru digital channels until the music blurs beyond commercial recognition, and the artist becomes his own keeper again...only in the supreme do we reserve the right of true judgment...the wildest west awaits..aaahooo!!! xo

Taken from NoiseViolation.com

...a wait-and-see policy was voiced by Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins. "It's a waste of time to go after (Napster), because you're not going to be able to stop free trade on the Internet. Everybody should stop wringing their hands about it. "It's going to take two or three years to sort itself out," said Corgan. "It's going to be the future, but we'll eventually have to figure out a system that gives the artist some copyright payment. I believe it's hurting record sales, but it's also doing what it's supposed to do -- building new fans."

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article courtesy of Siva

someone hands you a bottle that says vitamin e but really it contains vitamin x, as in used to be...the plot lines have changed so many times in so many ways I'm not sure just what part of the book I am in...chapters are written just as quickly as pages are discarded...has anyone mentioned to you that this all could be a ruse? a put on of the highest order, a conspiracy so thick that the participants are not even aware of their own roles, even though they speak the lines as written, drawing on the guns to fire flowers into your open mouths...we were forced to speak in code before for lack of recognition left us at the doorstep cold and unhappy, so what makes you think now is any different...one has to only take the temperature of the body to bear witness to the fact that the heart still beats alive, and as the monster awakens so to will the old ways of destruction and epiphany cracking...welcome back say the signs but we have never left, so play victim, cry foul, blame whomever whatever anytime, you cannot stop the rock from achieving it's ultimate goal of harmony and true resolution...we are in control...seek elsewhere and you will not find ...we hold the key, and it may be you that cannot find the door...but alas the door has been open, so go, dust off your vinyl and peer between cracks well worn, there is a reason that meteorites keep moving until they hit something, only to shatter into a million pieces...I celebrate the earth, in mourning, in passing, in every single breath...I so desperately want all of it to work, for everyone to get what they need, to see what they need to see...blessed are the moments of celebration, where one recognizes the paradigm that things are the way they are for some unseen reason... we are all dying all the time, and life is to short to hold on to dreams that are no longer dreaming, words that have no meaning, feelings no longer feeling...xo

Taken from NoiseViolation.com

when I asked someone what the tabernacle was like in atlanta, they told me it was a shithole...well they we're wrong because not only was last nights show one of the best of the sacred and profane tour, but I thought that the place was beautiful and inspiring...the band always plays better when people are close up...sweat was dripping off the walls and you just knew you were in the right place...long live rock and roll! the upcoming b-side for the try single is changed, and will probably be "here's to the atom bomb" instead of "liberty in the crosshairs of time"...after our current american tour, we are going to go to japan for about 8 shows, australia for 4 or 5 shows, and then thru canada for the edge fest/summersault in august...we are hoping to then go to europe for a roughly 35-40 show tour, and then back to america for a final time (my guess would be 20 or so shows before christmas)...after that we want to go to mexico and south america and finally possibly south africa...after that we have a great surprise in store (don't bother asking cause I'm not going to tell)...remember that not everyone knows we are out here, and by that I mean band and fans... you have to vote (so to speak) and use your voice to help topple the current wave of pre-packaged smiles and fancy steps... so vote by calling your radio stations, vote by writing the magazines you read, vote even TRL so they know that we are out here...demand your music and voice to be heard...it doesn't even have to be us (the pumpkins) that you vote for but they can't possibly understand unless we all make a real racket...I can tell you that one of the biggest ways radio stations gauge what people like and are listening to is by the request calls that they get...I appreciate what everyone did with project 33 and trying to get a video on trl, but remember that boy band fans are voting everyday in every possible way...it is possible to make change if you believe...if we didn't believe we would have broken up many years ago...we love you, God bless, xoxo

