January - June 1997
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December 25th, 1997
Guiter World
The new issue of guitar world has an article giving in sight on whats up with them at this state in time. first of all they're doing neither an electronica nor an aucostic album. it's going to be scaled down. they said they'll go back to using a drum machine like they used to (before jimmy joined), i have a feeling it'll be more songs like "set the ray to jerry","ugly","meladori magpie"--as billy put it "...intimate..." if you don't believe me just look in the new guitar world!
December 24, 1997
Ex-Soundgarden Drummer Matt Cameron Heads To Pumpkin Patch
Matt Cameron has confirmed he's joining the Smashing Pumpkins in the studio, but the former Soundgarden drummer stopped short of saying he's joining the band.
Cameron, in Vancouver, Canada for a drum clinic, stated that he'd be doing sessions starting this week with the Pumpkins but also added he was continuing to work with The Wellwater Conspiracy, another current project. Cameron has a number of bands on the go including Hater and Cavedweller. Most recently (November 20), he played a Seattle bar with Josh Homme's Queens Of The Stone Age, and is slated to appear with them again December 11.
The Smashing Pumpkins will play their last concert with touring drummer Matt Walker, formerly of Filter, opening for the Rolling Stones in Miami on December 5. Walker was brought in following the departure of Jimmy Chamberlin, who was fired from the group after the drug-related death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. The Pumpkins camp had always maintained that Walker was not a permanent replacement. As we reported earlier this month, Walker announced he'd be vacating the Pumpkin drum stool and concentrating on his own band, Cupcakes, who have been signed to DreamWorks.
Meanwhile, the Pumpkins are set to start in earnest recording what they are calling a kinder, gentler follow-up to the edgy, massively successful "Mellon Collie And The Infinte Sadness."
December 13, 1997
In the december 5th issue of entertainment weekly on page 88, James Iha says: "I don't have a favorite whole record, but I love that Brian Wilson song. I can sign if for you but I don't know the name of the song. [Sings] 'Christmas comes each time this year. da da da...' I can't remember. [EDITOR'S NOTE: "Little St. Nick"] It's really pretty and magical."
December 13, 1997
November Issue of Harper's Bazaar:
(article about Stevie Nicks)
"Another way to age gracefully is to have friends of all ages. Nicks has two recent additions to her roster. Courtney Love and Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan. 'They're the first new music friends that I've had in so long,' she says. 'And I can relate to them. There are very few people in my life that do what I do.' Love has been over to her hours a few times, and Nicks has been working with Corgan (whom she calls 'the Egg Man' because of has bald pate). He may do some production of her next album."
'I first met him when he came to Phoenix last year,' she says. 'The Smashing Pumpkins did a concert there, and we all went out to dinner.' Afterward, she played him her demos. 'He spent four hours listening to them and playing piano and working out some things,' Nicks reports. 'He's a little bit like Lindsey, a little intimidating, because he has definite ideas about music. If we work together, I'm going to have my work cut out for me.' "
November 21, 1997
James Iha's solo album
Read all about James' solo ablum here.
November 20, 1997
All those good little tidbits..
Reported by: Eve
Model Georgina Grenville says in the dec issue of details magazine that beck has the sexiest attitude in music but Smashing Pumpkins have the sexiest music
There is a small picture of the group in the november in style because james has a lollipop that is really popular among hip famous types.
In the november harpers bazaar Stevie Nicks says about having Billy Corgan and Courtney Love as friends:
"they're the first new music friends that I have had in so long. And I can relate to them. there are very few people in my life who do what I do.Love has been over to the house a few times and Nicks has been working with corgan whom she calls egg man (because of his bald head) He may do some production work on her next album. "I met him when he came to Phoenix last year. The Smashing Pumpkins did a concert there and we all went out to dinner. Afterward she played him her demos. He spent four hours listening to them,playing piano and working out some things. He is a little like Lindsay (buckingham)a little intimidating,because he has definite ideas about music. If we work together I am going to have my work cut out for me."
