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1991 - 1992
Billy later stated that in '92, "we were the best rockband that we
ever could have been." He felt that in this time period, the band had attack, style,
thinking, and aggressiveness.
January
Spiral Scratch magazine did an article on the Pumpkins entitled
"Fuck Off.. We're From Chicago!" The article describes Gish
explaining that Billy spent four months in the studio perfecting it. It also told that it
took from December 1990 until March 1991 and ended up costing $20,000, a modest budget
then. James was asked how Butch Vig was added to the project, "Just a phone call
really. People had suggested to us working with him before." In addition, the article
continues to draw upon the band's history and Billy describes the Marked as
"Hindu-influenced gloom."
February
Daughter was included on a 7"
one-sided flexidisk included only in subscriber copies of the April 4, 1992 issue of
Reflex magazine. This was the first issue to test the "subscriber only"
distribution method in hopes of raising sales, but the project failed and the magazine
shut down six months later. Therefore, the numbers of existing copies are extremely low.
Also, the track is identical to the one on the 1989 "Moon" demo tape.
March
Guitar Player magazine featured a profile on the band entitled
"Exploring the Outer Frequencies." Of special interest, Billy describes his take
on "Rhinoceros",
the song from Gish as "I recorded 17 tracks of feedback for that one. I wanted
it to sound like World War I airplanes dive-bombing around your head. I took three or four
guitars and put them through a stereo vibrato; then I took about six guitars through a
Leslie going the other way. I then unblended in some guitars to smooth things out."
On the
27th, Jimmy Chamberlin joined Pearl Jam
onstage for one song at the Alumni Hall in Milwaukee, WI.
On the 28th,
Billy, James, and D'Arcy came on stage during Pearl Jam's encore for two songs. Jimmy
Chamberlin had probably accompanied the band as well. They played "Window Paine"
and a cover of "I Got a Feeling" by the Beatles, D'Arcy's favorite band.
July
The band played at the Tourhout/Werchter Festival in Tourhout,
Belgium. They were asked at the last minute when Pearl Jam cancelled due to illness.
The band did two acoustic appearances. The first one was an in-store show
at Blackout Records in Chicago, on
the 11th. The second was on the 23rd
at the Cabaret Metro.
August
The band played at the Reading Festival in Reading, UK on
the 29th. The fest proved to be a very disastrous show and nearly led to a break-up. On the
"In Conversation" CD, Billy describes the show in frustration as "when
fifty-thousand people talk, you can definitely notice, so there's that pressure to really
be good. And then you know, you don't get a soundcheck, you're walking onto a big, huge
stage, you have people working there who normally don't work, your stuff, instead of being
ten feet away is twenty feet away, so it makes the sound different. And that's nobody's
fault, but if you get used to working under similar conditions, it all gets thrown to the
dogs." Billy smashed up his equipment during an ill-tempered set. Among it, was his
guitar and apparently it had struck the record company President in the head. Halfway up
the bill, the Pumpkins had been expected to "do a Nirvana" and liven up the
event similar to how the Seattle band had been the year before. It didn't occur, and sadly
the atmosphere of failure increased by the presence of Nirvana headlining slot the
following day. Billy later admitted that the band was upset at each other and "it was
one of a handful of times where we've let each other down."
September
However, touring had now taken its toll. Jimmy Chamberlain, the drummer,
was hitting the bottle. D'Arcy and James, who had been dating, had now broken up and were
finding life in a band intolerable. Billy was going mad.
Home - The Early Years -
Gish Era - Siamese Dream Era
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Era - Adore
Era
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