Very cool video. So Billy Corgan just got his stolen “Gish” guitar back and in this video, he shows it off to everyone. When I watch this video, I can immediately tell that Billy is totally psyched to have the guitar back. You can tell he’s very happy to have it back. When he played this guitar on this video, it does sound very Smashing Pumpkins-like. After hearing what that guitar sounds like now, I can see why the guitar is very special to Billy.
After Billy records the new Pumpkins album with that guitar, I’m sure he’s gonna go on tour with it too. When he does go on tour with that guitar, I’m sure he’ll keep a much better eye on it so it won’t get stolen again.
I’m not a big fan of Fender Strats but that guitar does sound good. That Strat that Billy has won’t sound like any other Strats at all. It’s gonna be interesting to hear what the Smashing Pumpkins sound like now that Billy has that guitar back.
I know how a lot of people will want to believe that guitars are nothing but they are something. Guitars are really special treasures, they are no joke. I’m a guitar lover myself.
So the Smashing Pumpkins announced their new album and when they announced their new album on facebook, I wrote a comment saying that I wished D’arcy played bass on it and did backup vocals. Well, that comment seems to have triggered the Pumpkins fanbase and a huge debate sparked because of it. They were telling me things like: “Get over it”, “D’arcy is irrelevant, let it go”, “Having D’arcy back in the band would be a Nostalgia act”, etc. I can go on and on. The fans were also trying to justify his reason for not allowing her to be back in the band full time.
All of a sudden, the fans seems to have negative feelings toward D’arcy and now siding with Billy Corgan over this whole feud. I joined in on the debate and I was siding with D’arcy all the way through. I’ve been trying to explain why D’arcy deserves to be back in the band full time. I was saying things like D’arcy was a founding member and she helped create history with the Pumpkins. The fans just put laughing emoji’s on those comments and I’m like, “WTF”? Why do some fans hate D’arcy all of a sudden? The fans did everything they possibly can in that FB debate to make it seem like Billy was right on his decision to move on without D’arcy. I tried to explain that it’s not a true Pumpkins reunion without her and they laughed at that too. They defended Billy no matter what I said which is pretty crazy. After all this, I stuck to my guns through and through and defended my rights to believe that D’arcy has every right to be upset with Billy.
The fanbase tried to point me out to their Beats 1 interview and the texts that D’arcy released herself. I was still defending D’arcy. I watched that Beats 1 interview and all those things Billy was saying about D’arcy, he was just telling his own side of the story and that’s the end of that. As far as those texts goes, the fans tried to make it seem like Billy was willing to let D’arcy back in the band however she wants to be involved but did they read all of the text messages? Later in the texts, it seems like Billy quickly changed his mind on her being involved with the Pumpkins as much as she wants and instead only allowing her to perform 2 to 7 songs. I pointed that out as well.
Billy defends his reason for not allowing her to be a part of the Pumpkins full time ’cause he claims he hasn’t seen or heard her play in 19 years. He said in that Beats 1 interview that he invited her to come out and rehearse to see if she still got it and he claims she wanted no part of it. Now D’arcy denies Billy claim about offering her to be involved in the band by saying “I don’t want be in their fucking clown car”.
After seeing their Beats 1 interview, maybe D’arcy is actually on point now that she apparently no longer wants to be a part of it herself. From all the news reports on this feud, it was the other band members Jimmy, James and Jeff didn’t want her to be a part of this reunion and Billy is listening to them.
What gets me the most about the fans argument about D’arcy is that they are acting like she was never important to the band. They make claims that all the bass work on the first 5 albums was mostly Billy playing bass. There are claims that D’arcy played bass very little. That’s just a rumor going around and there’s no proof of that. In my opinion, I think the fanbase were just trying their best to make Billy look good and make D’arcy seem less important.
The negativity toward D’arcy is just unreal. I shake my head in disbelief reading all that. D’arcy was a founding member of the Pumpkins and she was around at the start of the band. That alone makes her an important member and she totally deserves to be in the reunion full time… recording on the new album and playing on all the shows on tour. I think she totally deserves to celebrate the history with them. Celebrate what they did together.