In a Entertainment Weekly article about radiohead the smashing pumpkins are mentioned several times. "Like the Smashing Pumpkins in 1992 who were chipping away at the mainstream. The article also says that the pumpkins became more accessible overtime (in reference to radioheads ok computer which is a bit wacky for a third album) Radiohead is also likened to be 1998's Smashing Pumpkins. ironically corgan once told Mtv that his nightmare would be "jimmy Chamberlin plays the hits of the smashing pumpkins with the guy from radiohead on lead vocal."
Art alexakis of Everclear is in the November Details and had a few things to say about the pumpkins and Billy: When asked what his favorite city was he said New york and talked about Electric ladyland studios where they were recording their new album and Billy was working on the Ric Ocasek album. He says: Most people I know don't really like the Smashing pumpkins, but I think Billy is a creative genius. I am really bashful I didn't think he knew who the hell I was. Then one day a whole bunch of people come to look at the new mixing board including ric and billy who are both rally tall. billy's bald and dressed in all black just like the magazines. I tell them about the board billy says thanks and leaves. So I'm thinking (art that is) your just mr. personality aren't you?"
So apparently as soon as he gets outside the door Billy says to the engineer Why didn't you tell me Art Alekakis from Everclear was in there? The guy said in print that he wants to kick my ass. Which art said "is totally ludicrous the guy is like six four and I'm this scrawny little guy plus I like the guy. And I never even said it. (about wanting to kick billy's ass) Later I asked some people to come and tell billy to talk to me and he totally ignored me which really bummed me out. I'm like man don't buy into your fucking hype you can do good work and still be nice and polite to people."
The new Ivy album is worth checking out because it is good and because our own James iha plays and wrote one of the songs on it.
November 15, 1997
Smashing Pumpkins Out!
Smashing Pumpkins drummer Matt Walker has split from the group to pursue his own rock band, which recently signed a record deal, according to Gayle Fine, publicist for the Pumpkins. Read about it here.
November 5, 1997
Smashing Pumpkins opened up for Jane's Addiction
Hey! you've probably already heard about this, but Sp opened up for Jane's Addiction yesterday at the Aragon ballroom here in Chicago. Billy was in drag, and went on to thank Jane's Addiction cos they pretty much helped them get their start. Billy has also said that he played most of their early shows (88-90) in drag. yesterday he was wearing a little orange number. fittingly, seeing as how he's a Pumpkin.
November 3, 1997
Smashing Pumpkins Star In Free Tibet Film
Addicted to Noise
Addicted To Noise Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports : There aren't any golden-haired Hollywood heroes in Free Tibet.
There are no big name directors, no overweight martial arts action heroes. There's only music, kids, monks, nuns and an unmistakable message of peace, according to Sarah Pirozek, the film's director.
"Not to get too groovy about it," said Pirozek, who chronicles 1996's first-ever Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on film, "but there's definitely a spiritual awakening going on in the world. We're coming to the 2000 mark and people are getting interested in Tibet and Buddhism and they can't help but be intrigued by the images in this movie."
The 90-minute film features footage of performances by the bands that played the show, including the Smashing Pumpkins, A Tribe Called Quest, Sonic Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine, as well as backstage interviews with Tibetan monks and nuns and a short history of the country, which has been suffering under the oppression of the Chinese government for over 40 years.
Happy to see a double-shot of major Hollywood Tibet-themed movies -- Brad Pitt's Seven Years in Tibet and the upcoming Martin Scorcese-directed film Kundun -- Tibetan Freedom organizer Adam Yauch, of the Beastie Boys, said he saw Free Tibet fitting in nicely. "I do my best to monitor the whole 'Hollywood involvement' aspect of the cause," the Buddhist Beastie Boy said, "but I think it's important to create a forum for Tibetans to speak for themselves."
