Smashing Pumpkins Working On Documentary From 2007 Club Tour

The Smashing Pumpkins, fresh off being inducted into Hollywood's Rockwalk, show no signs of slowing down in 2008. After the much talked about reunion of Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain, who brought out new members Jeff Schroeder, Lisa Harriton and Ginger Reyes for a Smashing Pumpkins tour in 2007, the band are currently working on a documentary of their small club reunion tour. The small club reunion tour, which featured multiple night runs in Ashville, North Carolina and at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco, California, showcased The Smashing Pumpkins new lineup performing songs from their extensive catalog, songs from the band's latest album 'Zeitgeist' and a certain amount of improvisation in each set list.

Video clip :

We caught up with Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain to get their thoughts on staying very busy in 2008.

Watch video: Smashing Pumpkins Staying Very Busy In 2008

"Right now we got a lot up in the air. We're working on a DVD that's sort of a documentary of our residency Fillmore shows. We're going to put out hopefully some of our early demos for Christmas, probably put out a new Pumpkins single with new Pumpkins in the fall and then do a fall tour and then we start putting out a new Pumpkins album probably beginning next year."

Billy Corgan also talked about the documentary capturing the bands surprise at some of the crowd reactions to the bands small club tour.

Watch video: Smashing Pumpkins Working On Documentary From 2007 Club Tour

"It was interesting because we didn't do what you would've expected us to do coming back after seven years. We decided to play these small shows and also write new songs while we were doing it and play lots of different songs from our catalog and we were met head on by the new American audience that just basically wants greatest hits. So it was a very interesting dynamic. It kind of surprised us and the documentary we're making actually sort of charts the progress of our sort of optimism to the shows going in to sort of being surprised and shocked by some of the reactions we were getting and then the songs that came out of that process. It's not a bad thing because the world is changing and I think we were sort of blindsided a little bit by the world that we're living in now. Which I think now we're totally acclimated to. It doesn't shock us at all but at the time was sort of surprising."

The Smashing Pumpkins will mark their 20th anniversary this September with a special series of shows in New York, Los Angeles and their native Chicago. Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain say they want to make each show special and they plan to have special guests at each show. The Smashing Pumpkins are also currently suing Virgin Records over the labels use of the band's music in a recent Pepsi ad. The lawsuit demands that Virgin pay the band the profits that were earned in the campaign, and asks for an injunction against using the Pumpkins' name or music in the future.

Comments

[Pumpkins4Life]

The greatest band on the planet

[flambe chicken]

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet

I concur, and would like to add that Ginger is hot.

[xthpsgodx]

When I saw them in Detroit they played some pretty obscure stuff, like Set the Ray to Jerry, that left a lot of the audience scratching their heads.

[Pumpkins4Life]

Ginger is hot

+1

[flyingjo21]

xthpsgodx wrote:

When I saw them in Detroit they played some pretty obscure stuff, like Set the Ray to Jerry, that left a lot of the audience scratching their heads.

I would love to have see them play Set the Ray to Jerry! It's such a simple and beautiful song! You're so lucky you got to hear it live!

[Quikslayer666]

I just wish they would come to there hometown Chicago I dont care what they play I just want to see them. Maybe this will be my chance to see them. I will pay any amount to see the pumpkins.

[AnimatedHand]

flambe chicken wrote:

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet


I concur, and would like to add that Ginger is hot.

Totally.
This should be good and a new album would be great, Zeitgeist was brilliant

[HFR]

flambe chicken wrote:

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet


I concur, and would like to add that Ginger is hot.

TRUE!

[panther62]

Well I hope the crowd reaction didn't make them want to change. I saw them twice at the Fillmore last year and it was incredible. One night they just jammed out a song for about half an hour...it was so great. They played about three hours each night and honestly put most of the live shows I've seen to shame.

[sowhat360]

Am i the only one that just see's the rebirth of this band as a huge money making ploy?? I mean c'mon....billy corgans ego is out of whack and their last album was garbage. Zwan totally sucked...i don't think billy corgan was the reason for the "real pumpkins" success.

[falsreasoning]

listening to gish as i read this article...and sowhat you dont know what your talking about. If you have ever read anything about the pumpkins it was that Billy always wrote everything, bass lead and rhythm guitar. Therefore he was the reason for the bands success.

