Jan 14th 98	Jan 15th 98	Jan 17th 98
Jan 22nd 98	Feb 9th 98	Feb 10th 98
Feb 13th 98	Feb 14th 98	Feb 17th 98
Feb 21st 98	Feb 24th 98	Feb 25th 98
Feb 26th 98	March 24th 98

(If you use the above "anchors", click the BACK button to
get back to the top of the page)

May 22, 1998
Lisa Germano Leaves Smashing Pumpkins Tour

The Smashing Pumpkins and Lisa Germano have decided to go their separate ways in Germany, just as the Pumpkins' European tour got underway. As previously reported in allstar, multi- instrumentalist Germano was expected to play several unconventional European venues from May 14 through June 9 with the Chicago- based act and five other hired guns, including drummer Kenny Aronoff, keyboardist Mike Garson, and percussionists Dan Morris and Stephen Hodges. However, the pairing of Germano and the Pumpkins ended before the first date of the tour in Hamburg, Germany at Speilbudenplatz. A spokesperson for Germano says that after rehearsing with the band in Chicago and in England in early May, she was asked to leave the tour by the Pumpkins, but was never told why, other than "it just isn't working out." The spokesperson also says that Germano heard that the Pumpkins allegedly told reporters during a recent European press conference that the reason behind the split was because they had a fight, which is untrue, according to Germano. While the Pumpkins continue touring in Europe, followed by dates in Australia, Japan, and North America, Germano is expected to start a club or coffeehouse tour of her own in late July and August in support of her upcoming album, Slide, which is due out on July 21 on 4AD Records. pokespersons for the Pumpkins could not be reached for comment at press time

March 24, 1998
Virgin Records Canada
New information...

The first single & video from "adore" will be put into rotation on APRIL 27th. (This is NOT the date of which it will appear in record stores)

February 27, 1998
Billy Corgan Says Fans May Be Surprised By Next Pumpkin's LP
MTV

Head Pumpkin Billy Corgan had a lot to say to MTV News recently about his band's highly anticipated next record. Foremost in his mind, Corgan says that he feels listeners will not be able to readily categorize Smashing Pumpkins' upcoming body of work.

Says Corgan, "When people ask what this album was like, I use the word "arcane," 'cause I think that it seems to sum up the music best. Itıs kind of like music from the past, but done in a futuristic way. And I think there's natural elements on the album and there are synthetic elements on the album."

He continues, "It's like taking all the textures of all past music and trying to apply it to a kind of new song form and it's all just very songy. There's not a lot of guitar, I think there is one guitar solo, that lasts four seconds."

So what can we expect? "I think people are going to be surprised by the kind of reversal in a lot of ways, but the people that say it's acoustic will be wrong. The people that say it's electronic will be wrong. The people that say it's a Pumpkins' record will be wrong. I will try to make something that is indescribable

Smashing Pumpkins' new album is due out in late May. >>

February 26, 1998
Pumpkins win a grammy!

Yep, the Pumpkins won a grammy at last night's Grammy awards. They won Best Hard Rock for "The End is the Beginning is the End".

February 25, 1998
Pumpkins sued by Virgin
Undercover Rock News

Virgin Records are suing Smashing Pumpkins for the failure to deliver albums under their contract. To date they should have made seven albums for Virgin but have so far only delivered three. Apparently not counted is the rarities album, the singles boxed set, plus solo albums from James Iha and the forthcoming Billy Corgan release. Virgin are also counting "Infinite Sadness" as one although it was a double.That should bring the total to eight. The new Pumpkins album will be released in May. Q Managment, who represent The Pumkins are preceeding along the lines that Virgin will be releasing the album. The album is titled "Adore".

