Maura over at Idolator.com tipped us off this morning to a new Smashing Pumpkins live cover from the young Mexican alt-rock band AUSTIN TV. And it features more bunnies that defy explanation. Check it out below, and follow along at Idolator for more coverage of the Mexican rock scene!
Remember when the singer from Scottish supporting act Twin Atlantic complained about being kept out of sight while the Smashing Pumpkins did a closed soundcheck before a February 2008 concert in Glasgow?
Well, the singer from Scottish supporting act the Twilight Sad has just complained about being kept out of sight while the Smashing Pumpkins did a closed soundcheck before an August 2007 concert in Glasgow. James Graham recounts the tale for blogger Ryan Hemsworth:
the smashing pumpkins were arseholes as they made us stand outside the venue until 30mins before the doors opened while they soundchecked. think they were scared that we would steal thier ideas, which we wouldnt cause they arnt even the smashing pumpkins anymore and that last record was rubbish.
There’s been a bit of buzz in the Latin American music world as Pepsi finalizes its schedule for the March 28th festival in Santiago at the Movistar Arena. Proceed with caution, however, given the band’s record with Latin American tours.
Though official confirmation evades me, various sites are promoting the Smashing Pumpkins as headliner with supporting acts to include Blondie, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, A-Ha, and… RICK ASTLEY?! Seriously, are they rick-rolling us?!
Has anyone spotted anything more official than the sites I’ve amusedly translated into English?
Here Billy Corgan rather amusingly tries to summarize for the CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos why he and Jimmy Chamberlin reformed as the Smashing Pumpkins in 2005. If you watch and listen to the video starting at the 4:35 mark, the portion transcribed below may actually make sense:
BC: Essentially we realized that you can’t not be a Smashing Pumpkin, us. We are Smashing Pumpkins. Just ’cause you say we’re not in the group anymore… Because Smashing Pumpkins…I don’t want to say it, like, “was us”, because that sounds possessive. What I mean was, Smashing Pumpkins was us because we created a band who we were. So how do you become who you’re not?
GS: And there’s an expectation that you’re supposed to be able to move on — but it’s moving on from you.
BC: That’s what was bizarre about it.
Here is a transcribed segment of George Stroumboulopoulos’s early November interview of the Smashing Pumpkins, which aired for the first time last night on CBC. You can watch the interview at CBC.ca to gain a fuller understanding (with tone of voice, hand gestures, etc.) of what was said; this segment begins at the 7:37 mark.
GS: When you have a moment of success, of fame, when you have a moment where you connect to an audience, and then the audience moves away from you or you move away from that, to try to jump back on that train is very difficult, and that –
Billy Corgan: But it’s also very profitable and it’s also culturally supported. Let’s face it, I mean, everybody is used to the sellout now. It’s not a big deal. Nobody even blinks. Nobody even blinks about the sellout. I mean, the list is endless of people who are on reality TV and just grabbing for any shred left of their, of their dignity, to maintain their public image.
GS: Did you guys have a sellout moment? Did you feel like you had that?
BC: Well, we were always populists, and I think that’s what made us really difficult to deal with in the ’90s. Where everybody else was playing this game of “integrity”, which we all knew was false, we basically said: “We’re populists.” We want to engage people right at the core of what they’re doing. People don’t understand our intention. Our intention is not to be popular; our intention is to work within popular medium to bring counterculture, radical…ideas into the mainstream.
GS: To bring Chicago to the mainstream, really, if you think about it. Those are values right from the center of the country, where you have to let that build.
BC: But it’s not culturally supported to be anti-career. You know what I mean? There are people who pretend to be anti-career as a career move. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot every time, and that’s the way we do it. Because, there’s nothing that… When you make, when you make an image more precious than your love, that’s death. That’s death. That’s why a bunch of people walking around the world looking like this [uses hands to push his face in two directions], like fuckin’ lizards, because they’re stuck on what they looked like when they were 22, they can’t let it go. We’re not stuck. We’re not stuck at all. We’re free, that’s what’s so crazy, it’s like we’ve found our freedom through complete nihilism. But it’s counterintuitive to a career. It’s counterintuitive to the guy who says, “Oh, you know, you were big in the ’90s” or whatever; who the fuck cares?