Taken from NoiseViolation.com

if you hear the drummers drumming and hear this sound a coming...hello from atlanta georgia, we just got in and made it out barely alive from our trip to the sunshine state...everything was humming so let me thank everyone for great shows in miami and also last night in orlando...what can I tell you today?? my head hurts and I am dizzy from all the positivity! remember the good old days of pure unfocused angst?? anyway, discussions have begun for our next video which will be "try"...we may shoot it in L.A. in june or even possibly japan...time will tell but if we shoot in los angeles maybe some disgruntled fans can appear in the video as well dressed disgruntled fans...the poetry of this moment begs for something else but unfortunately I am at a rare loss for words (ha ha)...being at Disneyworld the other day made me think of a young pop singers who dream of toppling the dirty rock with white teeth and starry eyes! just so everyone knows, we always win in the end...long may we continue to speak the secret language of the moment, in sound and derision, with love and true heart...it is all too literal and there is so much to say... i disintegrate and reconnect...bye june, I'm going to the moon, I hope you'll be there too! tonight atlanta, tomorrow the world...again!! in love and fishes...

Taken from NoiseViolation.com

The Smashing Pumpkins have launched their official Web site at www.smashingpumpkins.com, in conjunction with online label/retailer Atomic Pop. The site, which mirrors the ink-and-parchment design of the band's latest Virgin album, "MACHINA / the machines of God," features everything from music videos, exclusive photos, tour updates, and a bulletin board. Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and Atomic Pop creative director Jim Evans conceptualized the site, which will eventually include digital downloads, song lyrics, and interview footage. The group is currently on the road supporting "MACHINA," which is currently No. 106 on The Billboard 200 after nine weeks on the chart. The tour rolls into Atlanta tonight (May 9) and will visit Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday (May 10).

Taken from Billboard.

hello from the sunshine state! last night was a gas...we had it all...rock people ...rich girls unleashed unknowingly on a sleepy public, to declare siren songs of domination...we let her loose because she is us and we are becoming her more and more in a half-life sense of the word...so as I write we prepare in dusty tomes for tonight's show...what is it going to be? maybe tonight is the night to let it all fall apart so it can be put together humpty dumpty style... we are lost in the wilderness of florida, sunstreaked and crying...is there anybody out there we declare in junk 50's poetry, and the slapback drums yes! yes! yes! cause we are way out there and we are coming to your town...or at least a mall near you...the story is being told I have to remind myself cause I forget that we are in it and the ending is not yet written...or is it in an envelope near you? check under your pillow cause you might find a yellowed tooth or maybe a band of gold or maybe just a plain old band...may god bless florida! it brings out the demon in me...ps. the next b-side is liberty and the epiphany machine, coming to a u.k. record shop near you backed with that song why try, try, try, and keep on trying...we ask ourselves that every single day in every single way...xo

Taken from NoiseRevolution.com

Smashing Pumpkins official site running again. There are some cool new interactive features and the "sacred and profane" video type feel to it. It also sportas a new site address @ noiseviolation.com.

The Smashing Pumpkins are halfway through their "Sacred And Profane" spring tour, an outing that has already dawn rave reviews and sold-out crowds in Chicago, Detroit, and New York City, and now the band is gearing up for a run through the Southeast and the West Coast. The band will wrap its current U.S. tour at the end of May, then head overseas for shows in Japan in June and July before returning in August to play the Canadian Summersault festival with Our Lady Peace and the Foo Fighters (see "Our Lady Peace Taps Foos, Pumpkins For Summersault"). Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan told MTV News that the band hopes to map out an additional American run towards the end of this year, and that, so far, the current tour has been one of the Smashing Pumpkins' best to date. "It seems to be more sacred than profane at this point," Corgan said jokingly, "but as it goes on, it'll get more and more profane, but it's been really good. I'd say it's the best reaction we've ever gotten from our fans. "We tend to be pretty confusing, as far as playing lots of different versions of our songs and a lot of obscure songs, but we've decided to take the high road on this tour, and everyone seems to be happy for a change." Corgan also indicated that part of the reason for the Pumpkins' refocused live show was the presence of new bassist and his longtime friend Melissa Auf Der Maur, who began playing with the band in December (see "Smashing Pumpkins To Unveil Auf Der Maur At Hometown Shows"). "With Melissa, she wasn't there through all these years," Corgan said, "so we have to be a little more deliberate about what [songs] we get into, because she doesn't know every song or she hasn't played on every one, so she has to try and keep up with all this stuff. "We've been a little more deliberate about picking [set lists], but I think in a way it's made us pay more attention to the songs we're picking. We used to sort of prick them off the top of our heads, and if we liked it, we liked it. "We didn't really think about the consequences as far as the audience," he concluded, "and that's why people have been mad at us for years. [Laughs]"