February 24, 1998
Pumpkins Album Nearly Finished
Addicted to Noise

The Smashing Pumpkins are in the final stage of recording their upcoming album, Adore, which will feature several tracks of the band playing with a drum machine, as well as one song produced by one-time Beastie Boys' producer Rick Rubin.
"They have at least a couple of more weeks of work left on it," said Gayle Fine, the band's publicist, on Tuesday.
Among the musicians joining leader Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy on the album are former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and Beck's drummer, Joey Waronker, who play on an undisclosed number of tracks. Former Filter drummer, Matt Walker, who left the band following the Pumpkins' Dec. 5 slot opening for the Rolling Stones, is not expected to be featured on the new release.
However, it is a drum machine that will provide the rhythm tracks for many of the songs slated for the album, according to Fine. This marks the first time the Pumpkins have made use of a drum machine in place of a drummer for the majority of an album's tracks "The other drummer on the album is a drum machine," Fine said.
The publicist confirmed the titles of three songs slated for inclusion on the album, "Ava Adore," "To Sheila" and "Let Me Give the World To You," the latter of which was produced by superstar producer (and American Recordings founder) Rick Rubin (Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys, Tom Petty).
The Pumpkins have performed "To Sheila" several times over the past year, including an acoustic version at last year's Bridge School Benefit concert -- organized annually by Neil Young -- although Fine said the final version of the song "may not necessarily sound like it did when they performed it live."
Corgan produced the album, which is slated for a late May release and is scheduled to feature 14 tracks. Although the Pumpkins recorded a number of songs with Chicago producer Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Ben Lee) in Chicago before de-camping for L.A. several months ago, Fine said it was unclear if any of those tracks will make it onto the final release.
Wood, who said he spent two months working on six songs with the Pumpkins -- none of which were completed before the band left for L.A. -- described his studio time with them as "incredible." Wood first worked with Corgan as co-producer on a 1990 single by Chicago band Catherine. "Billy [Corgan] just has an unbelievable work ethic," Wood said. "He is no nonsense, no bullshit. He's just relentless, and I think he'll be here forever. He'll be making music until he's 1,600 years old."
Wood said Corgan's description of the album's sound as "arcane night music" perfectly reflects the tunes he heard. "We were talking about it as 'night music' then," he said. "It's definitely music to listen to all through the night."
No tour plans have been confirmed yet, Fine added.

February 21, 1998
Pumpkin Tidbits

*James' album was number 173 on billboard, and sold 7,000 copies in the first week
*Are you on aol? Well, James will be doing an interview on February 26. You can get more information here. Sorry, it's only for people on aol.
*The grammies will be on this week, be sure to look for them nominated for 'best hard rock song' for TEITBITE.

*Billy will be doing an interview during the pre-show before the grammies. So don't miss it!

February 17, 1998
Smashing Pumpkins Collaborate With Nitzer Ebb Alumnus
Allstar Magazine

We all know that the Smashing Pumpkins will be tinkering with "electronica" quite a lot on their next album, but what we've just learned is that the man helping to integrate these sounds into the songs will be Bon Harris, formerly of Nitzer Ebb, one of the pioneers of techno/ industrial music.
"Just before Christmas, I ran into Billy at a party in L.A.," says Harris, who's been in an L.A. studio with the Pumpkins for the past month. "Billy wanted to experiment with electronics, which is a new area for them, so he wanted extra input. We got to talking and we've talked on various occassions about collaborating, and he said he was interested in me taking away some songs and interpreting them my way.
So I did that, and he liked it. Then I went to the studio and he gave me another song, and he liked that too, and I've been here ever since."
Harris describes the album as being "very broad. It goes from quite extremes at the moment," he adds, "but it's not finished yet. It could change. Billy's very fluid like that.
It's definitely a new direction, he's trying a lot of new things, but it's still very recognizably Smashing Pumpkins.
"It's a logical progression in a lot of ways," he continues. "This electronica thing is happening, but there aren't a lot of really interesting songs or good songwriting. No one has combined those two elements to a satisfactory degree since David Bowie or Iggy Pop."
While Corgan has a reputation for being at times difficult to work with in the studio, Harris says it's been smooth sailing for him. "He's very easy to work with," he says. "It's one of those situations where you can't take those things personally. He's very driven and he has every right to want to do things a certain way. But I've been enjoying myself here."
Harris also says that producer Flood, who's worked with U2, among others, is slated to join the band in the studio to work on the album as well.
Meanwhile, Harris has about half of an album already written for his new project, Maven, which features former Ethyl Meatplow leader John Napier on guitar and electronic input. Harris is currently talking with various labels and finishing up demos for the album, in which he's hoping Flood and possibly Corgan may be involved in some capacity.

Febuary 14, 1998
Pumpkin's New Drummer
Q101 Radio
Thanks to Sarah for the info.

"The Smashing Pumpkins have not hired a permanent replacement for drummer Matt Walker, who left in November. A spokesperson for the band confirmed that Beck's drummer, Joey Waronker, is currently working on the Pumpkins next album in a Los Angeles studio."

Febuary 13, 1998
James on MTV Live

James was on MTV Live yesturday . I taped the show and will have the transcript up in the next couple of days.

February 10, 1998
LET IT COME DOWN

James Iha's debut album "Let it Come Down" was released in stores today. Go out and get it now! For more information on the album, go here.
James was on MTV live today talking about the new album. I missed it. So, that's all the information I have.

February 9, 1998
Rockline

James was on Rockline today discussing his new album. If anybody has the transcript and/or the tape. Please send me an email.
For more information on Rockline, you can go to there website.

January 22, 1998
Quote (Unquote): Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha
Addicted to Noise

..On accepting awards.
"When we're doing one of those TV award things, I just don't want to say something stupid." -- James Iha, guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins, on dealing with the pressures of stardom.