All Smashing Pumpkins friends and foes in the Great White Naaarth will be able to catch the Smashing Pumpkins on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos Tuesday, January 13th at 11pm EST.
The late-night TV host on CBC may be unaware of the unfettered ire directed at the band from CBC’s sister radio station, so let’s hope dear Kelly Bergeron is absent from the taping. More info on requesting tickets here; post a comment if you’re able to secure passes at this late hour! It seems as though the show has already been taped with Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin! Does anyone have any reports from the taping?
Thanks to SmashingPumpkins.com for the tip.
Of course, you say — “Friends” was an American program, after all. But there’s another factor: the Australian edition of Rolling Stone is a monthly, and in November 1996 its editors made the fateful decision to split its cover between a full-body picture of the naked starlet and a mug shot of…a certain interview subject.
If you haven’t already gotten enough Jeff Schroeder guitar-rig information, follow along as he guides readers of French mag Guitar Part on a video tour (part 1, part 2).
Thanks to HU reader JZ for the tip.
Yesterday, the Canadian public radio program “Q” dedicated fifteen minutes to a discussion of the question of whether concert attendees “deserve to hear the hits,” framing the discussion inside an at-times withering attack on the current tour by the Smashing Pumpkins (which, oddly, is a tour on which the Pumpkins are playing all of their biggest hits).
The entire “Q” program may be downloaded here (the segment begins just before the 18-minute mark). Below is a partial transcript focused on the material most relevant to the Pumpkins:
Jian Ghomeshi (”Q” host): “1979″ is probably the Pumpkins’ biggest hit, but if you’re hoping to hear it played during one of the reformed band’s live shows, you’re taking a chance. The Pumpkins aren’t often including their back catalog of hits on their setlists these days, a fact that has critics, bloggers, and fans alike charging them with being out of touch with their audience. The furor has gotten so bad that it’s been disrupting Smashing Pumpkins performances. Here’s a recent clip of Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan onstage in the band’s hometown of Chicago.
Billy Corgan (clip): You know, for 20 years we’ve tried to make people happy and failed again and again. It’s so confusing! Is it that we don’t play music? Do we not play music, is that what it is?
Jimmy Chamberlin (clip): Must be.
BC (clip): Oh, I get it, I get it. It’s that we don’t do what you want us to do, that’s what it is. That’s what it is. Sometimes crowds remind me of ex-girlfriends. And you, you remind me of this one that took a lot of my money and didn’t like me. And she told me she loved me, but she wasn’t really there for me. That’s what this reminds me of. It’s that kind of relationship, isn’t it?
JG: Ohh, Billy Corgan. Not making friends with his fans at that concert. Apparently not taking the criticism of the band not playing the hits too well. But this does bring us to a larger question: what responsibility do musicians have when it comes to giving the audience their money’s worth? Especially when those audiences are often paying top dollar for tickets with no money-back guarantee. Do the fans deserve to hear the hits? Is the band obligated to play that tune they may have grown…grown to dislike, but know the punters want to hear? Kelly Bergeron is a freelance journalist who saw the Smashing Pumpkins play earlier this month, and she joins me here in Studio Q, hello.
Kelly Bergeron: Hi.
JG: […] And Chris Murphy [of Sloan] is here, hello Chris, and both of you, say hello to Buffy Sainte-Marie. […] This Smashing Pumpkins tour has been billed as their 20th anniversary tour. Given the billing, do you think it’s fair that fans should expect a hit-packed performance, Chris Murphy?
Chris Murphy: […] Of course they should play their hits. I think you should.