[Zero-Hartman]

sowhat360 wrote:

Am i the only one that just see's the rebirth of this band as a huge money making ploy?? I mean c'mon....billy corgans ego is out of whack and their last album was garbage. Zwan totally sucked...i don't think billy corgan was the reason for the "real pumpkins" success.

Billy's ego has always been a hinderance, and I enjoyed Zeitgeist and Zwan

Billy Corgan is The Smashing Pumpkins.

[ns9977a]

Why is it someone always tries to bring down an artist by complaining about their ego? News flash, brilliant people tend to think highly of themselves. Corgan isn't the only one there. Cobain had a huge ego (albeit self-deprecating). So did Joe Strummer and Johnny Rotten. Jimmy Page? No question. Big egos have been part of music all the way back to Beethoven.

Sure, there's a nostalgia for the full original lineup. I'll agree with the "Ginger is hot" comments above, but D'arcy's voice was much better (listen to her on the B-side collection "The Airplane Flies High" if you don't know what I'm talking about). Nonetheless, Corgan's always been the keystone to that band. Hell, Robert Smith's the only consistent member of The Cure, but nobody ever bitches about that.

*end of rant*

[life_247]

Swaggering rock n roll^

I really hope they let the 'band' play on this new record and not just be billy and jimmy, but thats probably not going to happen. Zietgiest was a good album and had its moments but was a little patchy overall imo.

Awsome live act atm though, no doubt.

[#_of_the_beast]

Didnt they say something about how Zeitgeist was going to be the last album by them?

[Kozworth]

Originally they said they'd not release a physical album again, only singles or what have you. Clearly, Billy has changed his mind...as he damn well should have.

[ThunderPX]

Yeah, they were going to release "blocks of songs" that would all be part of a "larger body of work" or something. Sounds like Billy's been listening to a little too much NIN to me.

checked.

[manb3arpig]

hopefully they dont **** up like the other bands now days :/

[irotinmyskin]

Zero-Hartman wrote:

sowhat360 wrote:

Am i the only one that just see's the rebirth of this band as a huge money making ploy?? I mean c'mon....billy corgans ego is out of whack and their last album was garbage. Zwan totally sucked...i don't think billy corgan was the reason for the "real pumpkins" success.

Billy's ego has always been a hinderance, and I enjoyed Zeitgeist and Zwan

Billy Corgan is The Smashing Pumpkins.

but he is still missing james iha, i dont care what u say, i agree billy has always been the main composer, but james iha was one hell of a guitar player-... smashing pumpkins still need him

[Zero-Hartman]

James Iha was just there to play, albeit he wrote a couple songs and was a good singer, but in the end he was just there to play what Billy told him to.

[Mikke]

NIce

[valentinezxifax]

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet

hell yeah. +infinity

[swaxq123]

flambe chicken wrote:

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet

I concur, and would like to add that Ginger is hot.

truer words were never spoken

bring on another uk tour the new album

[ThunderPX]

I think it's a coincidence that Billy decided to do an ordinary hard rock album and produced it badly in the same timespan that he decided to reunite without James and D'arcy. The Pumpkins as they are could probably write another Mellon Collie since it was 90% Billy's work anyway.

[tbarrettl]

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet

They are good even with Zeitgeist's shortcomings it was still a pretty good album.

[mister bass guy]

ns9977a wrote:

Why is it someone always tries to bring down an artist by complaining about their ego? News flash, brilliant people tend to think highly of themselves. Corgan isn't the only one there. Cobain had a huge ego (albeit self-deprecating). So did Joe Strummer and Johnny Rotten. Jimmy Page? No question. Big egos have been part of music all the way back to Beethoven.

Sure, there's a nostalgia for the full original lineup. I'll agree with the "Ginger is hot" comments above, but D'arcy's voice was much better (listen to her on the B-side collection "The Airplane Flies High" if you don't know what I'm talking about). Nonetheless, Corgan's always been the keystone to that band. Hell, Robert Smith's the only consistent member of The Cure, but nobody ever bitches about that.

*end of rant*

+1

[redmond007]

Nice.