article courtesy of MTV online

We're sure you've been wondering what D'Arcy Wretzky has been up to since her court date for possession of crack cocaine last Valentine's Day. She has been religiously attending her four drug abuse prevention classes as ordered by Cook County District Court Judge Nicholas Ford, but that doesn't mean that she's not having a little fun. The former Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky is currently keeping company with Hollywood's plastic surgery pin-up boy, Mickey Rourke. The newish duo have been spotted around Los Angeles holding hands and window shopping on Melrose Ave. D'Arcy's pals say that the former 9½ Weeks' star has got the actress-cum-musician (who turns 32 on May 1) hooked on plastic surgery too. She's had her beautiful heart-shaped face altered in ways that were totally unnecessary…

article courtesy of Tower Records

The Nine Inch Nails video for "Starfuckers, Inc." that nothing Records has been trying to keep hush-hush for the past month debuted on MTV on Tuesday (May 2) featuring all the goodies that we told you about (allstar, April 24) and then some. The clip, which credits Robert Hales (former Art Director for Raygun magazine) as director at the front of the clip and then Marilyn Manson at the end of the clip, entails singer Trent Reznor going on a date to a carnival with a person, who isn't revealed until the end of the clip. The person, of course, is his former best friend and protégé-turned-rival and back-full-circle to partner-in-crime, Marilyn Manson. The video opens with a view of a road similar to the opening of the movie Lost Highway, which features a soundtrack produced by Reznor. In the video, Reznor is first shown in the back of a limousine with tubes in his nose and wearing blue eye makeup like a mask (and also similar to how Manson's done his shadow many times in the past), with Manson disguised in a blonde wig. They show a poster of Pamela Anderson Lee and Donna D'Errico on their way to the carnival and paparazzi outside of the limo. During the carnival, Reznor trys his hand at the game where you throw a baseball at a plate and try to smash the plate. On the plates in the video are the faces of Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, Kiss' Gene Simmons, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, and Mariah Carey. He also throws balls at busts of people -- one of which is of Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan (wearing a Zero shirt), and another is of Reznor himself. But, the biggest diss of all is the part with an obese Courtney Love look-alike wearing a tiara, holding an Oscar, and sporting tape on her nose (to signify a nose job) sitting in a dunking booth with the word "waste" printed on it. Shortly after, Reznor is seen throwing CDs into a toilet, including Manson's Mechanical Animals. This is nothing Records' second shot with "Starfuckers, Inc.," as the track was the first song from The Fragile released to radio last year. They edited the song so it says "Starsuckers" and changed the name as well to ensure radio and video airplay.