First-time director Pirozek, a veteran of hip-hop videos for the likes of Queen Latifah and basketball player/rapper Shaquille O'Neal, said the project grew from a short to a major feature almost overnight. "I met Adam [Yauch] about a year and a half ago when he approached me about doing a Public Service Announcement for the first concert for MTV," said Pirozek, a London native.
Pirozek's Public Service Announcements, in which she used rappers and comedian Tim Meadows of Saturday Night Live, presented dramatic inter-cut footage of segregation-era church burnings and the forced sterilization of Tibetan nuns to bring home the point of a continuing cycle of violence. "I tried to make a connection between all kinds of civil rights violations around the world," Pirozek said. "Adam liked PSA's and asked me if I'd like to make a 30- minute educational video of the concert for use in college classrooms."
With only five days notice to get all the logistics worked out, Pirozek assembled a crack team of photographers and technicians, who ended up with more than 300 hours of footage. Suddenly, everyone involved started thinking movie, she added. "We had all these great cameramen shooting, like Lance Accord, who works with Sonic Youth, Roman Coppola (Symposium) and Spike Jonze (Weezer), who spent a day shooting and doing interviews," Pirozek said. "At this war table meeting we had before the concert it was like, 'OK, you shoot the mosh pit, you cover people trying to sneak in, you cover the stage.'"
The result, an Oliver Stone-like mix of film stocks, home movies and CNN/MTV footage, she said, includes not just great moments from the artists' performances but poignant scenes of Tibetan nuns and monks interacting with fans and the famous. "Here you have a peaceful monk who has just flown in from Tibet and he's seeing American kids moshing and he's trying to align it all in his mind," Pirozek explained. "I thought it would be very difficult , cross- culturally for the monks to get it, but they cross-referenced it with their own religious fervor because they could liken it to when people see the Dalai Lama."
"This whole process was just so great for everyone who worked on it," said Pirozek. "Here you've got a crew guy who's worked on hundreds of commercials, a big, burly guy with tears in his eyes as he's interviewing a nun that's been imprisoned and abused. You don't usually come to the end of a 15- hour day with the crew having smiles on their faces."
The premiere of the film, which took nine months to edit and is still without a distributor, will be held on Nov. 6 at the Sony 19th Street Theaters in New York. The invitation-only event is scheduled to be attended by many of the performers from the concert as well as the Tibetan monks and nuns who are featured prominently in the film.
One of those monks, Palden Gyatso, is the author of a new novel, The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk (Nov. 10, Grove Press) which chronicles his 33 years of imprisonment and torture at the hands of Chinese officials.
Meanwhile, the concerts (the second annual was held in New York this summer) and Free Tibet offer the proper forum "for hundreds of Tibetans [such as Gyatso] to be walking around talking to people and speaking from the stage," Yauch said.
November 1, 1997
Billy spotted
Billy was spotted at the Blackhawks game the 25th. He was signing autographs and all. So, hurry and get those ticket stubs and run outside the sports stadiums and wait for him.
October 25, 1997
Rumor has it..
Reported by: BCorgan4SP@aol.com there are some ~rumours~ about billy doing a song for the velvet goldmine movie starring my favourite actor ewan mcgregor and christian bale. now, this isn't confirmed, but i did see a picture of billy on the set of the film.
Reported by: Eve
Billy bought five photographs recently at a gallery in Soho according to my friend who overheard the owner talking about how Billy had just com in off the street and liked what he saw. A gift for yelena perhaps?
D'arcy's husband Kerry Brown produced some of the tracks on Kelley Deals new project The Kelley Deal 6000.
Billy's first producing effort for another artist is out: Rick Ocasek's well received Troubleizing
features Billy's behind the scene work on five songs. Rolling Stone Troubalizing is more of the same
airtight rock candy,lightly but artfully scarred with 60's garage rock and avant-punk tension.
troubalizing is more of the same and impressively so,pitched somewhere between the corrosive cool
of the car's third album,Panorama and the spacey muscled menace of the Smashing Pumpkins
Siamese Dream. -the songs Billy worked on are:Crashland Consequence,Situation, Fix on You and
People we know. As well as a song called Asia Minor which Billy wrote. These tracks he is also
credited with vocals,guitars and keys.