Oh well, what do ya know? This is the music industry. If you want to be a rock star, you’re going to deal with a lot of band egos and band drama. That’s what you’re seeing here.
I love the Pumpkins music but I’m not afraid to say that Billy Corgan is a bit of an egomaniac, narcissist and he’s kind of douchey too. He’s only saying his own side of the story of this whole feud so you can’t believe everything he’s saying. D’arcy is saying her own side of the story too, they both are.
I do believe that D’arcy deserves to be part of the reunion on a full time basis ’cause she did so much with the band in the 90’s. I think the Pumpkins fans are terrible too and they’re fucking annoying assholes.
The Pumpkins are a great band but there’s something about the original line-up. The Pumpkins are Billy, James, Jimmy and D’arcy. Not Billy, James, Jimmy and Jeff. I’m a huge fan of the original lineup. D’arcy’s bass playing and backup vocals is what helped defined the Pumpkins sound. We deserve to hear that again. They don’t sound like the original Pumpkins with a different bass player and different backup vocalists. They may sound great without her still but they don’t have the true Pumpkins sound without D’arcy.
In my opinion, Billy should feel ashamed of himself over this feud and getting the fans to have negative feelings toward her.
Here’s an old live performance of the true original Pumpkins including D’arcy on the bass. Enjoy. Wish we could have seen the true original lineup today.
For some reason Billy Corgan will not let D’arcy Wretzky back in the Smashing Pumpkins full time. He was willing to have her perform with the Pumpkins for a song or or two while on tour but D’arcy didn’t like that idea. She wanted to participate in the original reunion and be a part of it all. She wanted to play bass on every song. BIlly does explain why he doesn’t want her in the band full time ’cause he was concerned about her playing ability since he hasn’t heard or seen her play in many years.
After all this, D’arcy and Billy got into a huge argument… things escalated and the feud got worse. Billy here says that D’arcy continues to ask to be back in the band even after their little fight.
Ya know, I can completely understand why D’arcy badly wants to get back in the band full time. This shouldn’t be called the original Smashing Pumpkins reunion if Billy is not gonna have D’arcy back in. The music press have been calling it the “original” Smashing Pumpkins lineup but it isn’t without D’arcy. Sorry but that’s just the fucking truth, ya know what I’m saying?
She founded the band with Billy. In fact, it was her that helped get the Smashing Pumpkins to mainstream stardom. She was with the band at the very start. The goal with this new tour was that Billy wanted to celebrate the Smashing Pumpkins history by performing songs from the first 5 records. Well guess what, y’all. D’arcy played bass on all 5 of those records. So to call this tour a “Smashing Pumpkins original reunion celebration” is a joke without D’arcy.
I can understand Billy’s concern on her playing ability but my question is why didn’t Billy invite her over so she can play bass for him to see if she still got it? Billy was just so quick to judge her and that’s wrong. I love Billy and the Smashing Pumpkins but I think it’s a mistake to not have D’arcy participate in the reunion full time. I can’t blame D’arcy for begging and pleading to get back in the band ’cause I’m sure she misses playing with them. She wants to celebrate the Pumpkins history with them ’cause she is a part of that history. She is a recognizable figure from all the Pumpkins videos in the 90’s.
I think the real reason Billy won’t let her back in is ’cause she said some pretty negative stuff about him in the press and he is upset with her about it. I think he is lying about the reason he won’t let her in.
I’m a big Pumpkins fan and all but Billy seems kind of douchey and ego-driven.
Well the Smashing Pumpkins reunion tour begins and this live performance was taken from their first show on the tour. As you can see here, The Pumpkins tries to cover “Stairway to Heaven” which is Led Zep’s most iconic song.
I thought the band played the song pretty well but like the title of this blog topic says, Billy’s voice doesn’t fit which is understandable. “Stairway” is a very difficult song to sing vocally. I noticed the band transposed the song to a lower key so it can fit Billy’s voice ’cause I know Billy has a pretty low range singing voice. At the “As we wind on down the road” part, Robert sings really high in that part but Billy sang it his way.
Are the costumes, gimmicks and the video screen in the background really necessary? I understand that Billy is trying to make the Smashing Pumpkins shows more theatrical like but that is not needed. How about focusing on the music?