article courtesy of Allstar news

HEAVIER than a load of Allen Bloom books but more powerful than a Con Ed system surge, the Smashing Pumpkins were simply smashing at their Hammerstein Ballroom concert Tuesday night. It was a defining performance in which Pumpkin head Billy Corgan and his band made it clear that they no longer think of themselves as indie-rock antiheroes: They're now genuine rock stars. No disrespect intended - stardom suits Corgan and company. Tuesday's concert was very accessible and aimed at pleasing the fans. The two-hour program had a great light show, basic staging and was packed with a career-spanning selection of songs. Those tunes included nearly three-quarters of the excellent "Machina" album, some past hits and even a well-picked oldie cover of David Essex's "Rock On." Between the band's poor last outing ("Adore") and the new "Machina" disc, the Smashing Pumpkins have realized that the last vestiges of real rock 'n' roll are on heavy metal's stairway to hell. The band didn't hesitate to incorporate the best of the genre with their sound. The result at the Hammerstein concert was volume, velocity and chest-pounding power - all laced into every song. Yet what made this better then a typical headbanger's ball was that each piece sounded different, despite continuity within the music. Take the tune "The Everlasting Gaze." It was rendered early in the show with speedy urgency and a soaring sensibility - as if it were a petition to a deaf god. Later, the same Pumpkins unfolded the extended reverb ballad "Glass and the Ghost Children," which had a slowed-down but still forceful tempo. "Glass" was one of the evening's best songs. As Corgan creaked creepy lyrics such as "She counted the spiders as they crawled up inside her," the band delivered the music with fluid resistance, as if they were trying to run in hip-high water. It was a terrific effect that demonstrated the musical growth and evolution the Smashing Pumpkins have undergone over the last three years. Part of that success belongs to Jimmy Chamberlin. Reports say he was allowed back into the band after his expulsion (for drugs and his involvement in the overdose death of a band side man) because he went through rehab and cleaned up his act. Perhaps, but the real reason he's back is that he is the best drummer in rock 'n' roll. During this concert he was outstanding as he subtly directed the music. Since the release of "Machina," blond bassist D'Arcy Wretzky left the band to "pursue an acting career" and was replaced by Melissa Auf der Maur, formerly of Hole. Like D'Arcy, Melissa offers her bass lines in dense rumbles that snuggle nicely between Corgan's and James Iha's guitar work. As well as she played, she rarely wandered from her station at stage right. It was unfortunate that, whether by her own decision or the band's, she offered no demonstration of her ability as a backup singer, a role that she excelled in with Hole. The evening's oddest moment came during the final seconds of the concert. Corgan was doing a spoken-word piece with the band backing him when he repeatedly, angrily asked, "What the f - - - is going on?" Though posed as a universal question, this confused the audience. Some might call Corgan's approach a pretentious finale, but despite how strange it may have seemed, his question was also thought-provoking. Ultimately, it must have worked - as the crowd descended the stairs from the balcony and spilled out on the street, many fans reiterated Corgan's query.