[nolson44]

best f"n band ever
im def gonna see them
who agrees

[verona_bassist]

AnimatedHand wrote:

flambe chicken wrote:

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet


I concur, and would like to add that Ginger is hot.



Totally.
This should be good and a new album would be great, Zeitgeist was brilliant

zeitgeist would be a beautiful and brilliant album for any other band..but..were talkin bout the pumpkins...it was a good comeback, but theyre definatly capable of better things..(still wish Iha was there ...)

[MissionComplete]

irotinmyskin wrote:

Zero-Hartman wrote:

sowhat360 wrote:

Am i the only one that just see's the rebirth of this band as a huge money making ploy?? I mean c'mon....billy corgans ego is out of whack and their last album was garbage. Zwan totally sucked...i don't think billy corgan was the reason for the "real pumpkins" success.

Billy's ego has always been a hinderance, and I enjoyed Zeitgeist and Zwan

Billy Corgan is The Smashing Pumpkins.


but he is still missing james iha, i dont care what u say, i agree billy has always been the main composer, but james iha was one hell of a guitar player-... smashing pumpkins still need him

Do you seriously think that James was that good? Wow, he could work the ebow, wah and octave generator and that's about it.

[MissionComplete]

Seriously, James' solo work proves that he was just a moocher of Billy's talent. James was basically Billy's puppet for 10 or so years.

I was just watching him talk to Uli Jon Roth on a German TV show from sometime in the winter and Billy came out and said that Butch Vig was like, "You have two members who really know how to play [Billy and Jimmy] and two players that don't [James and D'arcy]. If I make a record with just you two, it will sound great. If I make it with all four of you, it will sound terrible." So this was expressed to James and D'arcy and they were cool with just BC+JC playing on the records as long as they weren't like kicked out of the band. So once people started to find out about this, they labeled Corgan as like a control freak and all that other fun stuff when really it's not that true.

[MissionComplete]

And did we also forget that BC+JC weren't flexing their artistic muscle too hard for Zeitgeist? They wanted it to be very approachable unlike Machina I and II.

[PumpkinHead94]

But didnt he also say they wouldnt make another album? What do i care. better 4 me. i love teh pumpkins.

[JimiOwnsYou21]

Billy is milking the hell out of this reunion...

I love the pumpkins and all, but without the original cast it just doesnt feel the same.

checked, again.

[musiclover2399]

MissionComplete wrote:

And did we also forget that BC+JC weren't flexing their artistic muscle too hard for Zeitgeist? They wanted it to be very approachable unlike Machina I and II.

That's true about the machina's. The first one was for themselves and the second was for the hardcore fans. I have a feeling the next album will be like zeitgeist except on a more grandose level. Can't wait until they come back to chicago.

[Ruhiel]

And did we also forget that BC+JC weren't flexing their artistic muscle too hard for Zeitgeist? They wanted it to be very approachable unlike Machina I and II.

Zeitgeist was more of a commercial/pop-y album. But probably only to catch the attention of the current common denominator, you know, the "in" crowd. That way people will be intrigued by the idea of these 90's juggernauts (ok maybe a bit of a stretch) of rock reuniting and have enough of an attention span so the Pumpkins can revisit their more obscure (and more interesting IMO) roots. I'm really hoping to hear some Machina-tinged stuff as well, I really dug Adore as well believe it or not, but it'd be a waste to let his strings skills go to waste behind a wall of synthesizers again.

...Ginger is hot.

[brunohbarros]

Sometime i heard that the singer of this band was the same from My Chemical Romance...

[potty_pete24]

BRUNHOBARROS : no way dude my chemical romance has NOTHING to do with pumpkins that comment slightly offends me lol pumpkins rule best band ever period!!
smashing pumpkins>my chemical romance.

[potty_pete24]

flambe chicken wrote:

Pumpkins4Life wrote:

The greatest band on the planet

i agree totaly!



I concur, and would like to add that Ginger is hot.

[mikeh07]

That documentary seems like a much better format than Vieuphoria.
I can't wait.

[StupidMF]

JimiOwnsYou21 wrote:

Billy is milking the hell out of this reunion...

I love the pumpkins and all, but without the original cast it just doesnt feel the same.

Agreed-it isn't the same. It sure is something though. Hopefully they do a second tour-considering I missed them the first time around