JG: Kelly Bergeron, before you tell me what your position on this — what was your expectation? You’re a Smashing Pumpkins fan, not just a journalist. You went to see this show. You paid to see this show. What was your expectation going in?
KB: I expected that they were…they had two set nights, they had night one and night two, different themes for both nights, and they had planned to play all their hits. And so I knew going in I would hear “1979″, or “Tonight, Tonight.” It was sort of a mix over both nights. I did my research beforehand because I was reviewing the show as well, so I didn’t expect any meltdowns. [laughs] But it wasn’t…yeah.
JG: So you go to the show. You did end up reviewing it for the National Post. [ed. setlist for the concert, from spfc.org; free recording of the concert, from archive.org] What happened? What did you see at the show? And what did you think?
KB: Um, it was the first double night apparently that they were doing on the tour, so I expected it not to be polished off. Midway through the show, I went with my friend, and I kept looking over at him thinking, “Is it me, or is this really starting to go downhill?” Billy Corgan was up on stage with a tambourine prancing around the stage very bizarrely. The music was not…it, it…they played “1979″ and it was great, but by midway through it just turned into, um…an embarrassment. And, I saw people leaving — and he wasn’t even heckling the audience at that point.
JG: So, but, was it an embarrassment because they weren’t playing well, or was it because they literally weren’t giving the fans the hits?
KB: Well, no, it…I wouldn’t care so much if they weren’t giving us the hits, it was the fact that they were just playing noise. They were up there just experimenting.
JG: His position, though, would be, look, if you’re a fan of alternative rock and what we’ve been doing all these years, then you should come to our show and expect that we might be experimental.
KB: I think…I think this is like a rare case, because Billy Corgan has not been putting out good records since 2000. Um, unlike other bands who continue to go on really well — like Sloan, they have current, good music — but then you look at the Pumpkins, and he’s had breakdowns within the band, and he keeps trying to put something together that resembles what was in the ’90s, with not much success.
JG: Right, and, uh, yeah, it’s understandable that certain fans would go wanting to hear what they loved, in the ’90s.
[later…]
JG: Do you think bands like the Smashing Pumpkins or Sloan have an obligation to play the hits for paying audiences?
KB: … If you’re really loyal to your fans, and you want to keep your fans, and you’re advertising a 20-year reunion tour without the original members, then you better be pulling out all the stops. I just want to give an example. I saw Radiohead twice this summer, and they have an awesome new record, and they played every single song off their new record, but they also played all of their major hits. One of the places I saw them was at Lollapalooza [ed. setlist, from ateaseweb.com]. Not only did they play “Fake Plastic Trees” off The Bends and “Everything in Its Right Place,” but they set it to fireworks. So, that to me is, like, that’s giving the fans what they want and more — and that’s from Thom Yorke, too.
[later…]
JG: Is creative expression..shouldn’t it be allowed for artists, or is there a line they shouldn’t be crossing when people are playing big bucks?
KB: I think it’s fine within a certain amount of timeframe. The thing that put me off was that, it was… Okay, basically, if you go up there and play two newer songs on a reunion tour, and the rest is all old stuff, I would consider that okay. But when you’re going up there and playing half your show with new stuff that nobody knows, and going off on a tangent on a different style of music altogether…
JG: And yelling at your fans.
KB: Yeah, and yelling at your fans, then yeah. That’s a different creative expression.
[later…]
JG: Very very quickly, Kelly, has your negative Smashing Pumpkins experience changed your affection for the band?
KB: Definitely. I can’t listen to them right now.
JG: Right now. There’s a period of…you need some space.
KB: Yeah, I do. I need a few drinks.
A newly launched website for the new Smashing Pumpkins movie (can I call it that?) lists exactly 43 U.S. locations (hmm…) at which “If All Goes Wrong” can be seen on November 6. Australian and British showings are on tap for Nov. 7 and Nov. 25, respectively.