article courtesy of Siva

Billy Corgan is deep into an exhaustive analysis of what's wrong with rock, and why his band, the Smashing Pumpkins, is so perpetually misunderstood. He has railed against the radio gods and served up the predictable screed against the anti-Pumpkins "bias" of other industry gatekeepers. But as he gears up for the big summation, his tone softens. He lapses into flashback: "Imagine standing in a club in 1988, watching Dinosaur Jr and saying, 'If we could one day just be that.' To us that was amazing, that was our dream. Then you do that, and it keeps going, and suddenly you're on MTV every 20 minutes. Boom, there you are. Cover of Rolling Stone. . . . I don't care what anybody says about 'alternative' integrity, you get swayed by the whole ride. And then it sinks in: This is not really what I wanted." As survivors of the alt-rock boom, Corgan and the three other Pumpkins - who will play the sold-out Electric Factory tomorrow night in an attempt to build buzz by playing relatively small venues - are walking a difficult line. They came up at a time when being an alternative to faceless corporate rock was the coolest thing. But as their ideas took hold, they became the mainstream and were rewarded with lavish contracts, and saddled with equally large expectations. Now, Corgan says he's torn between two worlds - the small pool of devoted fans who constitute the indie-rock audience and the fake-smiles posturing of MTV rock. "I feel like we're playing to the same audience we were in the late '80s, which is a very hard-core group of kids," the singer-songwriter-guitarist says in a quiet, considered speaking voice that's miles away from his onstage yowl. "They're paying a lot of attention, even though the media isn't speaking to them and MTV is ignoring them. Our integrity is making that connection. And at the same time, the band is asked to be, expected to be, this big commercial band. Do you turn your back on the one audience that's with you already to chase that brass ring?" The Pumpkins, whose most recent effort, Machina/the Machines of God, had a big opening eight weeks ago but now resides at 93 on Billboard's 200, are not alone. Many of the other premiere acts of alt-rock - Nine Inch Nails, the Foo Fighters - have discovered that their claim on a large audience is not as solid as they once thought. The explanations for this slippage are everywhere: Rock in general has declined, teen acts rule the media mix, and modern-rock radio is increasingly the province of such rock/hip-hop hybrids as Korn and Limp Bizkit. "Once we finish this cycle, I don't want anything to do with the mainstream world," Corgan, 33, hisses on the phone from a Dayton, Ohio, hotel. "It's a complete celebration of fakery. I think we can be more effective by operating on a lower level, not trying to reach the big audience every time." The first change the Great Pumpkin anticipates: No more albums. "The idea of the album is over. In the current culture, singles and flashy success are 10 times more celebrated. The promise of a Pet Sounds or Sgt. Pepper is no longer available. I think it's important to try to do things that change the temperature the way albums used to, but when you look at the signals the marketplace is sending, maybe the time for that particular vehicle is up. We're going back to the mentality of the '30s and '40s, when . . . people focused on key performances, and it was not about letting people see everything you've got." He envisions releasing four lower-key EPs a year, then collecting the best of that material on an EP-sized release, and having "that be our commercial representation." Corgan believes the approach will engender growth: "That way you can make strong choices with what you know will be singles, and pick your spots. Rather than explaining your experiments to the mainstream all the time." That doesn't mean Corgan will restrict the angsty alt-metal band's overall output. Quite the opposite: "I've reached the opinion that the editing process is inconsequential. Basically the band should put out, in some form, everything it touches. Even amongst the crap there's still something to be heard. That's why I buy bootlegs, or Picasso's sketchbooks. . . . As an artist, I don't want to censor myself. . . . When you get caught up in 'what do they want, what do they expect?' you can guess yourself into the ground." He points to the band's recent output as an illustration. After its 1995 commercial breakthrough Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Corgan began exploring more orchestral ideas. Some of those turned up on 1998's thickly layered Adore, an overly long and exceedingly ambitious collection that took a critical drubbing. But Corgan didn't entirely back down when he started writing for the new collection: Machina blends crafty string writing and keyboard textures into the guitar maelstrom generated by Corgan and James Iha. More aggressive rhythmically than Adore, it represents further expansion, and refinement, of the band's sonic approach - there are traces of the trance fusion Mahavishnu Orchestra in the shredded guitar lines of "The Sacred and Profane," and an Eno-like lushness defines "Stand Inside Your Love." Corgan says those refinements went unnoticed, and the story became about the band going back to more conventional rock. "I knew that the first question was going to be, 'So, what was your intention for returning to rock?' Which told me that these people were not even paying attention to what was in the music. Our intention? How about: To rock?" In the past, such slights would have riled the obstreperous Corgan, who says reaction to his singing voice runs the gamut from "God gave you the voice of angels" to "your voice drives me out of my skull." But these days, as he conceptualizes a creative environment away from the spotlight, he's less pushy about getting his props. There are even signs in the music that he's lightened up: After a particularly devastating, twisting-and-turning guitar solo on the current single "I of the Mourning," Corgan's first words are tongue-in-cheek: "I blew the dust off my guitars." Some might say he's actually acquired a mellow, sanguine attitude. "Like anything, the value of what we do will be sort of worked out over time. The production things may take a while for people to get. I think I've been undervalued as a pop writer - "Stand Inside Your Love" is a great song whether it gets on the radio or not. I think people forget that we're not just making records for this generation. There are plenty to come. . . . What's important to us right now is that the band is stronger than ever. Jimmy [Chamberlin, the band's original drummer, who went through a two-year heroin detox after the overdose death of supporting keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in 1996] is back and healthy, and he and Melissa [Auf Der Maur, the former Hole bassist who joined the Pumpkins this year] are playing great together." And yet, for all that maturity, Corgan is still capable of making enemies in a messily public fashion. Asked about the public spat with short-tenured manager Sharon Osbourne, which erupted in January, Corgan acknowledges it was not a genius maneuver. She quit, and in an accompanying statement said: "I must resign today due to medical reasons. Billy Corgan was making me sick!" He responded with a lawsuit alleging breach of contract. She characterized the suit as "a routine accounting matter." "That whole weirdness certainly has had a negative impact on the band," Corgan says. "The hypothetical question of the moment is: What would people think of the band if I'd never said anything? If I'd been straight-up nicey-nicey in interviews? I think the perception of the band would have been higher. The press would have been kinder." In the next breath, he swears he has no regrets. "When I got into this, I decided to play it full-on. I was going to make full-on music and be a full-on honest person. I mean, can you imagine Iggy Pop wondering whether he should say something? I didn't get into rock and roll to play by somebody's rules."