Asia Minor
Give Me a Secret
Another Secret
give me the jack down blazer fist
Give me the rundown gossip fits
Give me the black fish rotting core
give me the milk toast humble bore
Give me the ancient chinese script
Give me the pulsar teenage lips
Give me the papers pedigree
Give me the shoeshine anarchy
I think my head is going to explode
I think my mind is remote controlled
I think my body really hates me
I think i'm just a walking disease
Give me the boom box bottle bitch
Give me the tree trunk tangled witch
Give me the babies missile child
Give me the pistols molten miles eedetoo@juno.comThere is also a picture of Billy in
the inside
insert art. melissa Au Der Mauf, matt Walker andIra elliot make appearances as well.
October 24, 1997
Smashing Lives
Smashing Pumpkins has agreed to pay $10,001 to the widow of a backup musician who died after shooting up heroin with another band member. Jonathan Melvoin of Conway died in July 1996 at a New York City hotel, where he was sharing drugs with the rock band's drummer, police said. The drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, 32, was arrested on drug possession charges and kicked out of the band. Laura Melvoin sued Smashing Pumpkins on behalf of her son, who was 4 months old when his father died at 34. She claimed that band members contributed to Melvoin's death by failing to make sure he stayed off drugs.
October 9, 1997
Christmas in October
Rolling Stone Online
Jumping the gun on the holiday season, A&M will mark the tenth anniversary of the Special Olympics benefit album "A Very Special Christmas" with a third installment of the holiday compilation that hits stores today. "A Very Special Christmas 3" boasts an impressive line-up, including the Smashing Pumpkins on a haunting "Chrismastime," Rev Run & the Christmas All-Stars (Mase , Puff Daddy, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Salt-n-Pepa, Onyx & Keith Murray) on "Santa Baby" (a shout-out, '90s update to Run DMC's original "Christmas in Hollis") and former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell with Eleven on "Ave Maria." Other notable artists include No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveler, Sting, Tr acy Chapman, Patti Smith and Natalie Merchant ...
October 4, 1997
CYBER PSYCHO, INTERNET WEB SITE SHOWS VIOLENT OBSESSIONS WITH SMASHING PUMPKIINS AND BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD.
Reported by Vic3984@aol.com
On Monday [sept,29] a 11 year old boy was assulted and murdered. A day later they arrested a 15 year old boy saying he was acomputer nerd who stayed in his room all the time. now on thursday the front page of the new york post reads CYBER PSYCHO, INTERNET WEB SITE SHOWS VIOLENT OBSESSIONS WITH SMASHING PUMPKIINS AND BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD. The article goes on to say that the boys internet name is spaceboy. Here are some quotes the post had from spaceboys web site. " My current theory on god is APT to [ to sp lead singer billy corgan] idon't care if god exists if he dose i do not think he cares if icare he exists." "smashing pumpkins have become my favriot musical group. the 're all i listen to anymore and ihave 36 of there cds . i've become obsessed with them in a short amount of time." you may or may not know spaceboy, but the news said he was always in sp chat rooms so iam sure hes prbably well known
September 28, 1997
Pumpkins, Metallica, Alanis To Help Neil Young
MTV Online
An unlikely line-up including Metallica, Blues Traveler, Smashing Pumpkins, The Dave Matthews Band, Alanis Morissette, Kacy Crowley, and Lou Reed will be joining Neil Young at his annual Bridge School Benefit. The artists will hit the stage Saturday October 18 and Sunday the 19 at Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View California. Young's yearly event raises funds for the Bridge School, which helps children with severe speech and physical impairments and is run by young's wife, Peggy. Ever since the first benefit concert in 1986, which included Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, Young has brought together an impressive array of artists; last year's show featured Young, Pearl Jam, David Bowie, Patty Smith, Billy Idol and Cowboy Junkies among others.Tickets go on sale for the Bridge Benefit on Sunday, September 28. Later this fall look for "The Bridge School Concerts: Volume One," encompassing performances from the past 10 years, from Young, Pearl Jam, Beck, David Bowie, The Pretenders, Patti Smith, Pete Droge and Hootie and the Blowfish, among others.