Other than that, the band played the music well like I said. I thought the best part was Jeff Schroeder nailing the solo. That Schroeder dude is a great lead guitarist for sure.
Just listened to the new Pumpkins song like 5 times straight and it’s fucking awesome. The Pumpkins are back and the band are back in their true form! This is how we want to hear the Pumpkins… heavy and hard rocking! I’m glad James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin are back.
This song definitely reminds me of their earlier days for sure. The song is definitely a tie between “Siamese Dream” and “Mellie Collie”.
I hope the rest of the new album sounds like this. Can’t wait to get the new Pumpkins album. I’ve been a long time Pumpkins fan. Have been since the very beginning.
Well Billy Corgan is getting attacked everywhere on the internet since the Smashing Pumpkins reunion has been announced. Even the press have been attacking him too. Why are a lot of people attacking him? Well like the title of this post says, he’s being attacked ’cause he flipped his feelings on reunions/greatest hits shows, and he is also being attacked for excluding D’arcy from the original lineup.
In the past, Billy used to have negative feelings on reunion tours and greatest hits shows ’cause he never wanted the Pumpkins to be a nostalgia act.
So let me get this straight… fans of the Pumpkins have begged Billy to bring back the original Pumpkins lineup for years. Billy actually listened to the fans and gave them what they wanted and now they are hating?
I’m reading about this through the press and I’ve read the back and forth texts between D’arcy and Billy.
Billy wanted D’arcy to be part of the original lineup, but for some reason Billy refuses to have her as a bass player. He wanted her to participate in other things for the other shows and maybe that’s why D’arcy refused to be a part of the lineup ’cause she wanted to be involved in everything. To me those text messages D’arcy posted, she could be selecting certain messages just to make Billy look bad publicly so that might not be the whole conversation. Billy does have a point however that nobody has heard her play bass in years so nobody has any idea what she sounds like.
On top of that who cares if they move on without D’arcy. I’m just glad the band is back after a long hiatus. Besides, legendary bands reuniting without their founding members happens all the time.
Like I said before, Billy may have flipped on reunions/greatest hits shows but maybe he changed his mind? He wants to celebrate the history of the Pumpkins with us. That’s what it’s all about. Fans begged Billy to play the old songs at the concerts again and he’s giving us that. Why is he being attacked for that? Well, jealousy is the only answer I can think of. Can’t think of no other reason.
A lot of critics and haters are thinking the Pumpkins reunion tour won’t last and tickets won’t sell well ’cause of Billy. Well, make no mistake about it, haters. This tour WILL BE very successful and I predict most of the shows will sell-out. A lot of people in America still love the original Pumpkins line-up.
Band feuds sucks, but that’s the name of the game in the industry. The industry is tough. You gotta deal with a lot of huge egos and band drama. That’s the way it is. Billy had feuds with Jimmy and James Iha in the past but those three guys are cool with each other now obviously. Apparently, they’re still having problems with D’arcy and looks like Billy wants nothing to do with her at all. I can’t blame him. She seems like a piece of work and toxic.
What’s even more pathetic is that fans are attacking Billy simply ’cause he appeared on Alex Jones show a couple of times and they’re boycotting the Pumpkins for that reason.
Just stop complaining and enjoy the music! The Pumpkins reunion is gonna be killer and I can’t wait for all the live bootleg youtube videos of the shows.
When it comes to the Smashing Pumpkins reuniting with its original members, people wonder how long the tour is gonna be. Would it be a one-off show, a short tour or a full one? Turns out the tour is gonna be a full tour. Check out the tour dates on the band’s official website. The tour is pretty massive.
The Smashing Pumpkins members are confirmed too with Billy, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha all coming back. Jeff Schroeder is also coming back who first joined the band in 2007.
What will the band play on the tour? Will it be a greatest hits show or will the band play obscure songs from the Pumpkins catalogue of music? I think a little bit of both. With this massive tour, they’ll try to play as much as they can from their discography of albums. I think they’ll definitely play everything from “Gish”, “Siamese Dream” and “Mellie Collie” especially.