article courtesy of Siva

(U-WIRE) KENT, Ohio -- James Iha, guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins, had been looking forward to the concert at Kent State, but it was also another step in his career with the band. "The only thing I know about Kent is the Crosby, Stills and Nash song," Iha said. "But I think it will be pretty cool. I think Kent has an interesting history." Iha's own history with the band started when he joined 11 years ago. He said the biggest highlight of his tenure was staying together and the freedom. "We get to make music and put out records," Iha said. "I'm not at work from 9 to 5, doing something I'm not interested in. It's a hard schedule, but in the time we have off I don't have to answer to anything. I'm kind of used to it, it's what I do." Iha said, even though he did not write on the most recent album, he has written on others. He said his inspiration can be almost anything that starts him playing. He starts with chord progressions then adds lyrics later. He said the current album, "MACHINA: The machines of god," wasn't meant to be a different style, as some reviewers had commented. "It was just the songs we wrote and the best collection," Iha said. "It wasn't a decision to make a different album, it was just the way it came out." Iha said the current album took eight months to record. He said he enjoys playing the songs, but the touring can make them somewhat repetitive. "There's a repetition to playing five nights a week. It's not that we get sick of it, but we add songs and take some out to keep it fresh," he said. "A lot depends on the audience." Iha also remembers his first live concert with the Pumpkins. "I was scared and nervous," he said. "It was one of those 'putting yourself on the line' things. There's no way to see it, there's lights, sounds, and you're either good, bad or whatever." Finally, Iha shed little light on the origin of the band's name. "It's one of those names you just come up with," he said.

article courtesy of Siva

Dana Giacchetto, 37, once the hottest financial guru to young Hollywood, was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Federal Court today to face securities fraud charges that could net him 10 years in prison.

The Prada-suit-wearing fund manager allegedly took up to $20 million from accounts without telling clients such as actors Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Ben Stiller and Toby Maguire, actresses Courteney Cox Arquette and Lauren Holly, artist David Salle and disgraced Wall Street tycoon Ivan Boesky's daughter, Marianne.

The one-time rock musician also took nearly $5 million from the accounts of the rock band Phish and smaller amounts from Fred Schneider of the B-52's, Smashing Pumpkins' guitarist James Iha and bass player D'Arcy Wretzky-Brown, according to documents filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

article courtesy of Mostnewyork.com

Foo Fighters and the Smashing Pumpkins are set to join Our Lady Peace for this year's Summersault tour in August, as announced by Our Lady Peace on Tuesday (April 4).

No dates have been set, but the tour is expected to hit venues from Vancouver, British Columbia to Halifax, Nova Scotia. More bands are expected to be announced shortly.

The first Summersault festival was held in 1998 and featured such artists as Garbage, Crystal Method, Sloan, Hayden, Esthero, and I Mother Earth as well as festival organizers Our Lady Peace. Summersault 2000 marks the first time the festival will tour Canada. The band conceived of the festival as a chance to play with bands they like, and had always hoped to turn the festival into a Canada-wide tour.

The band promises that details of the tour, which is being presented by Our Lady Peace with House of Blues Canada, will be posted to its website as soon as they become available.

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(CNN) -- While today's "alternative" rockers were growing up on '70s punk and '80s new wave, a young Billy Corgan was rocking out to classic stadium-oriented and album rock -- Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick and Pink Floyd.

After the failure of Marked, his fledgling goth-metal band, Corgan in 1988 formed Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan, the band's writer/singer, recruited D'Arcy Wretsky on bass, James Iha on guitar and Jimmy Chamberlin on drums.

As Corgan told CNN WorldBeat correspondent Serena Yang, "The band is basically modeled upon what we call like a Beatles ideal, which is that the band is about being the band and the music is the band's personality and interests."

Critics praised the group's 1991 debut, "Gish," for infusing provocative lyrics into the loudness of classic rock while maintaining the punk sensibility of D.I.Y (do it yourself).