September 21, 1997
Get Vicious Billy!
The Montreal Gazette
"Yes, that was actor Paul Sorvino involved in a shouting match with Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan in a New York Italian restaurant a couple of weeks ago.
Strange combination, isn't it? Evidently, Sorvino went over to Corgan's table to accost him after hearing third-hand reports that Corgan had said something rather, ummm, ungallant about Paul's daughter Amanda, sister of the better known Mira.
Among other things, Corgan had called her 'a big phony' whatever that means.
Corgan was under the immpression that Amanda had done something mean to some friend of Corgan. 'That was a lie,' Sorvino told a New York newspaper. 'I wanted to clear the air.'
After a bit of macho posturing, alarmed waiters, surprised other diners, etc., both men decided to be grown-ups, Corgan apologized, they shook hands, and everyone went back to their osso bucco."
September 10, 1997
News Flash: Smashing Pumpkins Next LP All Acoustic
Addicted to Noise
Billy Corgan and company (pictured) fool fans waiting for their next step into electronica by preparing an unplugged LP.
Though many had them pegged as the next band to cross over to electronica, the Smashing Pumpkins have apparently taken a turn in the completely opposite direction and are going unplugged, according to their publicist.
The Chicago trio are currently huddling in a hometown studio hard at work on their follow-up to 1995's multi-platinum two-CD set, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, an entirely acoustic record expected for release next year, said Gayle Fine, a spokesperson for the band.
When the Pumpkins kept hinting that their most recent tour represented the end of the big guitar era for the band, most fans took that to mean they were heading in a more techno direction. Understandable, given their latest keyboard-heavy soundtrack songs from Lost Highway ("Eye") and Batman and Robin ("The End is the Beginning is the End").
But fans and critics were apparently jumping to conclusions, Fine said. Instead, the quartet started work in late August on their acoustic album, their first such release, she added.
The album is being co-produced by band leader Billy Corgan and famed Chicago-based producer Brad Wood (Veruca Salt, Liz Phair, Ben Lee), among unnamed others.
Considering the Pumpkins have decided to go for a more natural sound on their new album, Wood seems a wise choice, since he's done a remarkable job in the past coaxing warm sounds from spare arrangements of drums and acoustic guitar, most notably on Phair's breakthrough 1993 debut, Exile in Guyville and on Australian teen Lee's two solo albums.
In other Pumpkins news, guitarist James Iha has begun work on his solo debut. The finely-tailored Iha is working with producer Jim Scott (Jewel) on the effort, which does not yet have a label or a release date.
Sources at Scratchie, the label founded by Iha and Pumpkins mate D'Arcy, however, were adamant that Iha's solo effort would not be released on that label. The Pumpkins have been tapped to open a few still-unannounced dates on the Rolling Stones'
September 5, 1997
Video Music awards
What a day! Well, if you were on of the people who watched the MTV Video Music Awards last night, i'm sure you are as dissapointed as I am. Well, before the show even started they gave away a number of award. The Pumpkins lost all four they were up for. Oh well.. they cleaned out last year.
At the aftershow party. It was said to be that "everybody" was there. It was at the Lemon. I don't know where that is, but somewhere in New York i'm guessing. At the party was Gwen Stefani (ahh!), Gain Rossdale (ekk!), Madonna, Lisa Marie Presley, Dennis Rodmen, Courtney Love, and Billy. I don't remember the others. I heard on the news group that Yelena wasn't there, and Billy left with Courtney Love. NOW, don't start assuming anything. They are just friends...