Sure, Billy Corgan may have been against greatest hits tours in the past but maybe he changed his mind? Billy probably thought to himself, “Lets celebrate the history of the Pumpkins by celebrating with the fans” and that’s what it’s all about the way I look at it.
Will the Pumpkins record a new studio record after the tour? Never say never on that one. It could be a possibility. They’ll probably write new songs while out on the road. Who knows what may happen. They might already have new songs that they could play on the tour as well.
Glad the band is back finally. I’m a longtime Pumpkins fan. Have been from the very beginning. I never saw the band myself but would love to.
Hopefully the band releases a live DVD/CD set of this new tour and I’m sure they will.
The Smashing Pumpkins put up this cryptic message yesterday on the band’s official facebook page. The band is about to make a huge announcement Thursday. As you can see on this image it includes the original SP heart logo which we haven’t seen in a while and then it includes a lyric line from the song “Disarm” above it. This is obviously giving you clues that the band is about ready to announce the original member lineup is about to happen after all.
I’m pretty sure Jimmy Chamberlin is coming back on drums and James Iha is coming back on guitar, but will D’arcy Wretzky come back on bass? According to the band themselves, no she isn’t. The band themselves say that they’ve tried to invite her in the band but claims she kept deferring, meaning putting them off, postpone until later.
Then D’arcy herself responded to the band’s statement and said Billy Corgan has decided he wouldn’t let her in the band and the Pumpkins are going on with a different bass player. So I take it that Billy and D’arcy are still feuding and having lots of problem still? Doing a little research on the history of the Pumpkins the D’arcy and Billy feud pretty much led to the break-up of the original lineup. Correct me if I’m wrong. They’ve always had problems. Apparently, they still are.
We’ll know for sure on Thursday whether or not she’s in the band. Things can always change on the last minute and Billy will end up letting her back in, who knows? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Smashing Pumpkins will probably confirm a reunion tour and possible new studio album too? Hopefully, they do a new studio album together ’cause that would be cool. I would like a new Pumpkins record with the 4 original members so hopefully D’arcy is back in. If she’s not then it’s not a true Pumpkins reunion. Won’t be as exciting if she’s not in.
I love the Smashing Pumpkins. I heard every album they did but the original lineup will always be the best, though. “Gish”, “Siamese Dream” and “Mellie Collie” were amazing records.
“Machina/The Machines of God” was the last album the original lineup did together and that’s a great record too.
Will the Pumpkins make a new studio album as well? I think they will ’cause you know Billy. That man is always playing and writing music. I’m sure he’s got a bunch of original stuff for the next Pumpkins record already.
Jimmy Chamberlin wrote an honest blog on his own website, explaining why he quit the Smashing Pumpkins, after the news hit the web. He admits that he can’t put all of his energy into the music of the Smashing Pumpkins anymore. Sounds like he doesn’t have appreciation and lost interest with the music of the Pumpkins. He has no negative grudge with Billy Corgan, he says he gets along with him fine.
Jimmy says, he will continue to make music with his own band, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex and he will pursue other musical projects as well. Sounds like he was getting bored in the Pumpkins and wanted to pursue other musical adventures.
Jimmy is right, that it’s Billy Corgan’s right to continue on with the Smashing Pumpkins name without Jimmy. It’s Billy’s band, Billy owns the copyright name to the Smashing Pumpkins, so he does what he pleases with it. The Pumpkins had different band members over the years, happens all the time with all bands.
The longtime Smashing Pumpkins drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, has left the band…again. Billy Corgan will continue to write music under the Smashing Pumpkins name, but he will record the new album by himself with no other musicians involved.
To those who aren’t musicians and don’t know much about music, you ask, “How does a musician record a whole album by himself?” Well it’s easy. Billy plays all instruments, not just guitar, you gotta love the magic of studio. You can record as many tracks as you want and mix ’em together to make ’em sound like a full band. He’s recording the next Smashing Pumpkins album as a one man band kind of thing. Using MIDI instruments and ProTools is also a good tool for doing music by yourself.
When recording in the studio, songwriters don’t really need a live band, they have a choice to be a one man band or play with other musicians to make it sound live.
Kev
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