The band's successive albums, "Siamese Dream," "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," "Adore" and now, "MACHINA/ the machines of God," have collected more commercial and critical success. More important, each progressive album has pushed the Smashing Pumpkins to explore new musical terrain.

"It's my role as an artist to basically destroy the obvious and recreate the obvious, to put it back together into a form that maybe you wouldn't have considered," Corgan says. "I'm not into making things unimaginable."

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Having left her wicked stepsister and turned into a Pumpkin , Melissa Auf der Maur continues to write her version of the rock and roll fairy tale. A seemingly contrary mix of the ethereal and the resolutely grounded, Auf der Maur recently jumped from Courtney Love's Hole to play bass in Billy Corgan's revamped rock opera.

During a recent appearance at the Spectrum, a 1,200-capacity club in her hometown of Montreal, Auf der Maur was given an extended ovation. Before the show, she sat down to discuss her situation — leaving a band with an emotionally volatile history of drug overdoses, personnel changes, and controversy for one with a history of drug overdoses, personnel changes, and emotional volatility.

No longer Courtney's sane foil, she is the stable "stepchild" to three siblings: the hyperactive attention-getter (Corgan), the imploded shy boy (James Iha), and the prodigal son (drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, back after his '96 exile for relapsing into heroin use and for being present when sideman keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin fatally overdosed).

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LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Smashing Pumpkins faithful no doubt will demonstrate their allegiance again to the band, packing concert halls and amphitheaters to see "The Sacred and Profane" tour. The United States junket -- promoting the Pumpkins' latest release "MACHINA/ the machines of God" -- is scheduled to launch April 8 in Kansas City, Missouri. The latest album represents a change for the group. "Adore" (1998), the band's previous album, failed to live up to expectations commercially and critically, selling about 3 million copies worldwide.

Lead singer Billy Corgan says the band resisted pressure to replicate its earlier success with an album comparable to "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," released in 1995. Members made a conscious effort to ignore outside expectations, he says. "I think that kind of completely removed the pressure," he says. "We just did what we would do in a vacuum." And band members happily admit "MACHINA" won't suit everyone's taste. "As I like to say, if everybody likes what you're doing, you're doing something wrong," Corgan says. Another defining difference between "MACHINA" and "Adore" is the return of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, whose heroin addiction forced the band to fire him in 1996. Clean now, Chamberlin was dismissed following the drug-overdose death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin.

Faithful fans stand in line for a special in-store promotional concert in Los Angeles Band members are proud to have overcome intense personal and professional turmoil. "I don't mean this in any sort of trite way," Corgan says. "but the music has really been the thing that has healed us over and over again. It is the thing that has held us together and taught us about each other." Fans also can learn from the band's struggles, he adds. "What has gone on in my childhood, and the personal problems that we've had in the band, have given a lot of people hope," Corgan says. "(It shows) if you keep your nose pointed straight you can actually get somewhere -- to a happy place."

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Happy Birthday to Billy and Melisa who both celebrated their birthdays on St. Patrick's Day. On the 17th, Billy turned 33 while Melisa aged a mere 28. Many of you joined together with Project 33 to try to give Billy a birthday gift by getting the song Thirty-Three played on Total Request Live on MTV in his honor. Unfortunately, if you saw the show, we just got edged out in 11th place because our little siblings and too many other people voted once again for N'Sync. It doesn't matter though, becaue Project 33 got a mention for its efforts. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Despite a slew of competition from icons of rock old and new, Santana managed to maintain his stronghold on the Billboard album chart, The Billboard 200, for the week ending March 5, 2000. The closest anyone came to toppling Santana's Supernatural was the comeback album from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Btnhresurrection, which debuted at No. 2 but was still outsold by over 150,000 copies.

From there, the top 25 was loaded with notable debuts. The Smashing Pumpkins' latest, MACHINA/the machines of God, debuted close behind Bone Thugs at No. 3; Beanie Sigel's Truth landed at No. 5; Steely Dan's first album of new material in 20 years, Two Against Nature, at No. 6; AC/DC's latest, Stiff Upper Lip, fell in at No. 7; the Bloodhound Gang's Hooray For Boobies came in at No. 19; and Oasis's fourth studio effort, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, just made the cut at No. 24.

