Everything has Gone Grunge

NEW ORDER have recruited SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman BILLY CORGAN as their new guitarist, NME.COM can excusively reveal.

Corgan, who has been friends with the band for years, will join New Order onstage when they play Japan's Fuji Festival in July, as well as when they tour with Moby across the US in August.

Speaking exclusively to NME.COM, New Order singer Bernard Sumner also said that Corgan would be playing with the band when they play a top-secret warm-up gig in the UK, which is currently being planned for late June or early July.

Corgan appears on the band's forthcoming album, which NME.COM can reveal is called 'Get Ready', and is out through WEA/London on August 27. It's their first since 1993's 'Republic'.

'Get Ready' is preceded by a single, 'Crystal', to be released in July, their first new material since their track 'Brutal' featured on the soundtrack to 'The Beach' film.

Corgan features on a track called 'Turn My Way', which Sumner said reminded him of the Smashing Pumpkins as soon as he'd written it.

"Billy has been a New Order fan for years, and used to come and see us every time we played Chicago when he was about 17 or something. We've known him since then and I just rang him up to see if he wanted to do this track. It's gone on from there. I'm a big fan of the Pumpkins," Sumner explained.

However, Sumner said that Corgan would not be a permanent member of the band - but was being drafted in due to the temporary absence of keyboard player Gillian Gilbert.

Gilbert, according to partner and New Order drummer Stephen Morris, is having to take an indefinite sabbatical from the band to care for their 18-month-old daughter, who's recovering from a serious illness.

Former guitarist from Shudder To Think, Nathan Larson has recently concentrated on film soundtracks such as Boys Don't Cry and Velvet Goldmine. Larson will now step back into the rock idiom with this performance to celebrate the upcoming release of his first solo album (on Artemis records). The shows were on April 24th and April 25th.