September 3, 1997
The X-Files
From what I heard from my friend Ellen told me that she heard that Billy has started filming an episode for the X-Files. It should be out in February. More information will be up here when I hear it. Hmm.. I wonder what that episode is going to be about. The world being a vampire? hehe..
August 28, 1997
Smashing Pumpkins To Go Acoustic
Addicted to Noise
The next Smashing Pumpkins album, due out next year, will be an acoustic outing, according to the band's management.
The Pumpkins may preview some new songs when they play a series of dates opening for the Rolling Stones this fall, although the band won't be on the bill for the Stones' kickoff date in the Pumpkins' native Chicago.
The band is keeping busy while preparing for those Stones dates. Frontman Billy Corgan is executive producer of the upcoming Hole album, and he co-produced the new album by ex-Cars leader Ric Ocasek that's due out next month.
Meanwhile, Pumpkins guitarist James Iha is now working on his first solo album.
August 21, 1997
SMASHEES FACING GOURDFUL OF SUIT
The Rochester Democrat
When the Smashing Pumpkins preformed in Rochester in January, they more or less lived up to their name. No smashed pumpkins but about $200,000 worth of smashed equipment. Or so claims the TIG insurance company, which filed suit this week in Los Angeles Superior Court to recover damages that it said "amounted to complete destruction of the equipment" Included in the claim were four projectors, four zoom lenses and four mounting frames, all in use January 26th at a concert at the Rochester War Memorial.
August 18, 1997
Pumpkins Open up for Stones on Tour
Reported by Sachin Bansal
MTV News
August 18, 1997
Brooklyn, NY
Rolling Stones Press Conference
Reporter: In know you've had a long history of taking out new bands. What are some of the new bands your taking out and what's your favorite?
Keith (lead singer of Rolling Stones): We've got quite a lot of opening bands on this tour. I've got a list in my pocket here. I know we have: Blues Traveler, Sheryl Crow, hopefully we are going to have Jamrioqui, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, and Smashing Pumpkins.
Reporter: Any of these bands you've personally listened to? And what do you like about any of these bands?
Keith: Some of them. I know all of them. I'm not particularly familiar with Dave Matthews, but I'm familiar with all the rest. It'll be good. It's fun to have a lot of different people opening.
[Sachin's note: The band also mentioned that they will be playing a mix of
small and large venues. All of these dates were flashed on a screen and I
just copied them and writing them exactly how they were. Thanks. Yes, no
state intials were given, it was MTV. Sorry.]
Bridges to Baylon Tour:
9/23/97 Soldier Field; Chicago - Blues Travelor opening
9/27/97 The Ohio Stadium; Columbus
9/30/97 Winnipeg Stadium; Winnipeg
10/2/97 Commonwealth Stadium; Edmonton
10/6/97 Camp Randall Stadium; Madison
10/8/97 Rich Stadium; Buffalo
10/10/97 Hippodrome de Quebec; Quebec City
10/12/97 Veterans Stadium; Philadelphia
10/16/97 Giants Stadium; New York
10/20/97 Foxboro Stadium; Boston
10/23/97 Jack Kent Cooke Stadium; DC
10/26/97 Vanderbilt Stadium; Nashville
10/28/97 Owen Fieldd; Norman
10/30/97 University of New Mexico; Alberquerque
11/1/97 Texas Motor Speedway; Fort Worth
11/2/97 Sun Devil Stadium; Los Angeles
11/9/97 Dodger Stadium; Los Angeles
11/14/97 Oakland Stadium; Oakland
11/22/97 MGM Grand Garden Arena; Las Vegas
11/26/97 Kingdome; ?
