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“May be the hardest thing I’ve ever done” – Billy Corgan

MonteLDS — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:34:54 +0000

Billy Corgan is still working hard on his spiritual memoir titled God is Everywhere From Here to There. A fan asked him how the book was going, to which he replied, “writing this book may be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

As previously reported, Billy hired research assistant Lea Clyburn to help on the book. Apparently, he hired her back in September 2011 and she spoke to her university about it in a video interview in November.

Act IV & ThePumpkins.net “SP: The Early Years” cover contest adds new category and new judge

MonteLDS — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:41:13 +0000

The submission date for the Act IV & ThePumpkins.net cover contest has come and gone. You can now listen to all the entries here and you, the fan, will soon be able to vote on a single favorite cover. A committee made up of representatives from across the SP Fan Online Community will vote for the ‘Best Cover Song’.

A new category has been added called “Best New Interpretation of a Song” and will be judged by none other than Billy Corgan himself. The winner will receive a special prize that will be announced later on.

Below is the official announcement from ACT IV and ThePumpkins.net

After two months of promotions, and SP fans coming together to breathe life into covers of their favorite Pumpkins tunes from the Pre-Gish era to Siamese Dream and Pisces Iscariot (1988-1994), the deadline for submissions has now passed for the SP Early Years Cover Song Contest. With over 30 SP covers submitted, the contest surpasses the number of submissions that were received for the Act IV/ThePumpkins.net Zeitgeist Cover Song Contest. The organizers would like to thank everyone who submitted tracks for making this contest a smashing success! (forgive the pun)

But it’s not over yet, now Smashing Pumpkins fans worldwide are invited to vote on their favorite tracks. The result will be a “Fan Favorite Cover”. Representatives from the SP Online Fan Community also will come together as a selection committee to determine the “Best Cover Song”. Both winners will receive copies of the Gish and Siamese Dream deluxe re-issues, copies of Ghost Children 1 and 2, as well as a spot on the extended version of the Ghost Children/Machines of God digital EP, which is being given away for free with purchases of Ghost Children 2.

And just when you thought that was it, the organizers would like to announce a brand new category and a special new judge. In addition to the first two categories, there will be a brand new category, “Best New Interpretation of a Song”. To determine the winner of this new category, the selection committee will be aided by a special guest judge.

The organizers are pleased to announce that our special guest judge for the “Best New Interpretation of a Song” is none other than BILLY CORGAN himself. The selection committee will be helping Billy narrow down the field of entries for the category, while Billy will make the final determination of what song wins “Best New Interpretation of A Song”. The full list of prizes has not been determined for the new category, but the winner will secure an additional spot on the Ghost Children/Machines of God EP.

Act IV and ThePumpkins.net would like to thank our sponsors for the continued support of the contest: Blamo.org/Siva, Crestfallen.com, Ozphoria, SPFreaks, Starla.org, Neil Main )Ghost Children creator), Ashley Fahey (former webmaster of the SP UK fan group), and Nameless Entity Media.

The organizers would also like to extend a very special thanks to Billy Corgan for helping us with this very special contest. The organizers are aiming to announce the winners of the contest on March 17–which just so happens to be Billy Corgan’s birthday. Stay tuned for any updates or changes as they develop.

To listen to all the covers for the SP Early Years Cover Song Contest and eventually vote for your favorite, you can go here: http://thepumpkins.net/contests/78-sp-the-early-years-cover-song-contest

The Smashing Pumpkins release Webisode #2 – Rhinoceros

MonteLDS — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:45:13 +0000

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.

James Iha plays his first solo show in over 11 years

MonteLDS — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:57:25 +0000

The last time James Iha took stage to play his own solo songs was October 25th 2001 in a clothing store in Japan. And today (Japan’s yesterday) James played a short 5 song set list, which included his single “Be Strong Now” from his first solo album.

There are no upcoming tour dates from James Iha, but according to his website, his new album Look to the Sky will be released in Japan first and later this year to the rest of the world.

Guest Blog: Getting Freaky!

geofolkers — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:39:06 +0000

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

MonteLDS — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:55:31 +0000

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.

Billy Corgan pokes fun at eager fans waiting for Oceania

MonteLDS — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:43:41 +0000

A fan eagerly awaiting the release of Oceania asked Billy on twitter “how many hours away from Oceania??” to which Billy replied “Oceania is here with you right now…just cup your hand over your ear and you can hear the call of the Ocean…eannaaaa…”

For anyone who doesn’t know, Billy is quite the comedian.

The Smashing Pumpkins release a Webisode about the song Daydream

MonteLDS — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:42:56 +0000

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 1^st 2011 and that Daydream was only 1 of a number of songs heard in the originally video that was posted on Nov 29^th 2011. We can only hope that maybe more might be on the way soon!

Pisces Iscariot b-disc sequence completed

MonteLDS — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:01:47 +0000

~~With~~ The release of the re-issued Pisces Iscariot WAS ~~expected~~ to hit stores on Record Store day this year (see update). Billy Corgan informed fans via twitter that he had “Just finished sequencing Pisces Iscariot b-disc,” and said that it was ”Looking good” and he was “feeling good about it.”

UPDATE: We have just been informed that the re-issue date for Pisces Iscariot will not be record store day. A new release date has yet to be revealed.

The Smashing Pumpkins’ Facebook & Twitter accounts suggest watching their official YouTube page

MonteLDS — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:28:51 +0000

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!