Other notable debuts include Jennifer Knapp's Lay It Down at No. 77; the Chieftains' Water From the Well at No. 127; and the Rollins Band's Get Some Go Again at No. 180.

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Following their brief tour of record stores, the Smashing Pumpkins have announced the initial dates for their upcoming U.S. tour, dubbed The Sacred and Profane.

The Pumpkins will hit Kansas City, Kan. on April 8 and stick around theaters and ballrooms in the Midwest for the first 10 dates of the tour, even stopping in Axl Rose's hometown of West Lafayette, Ind. No opening band had been decided for the tour at press time, and additional dates are expected to be announced shortly.

The Pumpkins are touring in support of the week-old MACHINA/the machines of God, which debuted at No. 3 on this week's Billboard album chart, The Billboard 200.

Here are the initial Smashing Pumpkins tour dates:

April 8, Kansas City, Kan., Memorial Auditorium
April 10, St. Louis, American Theater
April 12, Minneapolis, Northrop Auditorium
April 13, Milwaukee, Eagles Ballroom
April 15-16, Chicago, Aragon Ballroom
April 18, West Lafayette, Ind., Elliot Hall of Music
April 21, Dayton, Ohio, Hara Arena
April 23, Cleveland, Kent State Gymnasium
May 8, Orlando, Fla., Hard Rock Live

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After weathering the lineup rumblings that brought bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur into the fold and put drummer Jimmy Chamberlin back behind the kit, the Smashing Pumpkins returned to stores this week with its fifth studio album, "Machina/The Machines Of God."

Original bassist D'Arcy Wretzky left the Pumpkins in September after completing work on "Machina," and was replaced a few months later by Auf Der Maur, who split from Hole in October and made her live debut with the Pumpkins in December (see "Smashing Pumpkins To Unveil Auf Der Maur At Hometown Shows" ).

As for Chamberlin, he returned to the Pumpkins in early 1999 to work on "Machina" after being bounced from the band in 1996 for his involvement in the fatal overdose of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin (see "Jimmy Chamberlin Back With Smashing Pumpkins" ).

Despite the state of flux that seemed to surround the Smashing Pumpkins last year, frontman Billy Corgan said that the new music on "Machina" was anything but arduous or demanding to work on.

"This record was a lot of fun to do," Corgan said in a recent interview, "and the writing was incredibly easy. We spent most of the time trying to take the songs as far as they could be taken down a particular avenue.

"So if it was gonna be proto cyber metal, we tried to make it very proto and very cyber. If it was acoustic, then we tried to not fall into the [typical] ballad-y kind of aspects. That's where we spent most of our time. The songs were probably written in about a day." [RealVideo]

"Machina/The Machines Of God" also marks the return of the band's guitar-zeitgeist driven sound that featured so prominently on 1993's "Siamese Dream" and 1995's "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness."

The Pumpkins opted to turn down the volume for 1998's elegiac "Adore," and Corgan was quick to note that in the interim, the band didn't spawn the kinds of imitators that other early '90s groups, such as Pearl Jam, did.

"Well, I also don't think that we're the type of band that people look at and say, 'I want to grow up to be just like that.'" Corgan said. "I mean, we're like a train wreck. We're the greatest train wreck in the world, but the gloriousness in what we do is in the soulful penetration part.

"It's not about copping a pose, or it's not about being cooler than thou. It's never been about that." [RealVideo]

The Smashing Pumpkins are presently on a promotional in-store tour that rolls into Minneapolis and Los Angeles over the weekend. The band's publicists indicate that more dates will be added to the outing, which is currently scheduled through a March 7 appearance in Seattle.

On March 9, the Smashing Pumpkins will be in MTV's Times Square Studios for "@MTV Week." During the group's special, which will air at 4:30 p.m. (ET), the Pumpkins will perform live and premiere the interactive video to "The Crying Tree Of Mercury," a clip directed by Corgan.

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