 Pumpkins say band's more stable now As modern rock's most dysfunctional family, the SmashingPumpkins have longbeen considered the combo most likely to implode. Bassist D'arcy once said of being in the band, "It's like beingmarried withfour people you never even wanted to date." Divorce seemed all butinevitable. Fans of the band held their breath, then , when the Pumpkins'back-upkeyboardist was found dead in his hotel room July 12. Drummer JimmyChamberlin was arrested on misdemeanor drug possession charges afterallegedly shooting heroin with the keyboardist, Jonathan Melvoin. To many, it sounded like the blast that would trigger thegroup's demise. But the band didn't fold. It got angry. The group fired Chamberlin and hired Filter drummer Matt Walkerfor theremainder of the tour. Frogs founder Dennis Flemion was added onkeyboards. "I mean, everything that happened, it was real sad, but it wasalso verystupid and very senseless. And we're very angry with Jimmy." D'arcysaidfrom Las Vegas, where the Pumpkins played their first date sinceMelvoin'sdeath and Chamberlin's arrest. "It was the last straw, you know. The drugs were not theproblem, but morelike a symptom. It was just like a wake-up call-this is not going to befixed," she said. "He really just screwed up a lot of stuff for us, andcostus hundreds of thousands of dollars." Necessity not the reason It wasn't imperative that the band press on. Mellon Collie andthe InfiniteSadness, the group's fourth release, has emerged as one of the year'sgreatest commercial and critical successes. A sonically intricate albumwithas many delicate ballads as squalling guitar track, the album has sold 6million copies. With its songs all over the radio and videos still in heavy MTVrotation(and up for a few honors in this month's MTV Music Video Awards), thegroupdidn't need to continue touring. But the other three Pumpkins, front man Billy Corgan, guitaristJames Ihaand D'arcy, wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible. "It's just not the band Jimmy affected," D'arcy explained. "Hundreds ofpeople's livelihoods are dependent on this tour." "We had to move forward. We worked eight years to get to thispoint. Tohave it all thrown away......for what?" The Chicago combo has worked its way up from clubs to arenas,honing itsalbum-rock ambitions into a brilliant blend of thick distortion, airymelodiesand infectious pop hooks. Its eight-year climb has been fraught withinfighting, from D'arcy's romantic split with Iha to Corgan's unpopulardecision to play all the instruments himself on Siamese Dream. Despite the distractions, the group reached an art-pop apex onMellonCollie, an opus members admit could be hard to top. At least now theyfeelthey have a shot. Instability's gone With Chamberlin out of the fold, D'arcy describes a band that nolonger hasto spend much of its time wondering whether its drummer will show. "There's no way we could have gone forward if we had kept Jimmyon," D'arcysaid. "We didn't trust him. We were worrying constantly." She says other tensions within the group have also eased sinceChamberlinwas fired. The band's predicted implosion now seems less imminent. "We've been around for eight, nine years now, and people havebeen spreadingrumors like that ever since we came together," the bassist said. "Howmanyof the bands that are contemporaries are still around? Pearl Jam playseverynow and then...." "We just always really put the music first. That was the onething Jimmywas having a hard time with. He seemed to have other things going onthatwere more important to him." "I feel so much better now," D'arcy said. "Before, I alwaysfelt, like younever knew what was going to happen. It seemed much more volatile." "Now I feel like we could go on forever." |