January 17, 1998
Billy Corgan To Play 'Surprise' Solo Acoustic Set At L.A.'s Viper Room
MTV

Corgan Acoustic In L.A. Billy Corgan The Viper Room in Los Angeles has confirmed that Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins will be playing a solo acoustic set at the club Thursday, January 15 'sometime after 11 pm.'

The show was announced Wednesday by KROQ radio, and the station has been giving away tickets hourly. Tickets will be available at the door, but no reservations or advance tickets are available, thus a long line up is expected. Tickets will cost $10.

No details regarding the setlist were available, but the show is being billed as a one-time-only completely acoustic, solo appearance by Corgan. A club spokesperson says the set is being staged by Corgan for fans only and no industry comp tickets or media passes are being issued. From MTV news-online

January 15, 1998
Pumpkins Recording Album Of 'Arcane Night Music'
Addicted to Noise

Addicted To Noise Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports : Even James Iha has a hard time describing the as-yet-untitled forthcoming Smashing Pumpkins album.

"It's more of a down record," the Pumpkins guitarist told Addicted To Noise, taking a break from the Pumpkins' L.A. recording sessions. "It's less about rock this time."

The album, being produced by band mastermind Billy Corgan and mixed by Flood -- who co-produced the Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and has worked with U2 and Depeche Mode -- is expected to be out in late May or early June.

The album is two-thirds complete, and Corgan has described the sound of the new recordings as "arcane night music," according to Pumpkins publicist Gayle Fine.

Iha said his upcoming solo album, Let It Come Down (Feb. 10), a collection of power-pop ballads, does not foreshadow the Pumpkins' new material. "It doesn't sound like my record," Iha said. "It's sort of half-organic, half-electronic. But really it's sort-of hard to say what it is."

Among the songs Iha and the Pumpkins previewed at last year's Bridge School benefit concerts were the baroque, melancholy love songs "To Sheila" and "Never Apart."

Lisa Klipsic of the Chicago band Glow spent several days with Corgan and the band in September, when the Pumpkins leader came in to produce a song for Glow tentatively titled "The New Wave Crush Song."

"People don't want to like him, but he's so nice," said Klipsic of Corgan, who arrived at the band's loft with a crew of engineers and equipment in tow for the day-long session. "He's incredibly busy, but the fact that he was taking time to work on our song while working on his own record was really great."

During the collaboration, Klipsic and her bandmates were invited to come down to the Chicago studio where the Pumpkins were recording at the time (they moved to a Los Angeles studio in December). Corgan told Klipsic that he was interested in any suggestions that she or her bandmates might have for improving the Pumpkins' material.

"He was definitely encouraging people that he'd worked with in the past or who could complement the music to bring ideas forward," she said.

Corgan brought a few songs that the Pumpkins had finished to the Glow sessions, tunes Klipsic described as "100 percent beautiful."

Although she didn't know the titles, Klipsic said one track was a slow, mostly acoustic love song fit for a sacred event, such as a wedding or, she corrected herself, "[something] beyond a wedding."

Klipsic also described the sonic textures of the two songs she heard, which Corgan burned onto a CD for her at the end of the day, as "a perfect combination of the instruments. Not something that sounded like it was made piece-by-piece, but that just exists."

Among the things that struck her about Corgan during their collaboration, she said, was that the Pumpkins leader was clearly interested in establishing an open dialogue with her band. "I think it really reflected the way he's recording his record right now," she said. "There [was] definitely an open-door policy on [the] recording sessions when we were around him. Before it always seemed more intense."

January 14, 1998
Smashing News
Reported by Devon Snider

Pumpkin Sightings U2, Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth entered a Los Angeles Studio to record vocal tracks for an upcoming Simpson's Episode entitled, "Trash of the Titans". The ecologically-themed show is scheduled for airing sometime in May 1998.

The Pumpkins have been in LA recording their new album. Jimmy Flemion, Dennis Flemion, Matt Cameron, Marilyn Manson, and Chris Connelly have been see in and around the recording studio. The album still untitled, and is still scheduled for release in the Spring.

Maybe from the influence of Al Unser Jr., Billy has bought himself a brand new, cherry red Ferrari.

"I don't want to intellectualize about the album, because if you intellectualize about rock music, you end up sounding like Billy Corgan. And that's the last person I want to sound like." -- Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day.

"You can't dance to the Smashing Pumpkins. -- Stephanie Perking of Jane's Addiction

"I saw him play and went back to meet him, we traded numbers, and whenever he was in New York he'd come over and hang out," Octane says of his rapport with the Smashing Pumpkins leader. "I know and trust his talent and his philosophy, so I thought it was natural to ask him to produce. I knew he would take it under his own wing; I wanted him to I knew it couldn't be wrong because he feels it from the heart. It was a real thrill for me to have someone I respect take my work, think about it and then do something with it." -- Rich Octane