Pumpkins drummer says truth prevails on new album

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin has broken his silence about the reunited band's new album, although it's unclear who, if anyone, he and Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan are playing with in the studio.

The band, whose lineup was rounded out by guitarist James Iha and bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur -- a late-era replacement for D'arcy Wretzy -- broke up in 2000. Corgan subsequently issued two underwhelming albums, one with a short-lived band called Zwan and a solo release.

After vowing never to reunite the Pumpkins, because of lingering enmity toward Iha and Wretzky, Corgan changed course last year when he took out full-page newspaper advertisements in his Chicago hometown announcing plans to revive the band.

In a posting attributed to Chamberlin on the Pumpkins' Myspace.com page (http://blog.myspace.com/smashingpumpkins), the drummer said, "As some of you know we are indeed creating music again -- music that comes from a place so pure it will burn the lies off the very souls of those who try to discount it. We have arrived at a place in our lives where truth and honesty prevail and we are creating from that place."

Following a stint with producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen), the Pumpkins are now collaborating with producer Terry Date (Soundgarden, Deftones), the posting added.

No release date or label affiliation has been announced for the as-yet-untitled new album. In their first incarnation, the Smashing Pumpkins recorded for Virgin.