Pumpkins Disclose Album Title, Auf Der Maur Hiring

MELISSA AUF DER MAUR, FORMERLY WITH HOLE, ON OUTING TO KICK OFF IN JANUARY

The Smashing Pumpkins have unveiled the title of their upcoming album, MACHINA/the machines of God, and reportedly they have divulged that former Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur will tour Europe with them.

The disc, due Feb. 29, was recorded by the Chicago rockers in the fall, prior to the departure of bassist D'Arcy Wretzky, according to a spokesperson for the group, who requested anonymity.

The venue for the European tour's Jan. 7 opener has not yet been determined [It's been confirmed by the SP IFC (see below); maybe this story hasn't been properly checked out? --Netphoria], according to the source. MTV News reported on Wednesday that Auf Der Maur would participate, but the band's official spokesperson, Annie Ohayon, would not confirm that at press time.

The new Pumpkins album, the band's fifth studio release and the follow-up to 1998's electronica-tinged Adore, was previewed for Virgin Records staffers and select radio programmers Friday at the Whisky Bar in New York, according to the source. No official track listing was available.

The co-host of the "Asleep at the Wheel" morning show on Boston's WFNX (101.7 FM), Angie C., attended the listening party and described the 14 tracks she heard as hard-rocking and slightly psychedelic.

She also applauded the return of the band's drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, who did not appear on Adore.

"Right away you can tell with the drums, those familiar drum fills, that Jimmy is back, and it's a record that totally grabs you, which was what I was waiting for," said Angie C., who would only give her radio name. She also noted that the album was less like recent Pumpkins efforts and more like the group's 1991 psychedelic rock debut, Gish, and its breakthrough 1993 album, Siamese Dream. The latter featured such radio favorites as "Cherub Rock" and "Today".

The DJ said the songs played on Friday included "Everlasting Gate," "Sunshowers," "Stand Inside Your Love," "I of the Mourning," "The Sacred + Profane," "Try," "Heavy Metal Machine," "This Time," "The Imploding Voice," "Glass + the Ghost Children," "Wound," "Crying Tree," "Blue Skies Bring Tears" and "With Every Light."

"There's more psychedelic stuff," Angie C. said. "It has a lot of those elements that have been missing lately, but it's not too polished, which is what reminded me of Gish. It felt much simpler, thematically, than Mellon Collie [and the Infinite Sadness]," the group's 1995 double album.

While D'Arcy, who left the band in September, plays on an undetermined number of tracks on the album, the effort will represent a full reunion with prodigal drummer Chamberlin. The drummer was ousted from the group following the fatal overdose of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in July 1996.

Chamberlin was arrested and charged with heroin possession in connection with Melvoin's death, and, after pleading guilty, he was ordered to attend a drug-rehabilitation facility. During his absence, the band toured and recorded with a variety of session drummers.

Bandleader Billy Corgan said in August that Chamberlin's return had boosted the band's sound on an April club tour, taking it back to its previous heft.

Referring to the rampaging, over-the-top rock the band played with Chamberlin, Corgan said, "When Jimmy left, we weren't that anymore, so we didn't try to be. Then Jimmy comes back, and we literally went right back to where we left off because it has got something to do with the four people."

At an April 12 show in Cincinnati, the group played a dozen new songs, some of which, according to Angie C., made the cut for the new album. Among the new songs in the show were the reverb-drenched, new-wave style "Stand Inside Your Love" and "Wound," a hard-rock tune highlighting Chamberlin's throbbing drums that approached near speed-metal velocity.

The grungey-rock tune "Blue Skies Bring Tears," the robotic space ballad "Glass + the Ghost Children" and the lilting acoustic ballad "With Every Light," also were featured in the show and played at the listening party.

Corgan was cryptic about the sound of the new album prior to its completion, but he promised it would not rehash past glories.

"I'll make one declaration about the whole thing," Corgan said in August. "And that is that we have no interest in going backward. ... We really feel we're on to something new and something that's very different. Will you be able to hear influences in it? Absolutely. But it does sound like Smashing Pumpkins 1999, not Smashing Pumpkins 1992. If it did sound like Smashing Pumpkins 1992, it wouldn't come out."

-- Gil Kaufman

Smashing Pumpkins Track Listing Unveiled

An ultra-secret, exclusive listening party for the new Smashing Pumpkins album was held Friday (Nov. 19) evening at the Whiskey Bar in New York City. In attendance were a number of Virgin Records personnel -- most of whom were hearing the finished album for the first time -- and about 15 key modern rock radio programmers, who were flown in specially by the label for the party.