11/28/97 BC Place Stadium; Vancouver
12/2/97 Silverdome; Detroit
12/5/97 Homestead Racetrack; Miami
12/9/97 Georgia Dome; Atlanta
12/11/97 TWA Dome; St. Louis
1/9/98 Skydome; Toronto
1/13/98 Olympic Stadium; Montreal
1/17/98 Aloha Stadium; Hawaii
1/24/98 HHH Metrodome; Minneapolis
1/30/98 Rose Garden; Portland
2/3/98 Qualcomm St.; San Diego
2/14/98 Autodromo; Mexico
August 16, 1997
Tell 'em Stevie!
mtv - "what's it meant to you to have some of your songs covered by people like Hole and smashing pumpkins... hows that been?"
stevie - "i look at it as an incredible honor...becaus they - billy and courtney - sort of personally have intoduced me back to another gernation music i that im really not involved in
lindsey - "its interesting the time goes by...and that someone the caliber of billy corgan - i mean he has alot going on - and uhhh... that he would be declaring that fleetwood mac is not the enemy any more."
August 15, 1997
Oh, come on...
The Pumpkins are being sued for $200,000 for breaking $200,000 worth of cameras at a show earlier this year in New York. We don't know if it was the Pumpkins, or the management, but both are being sued. More info. will be up here as it comes to us.
August 14, 1997
Nail Polish Galour
Michelle from the Unofficial Hard Candy and Urban Decay Web Page told me some really interesting stuff about the nail polish that James sometimes wears (like when he modeled for Anna Sui). James was seen wearing Hard Candy and Uban Decay's "radium"--a sort of "tangy" blue nail polish found at your nearest department store.
August 13, 1997
Little Pumpkin Feets soon to be running around
Well, from what I hear and have seen - Guess who might be pregnant. Yep, D'Arcy AND Yelena! We heard about D'Arcy from OUT radio station in Chicago. This is what people weekly said about Yelena and Billy's little pumpkin head:
Baby Pumpkin?
Rocker Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins may be headed for fatherhood! A source
close to the band tells me that Corgan's girlfriend photographer Yelena Yemchuk is reported to
be in her first trimester with the little Corgan. While neither father nor mother are answering
questions concerning the new family member, the baby is said to be due sometime in March. Let's hope this one has a full head of hair...
July 24, 1997
What?!? MORE Video Music Awards?
Yeah, it's true! The pumpkins have been nominated for FOUR, (not seven this year), FOUR video nomiations for the MTV Video Music Awards. All nominations are for the video "The End is the Beginning is the End". Wow, that year sure went by quick! Here is a list of what the guys are up for:
Best Cinematography In A Video
Eels - "Novocaine For The Soul"
Jamiroquai - "Virtual Insanity"
Nine Inch Nails - "The Perfect Drug"
Smashing Pumpkins - "The End Is The Beginning Is The End"
Best Editing In A Video
Beck - "Devils Haircut"
Jamiroquai - "Virtual Insanity"
Smashing Pumpkins - "The End Is The Beginning Is The End"
The Wallflowers - "One Headlight"
Best Special Effects In A Video
Eels - "Novocaine For The Soul"
Jamiroquai - "Virtual Insanity"
Marilyn Manson - "The Beautiful People"
Smashing Pumpkins - "The End Is The Beginning Is The End"
Will Smith - "Men In Black"
Best Direction In A Video
Beck - "The New Pollution"
Missy Elliot - "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)"
Jamiroquai - "Virtual Insanity"
Nine Inch Nails - "The Perfect Drug"
Smashing Pumpkins - "The End Is The Beginning Is The End"
July 20, 1997
IT'S A SCREAM BABY!
Wow! From what my ears have heard. Guess who will be on the Scream 2 soundtrack?!? Guess! Yep, you got it. The Pumpkins! I'm SO excited. Now wait. Don't get your hopes up, knowing how something happened. This *might* not be 100% sure. Every new detail about this will be up here ASAP. I'm SO happy. The best movie ever and the best band together!
