Category Archives: Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins release Webisode #2 – Rhinoceros
The Smashing Pumpkins posted their 2nd webisode today on their official YouTube page. Last week, the band released a webisode about Daydream, and today the band released one about Rhinoceros – a song that Billy says he doesn’t really remember writing. He explains how a lot of the Pumpkins’ older songs started as just a riff and figuring out how to take that one riff and one vocal idea and turn it into a whole song. This description is then followed by an incredible performance of Rhinoceros. This is the first known live performance of the song since December 2nd 2000, and its 85th known full performance.
Guest Blog: Getting Freaky!
Check out our latest guest blog about the Smashing Pumpkins collection site SPFreaks.com!
To us, The Smashing Pumpkins are not just about music. They are something original. The Pumpkins music has a moving aesthetic appeal and has an emotional impact with meaning. The music resonates in ways often we can not explain. It’s just noise. But it’s the Pumpkins emotional energy and skill behind the noise that has the power to transport the listener to shift their consciousness. To offer inspiration and dream…Click here to read more
Flashback Friday: Lull EP
The Smashing Pumpkins Lull EP was released on November 5th 1991, and is a collection of four songs Rhinoceros, Blue, Slunk and Bye June. On the Lull EP, Rhinoceros was shortened since the feedback at the end was cut out. Bye June was originally released on the Moon demo tape.
Billy wrote about Lull in the Pisces Iscariot notes: “the lull e.p which was really supposed to be a single but they tricked me.”
The artwork was designed by Tanya, D’arcy and James and contains fragments of lyrics from Obscured.
The Smashing Pumpkins release a Webisode about the song Daydream
The Smashing Pumpkins earlier this week posted that fans should keep an eye on the Pumpkins official YouTube page. Today the day after Valentine’s Day the Pumpkins posted a video that was part of a different video that was released in conjunction of the upcoming Gish & Siamese Dream re-issue. This new video titled Smashing Pumpkins Webisode #1 – Daydream is footage of Billy talking about the song and then followed by a full performance of the song.
In it almost 5 minute long video Billy says that the sound for Daydream was a “complete rip off of the My Bloody Valentine style”. He tells a great little story about how he picked up the My Bloody Valentine album Isn’t Anything and how he shared it with James.
We also noticed that this video was uploaded on December 1st 2011 and that Daydream was only 1 of a number of songs heard in the originally video that was posted on Nov 29th 2011. We can only hope that maybe more might be on the way soon!
The Smashing Pumpkins’ Facebook & Twitter accounts suggest watching their official YouTube page
If you haven’t already liked the Smashing Pumpkins on Facebook or followed them on Twitter, you might have missed a message suggesting that they may be adding something new to the Smashing Pumpkins’ official YouTube page.
This might have to do with extended footage from the video about the Gish and Siamese Dream re-issues. Or it could be something new and surprising all together!
Flashback Friday: The Aeroplane Flies High
After the largely successful release of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the Smashing Pumpkins’ next major release was a box set of all five singles from the album. The Aeroplane Flies High (TAFH) box set was named after the song featured on the Pumpkins’ last single Thirty-Three.
The release included all of the songs from the multi-singles releases, as well as a number of previously unreleased covers such as Clones (We’re All), A Night Like This and Destination Unknown.
TAFH topped the Billboard chart at #42 in 1996 and was certified both Gold & Platinum on January 27th 1997. Rolling Stone gave TAFH four stars out of five when it was released.
The art work and design of the box was done by Frank Olinsky who was also the art designer for Mellon Collie. Originally, there were four different designs submitted to Billy Corgan, as well as a prototype box (as seen in the picture on the left). The prototype was apparently left behind by Billy Corgan in a dressing room after a Smashing Pumpkins concert. The box was later sold on eBay.
The box set was originally limited to 200,000 pressings, but this was extended to an additional 250,000 according to SPfreaks.com
Smashing Pumpkins Covers
Quilt by Susan Falkowski
As of late, the Smashing Pumpkins’ twitter feed has been tweeting and re-tweeting covers of SP songs. Even Billy Corgan re-tweeted a young band that did a cover of Rhinoceros at a school talent show.
Today, we learned that students and alumni from the Berklee College of Music (which is the school Mike Byrne was saving money for before joining SP) released a record under the school’s record company Heavy Rotation Records with a cover of Today.
With all these covers, we would like to remind you that ACT IV & ThePumpkins.net are currently running a Smashing Pumpkins cover contest and that entries will be accepted until the 21st of February. You can learn more about the contest and prizes here.
Check out a couple of pictures of the quilt here 1, 2, 3, 4.
Billy Corgan talks with Classic Rock Magazine
Billy Corgan talked with Classic Rock magazine about the Smashing Pumpkins’ past.
The article focused on the band’s internal environment from the rise of the Pumpkins to being “king of the castle” of grunge during the Mellon Collie era. On the difficulty of the band’s chemistry at times, Billy said that “It was not fun being in a band with two drug addicts and one major pain in the ass…That wasn’t me, by the way. I was the other pain in the ass.” Billy also mentions that Sharon Osbourne and him are “cool” now and “have made up and… hung out.”
When writer Dave Everley brought up Corgan’s past proclamation that “Rock is Dead”, Billy responded by saying “Ha! I just said it to be a pain in the ass. But I was being honest, I did see where it was ending. What surprises me is that 15 years later, it hasn’t really come back…”
When asked about the theme for Oceania, Billy said that “Isolation seems to be the theme. Oceania – there’s something about the idea of being an island, or being an astronaut. A sense of displacement.”
A big thanks to Ashley for sharing this interview with us.
Billy Corgan talks with Mojo Magazine
In the February issue of Mojo magazine, Billy Corgan talks about a number of topics. He mentions his father’s reaction to the release of Siamese Dream and how “he understood something was happening and became more supportive, but then he became bitter. He went on to say that his father is “very talented and [that] it was very hard for him. He almost treated it like it was a gimmick, like I’d gotten lucky. Now he is like my number one fan so we have had this whole journey with him.”
Billy talked about how Jimmy’s first days with the band saying “Right away I could tell it was almost like he was playing dumb. We had one heavyish song and he was playing it without breaking sweat when any other drummer would have been huffing and puffing, so it wasn’t too long before we sold our Jazz Chorus amps – which were the alternative amp of choice – and we got Marshall half-stacks. The louder we played, the louder he played. He was always one step ahead of us. There was nothing Jimmy couldn’t do. Jimmy is an incredible emotional interpreter of the song, He would bring these emotional swells, almost like an orchestral swish, to what we were doing.”
Mike Byrne interview with MusicRadar.com
In an interview with MusicRadar.com, Mike talks about when he became a fan of the Smashing Pumpkins and his reaction to becoming the band’s new drummer. When it came to recording in a studio for the first time, Mike said “I’d never been in a real professional studio so I had to learn the tricks of the trade and make it sound articulate like Jimmy was capable of doing.”
On a favorite moment while recording Oceania, Mike said it was when he was recording the drums for Quasar “by the time I was finished they called me into the control room and we’d done it on the first take. That was the happiest surprise of the three weeks. We did the whole record click free. There’s stuff that’s programmed but any time you hear acoustic kit is all click-less, which was a real interesting challenge but it makes the pockets seem much more natural.”
Mike ended by saying “around March you’ll start seeing us again, we’re not sure how exactly we’ll promote the record but it’ll be something extravagant”.