The website also contains a proper trailer, a set of 22 stills from the film, as well as a message board that is sure to be the source of many wise sayings and good tidings.
Back in February the Pumpkins were supported for a gig in Glasgow by locals Twin Atlantic. Seven months later, singer Sam McTrusty gives Metro the truth, right here:
You recently supported Smashing Pumpkins. How did you find the notoriously difficult Billy Corgan?
There’s the truth, right there. We had to load in behind a black curtain while they did a closed soundcheck. Our guitarist, Barry, walked round the front and some guy screamed: ‘Get out of here.’ We weren’t treated very hospitably.
As reported by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, a small company in New South Wales has just issued a recall on one of its dairy products. That’s never good for publicity, but it could theoretically get worse if the web posting draws international attention to the company’s rather unoriginal name:
Smashing Pumpkins
Yoghurt Sultanas Tubs
Use by: 15.09.08Smashing Pumpkins wishes to advise its customers that they are conducting a voluntary consumer level recall on the above product due to an undeclared allergen as the product contains peanuts not declared on the label…
Smashing Pumpkins apologises to its customers for any inconvenience caused by this recall.
Smashing Pumpkins
Shop T19 Erina Fair
Karalta Road, Erina, NSW
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the only Smashing Pumpkins concert in Russia (yes, SPFC, the answer is “once”), and YouTube user IkeSnopes remembers it by uploading this relevant four-minute video. The clip was sourced from Moscow-based TV6 (the now-shuttered independent television network), which soundtracked its footage with a slowed-down “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” (sorry, it’s the studio version!). Billy Corgan is shown being interviewed for about 45 seconds; he was apparently asked a political question, but it is hard to make out his answer over the dubbed translation.
At their February 29 (8th anniversary of Machina, dude!) show in Oslo, the Smashing Pumpkins attempted an encore performance of the Scorpions song “The Zoo”. Despite Jeff Schroeder’s considerable effort on the talkbox-augmented guitar, frontman Billy Corgan told the Norwegian audience that his band had just flopped:
Yeahhh. That was a song by the Scorpions. Do you feel all right, Jeff? …Honestly, that was the only song we were going to play, but that was so bad, we’re going to play another song. Well, actually, you don’t want to hear another song — thank you good night! …Now you want to hear another song. Would you like to hear a sensitive…sensitive song? Would you like to hear a ski-jumping song?!
Apparently there is a secret meaning to “Cherub Rock”, possibly to be revealed by Billy on the upcoming 15th anniversary of Siamese Dream…
Here’s freshly surfaced audio of the Pumpkins’ “Zoo”…
… and video of the Scorpions playing it on “Heavy Metal Day” of the 1983 US Festival (brought to us, truly, by that guy from Apple Computers).
In a little over an hour, the Dutch digital TV station 3VOOR12 will be broadcasting a video stream of the Smashing Pumpkins’ performance from the May 28th, 2007 Pinkpop Festival. The show, running at about an hour and forty-five minutes, will be live broadcast via the following links:
For those of you in the US, it should start at approximately 2PM EST / 11AM PST. Thanks to Netphoria for the heads-up and to Rolling Stone for the picture above.
UPDATE: I know people are having access problems; I’m getting the Pumpkins’ set via this link or by visiting the main website and clicking “Live webtv 3VOOR12 Central”.
This month I travelled to Bulgaria, and at no time during my one week there did I encounter anything Pumpkins- or even Zwan-related. I didn’t go looking for it, either, but they (”they”?) do play a lot of American music. I heard “Jeremy” and “Psycho Circus” on the radio; whoever was civilly authorized to blast music down the Knyaz Aleksandar I street in Plovdiv got away with “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks; and, randomly in restaurants and bars and other public places, I heard “Hazard” by Richard Marx three times.
I’m sure it’s quite possible to get through a week in America without Billy Corgan invading one’s consciousness, so I’m not trying to say anything…just thought a report was in order.