July 13, 1997
ALLSTAR
Kelley Deal admits that when she first contacted Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach about collaborating with him, he wasn't exactly a fan of her work. "Oh no, he didn't even know who I was," she says. "But he had heard the [Breeders'] 'Cannonball' song, I think, which he liked. At first, I don't think that he even understood anything. I don't think that he... cared. But we just hit it off." The reason she contacted him originally, she says, is because she saw his picture in a magazine and felt an affinity for him. "It was about 'Hair Bands: Where Are They Now?'" she says. "Some treatment people I was hanging out with are way into metal. And I'm not a metal fan -- not like that. I'm not into the makeup, Poison, Great White, any of that stuff. I don't even like Skid Row. But I am a fan of Sebastian Bach's. He's a great singer, like an opera guy. And also what really got me was in that [magazine], there was a picture of Sebastian, and he was sitting like... he was on the bed in his bedroom, and he was just like this: [she slouches sadly]. And it just... I felt an affinity toward him. He's so uncool -- right now, this 15 seconds here -- he's in his bedroom, where I spend most of my time, recently. And I just really felt an affinity toward him. So I called some dude in the biz and I said, 'I want to do a duet with Sebastian Bach.' 'Yeah right.' That's exactly what he did. I said, 'No, I'm serious.' So managers and faxes... And he called me and we've just been talking ever since."... Meanwhile, one of Deal's other bandmates in the Last Hard Men, ex-Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, has been preoccupied with other, uh, hobbies. "He's really busy now," says Deal. "He's doing race car stuff. And I guess he's really good at it. It's a big deal. He's already been on ESPN and shit."
July 12, 1997
Jonathan
Today was the one year anniversary (?) of the death of Jonathan Melvoin
July 11, 1997
No Fruity
I told you about a possible collaboration with Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan Marilyn Manson, & in demand computer Guy Chris Vrenna called Fairy -- well turns out Vrenna’s too busy to even help with the Pumpkins anymore -- He’ll be spending his time working on a solo album from Guns n Roses Axl Rose instead?!?! Corgan wasn’t real happy about being dumped for Axl -- so he’s axed the project & we’ll never hear Fairy.
July 3, 1997
Kelly Deal: in ground we trust
Kelly Deal has teamed up with The Smashing Pumpkins' D'Arcy Wretzky to cover Rod Stewart's '70s hit, 'Tonight's The Night'. The cover is destined for a Rod Stewart tribute album currently being put together. D'Arcy joins Deal's side project, The Last Hard Men, who also feature Skid Row's Sebastian Bach. The Pumpkins bassist sings backing vocals in French on the track. Last year, The Last Hard Men contributed a cover of Alice Cooper's 'School's Out' to the soundtrack of Scream. here's still no news on when Atlantic will release the band's debut album. Kelley Deal's other band, The Kelley Deal 6000, will make its full-length debut with 'Boom, Boom, Boom', on Agust 26th.
July 2, 1997
Pumpkins' Iha Mulls Solo Project
Addicted to Noise
Although recent rumors of two new Smashing Pumpkins albums were just that -- the work of an obsessive webhead -- a source inside the Pumpkins camp did confirm Monday that guitarist James Iha has been thinking about a solo album. The ax-grinder, perpetually in the shadow of Billy Corgan, hasn't yet started recording any tracks for the project and it's still unclear whether it would come out on the Pumpkins' label, Virgin or Iha's own imprint, Scratchie Records...
In other Pumpkins news, those same insiders would neither "confirm nor deny" a report in the Chicago Tribune that had Filter drummer Matt Walker officially joining the band. "His status hasn't changed," was the response. "Matt is the tour drummer. The Pumpkins do not have a permanent drummer." Sure sounds like a denial...
July 1, 1997
Chicago Tribune
The Pumpkins will begin working with Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Red Red Meat, That Dog) in August on a new album that will likely take them in a more subdued, acoustic direction. The band hopes to have the record released in spring 1998.