SMASHING PUMPKINS: New Lineup Revealed?

April 7, 2007

According to a posting on Buddyhead.com, the latest additions to the "reunited' SMASHING PUMPKINS are bassist Ginger Reyes (ex-HALO FRIENDLIES) and guitarist Jeff Schroeder (ex-THE LASSIE FOUNDATION). So far there has been no official confirmation of the new members' identities, although original guitarist James Iha did reveal to RollingStone.com this past week that he is not part of the current SMASHING PUMPKINS album or tour. "I haven't spoken to Billy [Corgan, PUMPKINS mainman] in years," he said.

The only confirmed original member besides Corgan is drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.

In a February 2007 interview with MTV.com, PUMPKINS manager Paul Geary hinted that the relaunched SMASHING PUMPKINS would not include original members Iha on guitar and D'Arcy Wretzky on bass. Geary said, "I've been involved with bands whose members can't stand each other, and over time they run out of dough and that's why they [reunite]. But Billy's [Corgan, PUMPKINS leader] making a great record, and for the sake of a younger generation that he wants to turn on to the band's music, he is doing it with a band that will more faithfully re-create the old songs than ever before."

Corgan often expressed irritation in the past with Iha and Wretzky's playing, and it was rumored that he recorded all of their parts himself on much of the PUMPKINS' recorded output.

Back in June 2006, a spokesperson for the PUMPKINS' management confirmed to MTV.com that Eric Avery, the erstwhile bassist for JANE'S ADDICTION, had been "rehearsing with [the band] in their pre-production of the new record, but added that nothing [had been] confirmed in regards to [Avery joining the PUMPKINS]."

As previously reported, SMASHING PUMPKINS have announced their first live performance since December 2, 2000 — a very special and intimate theatre show to take place May 22 in Paris, France at the historic and elegantly appointed Grand Rex. Tickets will go on sale April 11. This marks the first time the SMASHING PUMPKINS will unveil songs from the upcoming "Zeitgeist" (due on July 7 via Martha's Music/Reprise),their sixth album and first of new material since 2000's "Machina/The Machines of God" and the free, digital-only release "Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music". "Zeitgeist" was produced by Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, with Roy Thomas Baker and Terry Date working separately on various tracks, and represents the culmination of two years of work.

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