The record -- which has yet to be titled -- was handed in to the label earlier in the week, and comes on the heels of 1998’s disappointing Adore set. A source at the party told allstar that the new album definitely rocks harder than the electronica-tinged Adore with "more guitars and more snarling vocals."

The album’s release date is Feb. 29, 2000 (pushed back from its original date of Feb. 15) and the track listing goes as follows:

 1."Everlasting Gate"
 2."Sunshowers"
 3."Stand Inside Your Love" (the first single)
 4."I Of The Mourning"
 5."The Sacred + Profane"
 6."Try"
 7."Heavy Metal Machine"
 8."This Time"
 9."The Imploding Voice"
10."Glass + The Ghost Children"
11."Wound"
12."Crying Tree"
13."Blue Skies Bring Tears"
14."With Every Light"

The following are *confirmed* tour dates. We only post confirmed tour dates. If your city is not listed below, it has not been confirmed by us. Please do not write to us asking about additional tour dates, as we will not release any additional information until it has been confirmed.

Date		City, Country		Venue		On Sale		Note
2000/01/07		Stockholm, Sweden		Cirkus		1999/11/26		(3)
09		Copenhagen, Denmark		Cirkus		11/26
11		Munich, Germany		Muffathalle		11/27		(2)
12		Milan, Italy		Alcatraz		11/24
15		Lisbon, Portugal		Lisbon Coliseum		11/24
16		Madrid, Spain		La Riviera		12/01
18		Paris, France		Elysee Montmarte		??/??		(1)
19		Brussels, Belgium		Cirque Royale		11/23
21		Manchester, England		Apollo		11/27
22		London, England		Dominion Theatre		11/27
24		Utrecht, Holland		Music Centre		11/27

NOTES:

The following is SPIFC member supplied information.

(1) Ticket price is 165 F. Tickets go on sale at on January 15th, 2000 at 1000h MET, and must be paid in cash. Limit one ticket per person.

(2) Ticket price is 64.25 DM.

(3) Ticket price is 300 SEK.

The SPIFC, along with a small group of extremely excited fans, were recently able to listen to some of the completed tracks to the highly anticipated upcoming Pumpkins release. While we can't tell you which tracks will appear on the album as we simply weren't given that information, we can tell you that some of the songs from the recent "Arising" tour have been greatly altered, and that many more as-of-yet untitled songs have since been written for the album.

What did the lucky fans who heard the tracks have to say?

"This rawks!"
"Jimmy is definitely back in a big way."
"This is not what I expected at all. Wow!"
"This doesn't sound like 'Adore', 'MCIS', 'Siamese Dream', or 'Gish'."
"I saw (The Smashing Pumpkins) on the 'Arising' tour, and I don't think I have heard half of these songs before."
"I can hardly wait for the album now!"

The Pumpkins continue to put their finishing touches on the album.

The as-of-yet untitled album (sorry, but the other titles you have heard are just rumors at this point!) is due for release on February 15th, 2000.

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan and guitarist James Iha began with an atonal cover of U2's Stay before switching gears to a breezy, Eagles-like version of Tom Waits' Old '55. Never acknowledging the audience, the duo tried out two songs from the forthcoming album Desolation.

MELISSA AUF DER MAUR has definitely joined The Smashing Pumpkins according to Kerrang! magazine, though their story doesn't give any details other than it was confirmed by "sources close to the band".

The Great Ex-Pumpkin

Smashing Pumpkins fans may never know the real reason bassist D'Arcy left the band just months before the release of their forthcoming album, but rumor has it she was actually fired by Billy Corgan. Apparently, the L.A.-based D'Arcy is also an aspiring actress and felt she was ready for her close-up. A source claims she kept missing band practice because she was too busy auditioning and Corgan, still reeling from the sales of the last Pumpkins album, Adore, finally got fed up with the wannabe ingenue. The band's label, Virgin Records, declined to comment.

Billy Corgan and James Iha then took the stage, admitting they were somewhat intimidated. "How do you follow the Who on a Sunday afternoon?" Corgan jokingly asked the crowd. The Pumpkins performed a quiet set, with Iha and Corgan alternating vocals. They also played a new song, "The Age of Innocence," which Corgan said he'd written just two weeks ago. He hinted that the song could show up on an upcoming Smashing Pumpkins album.