The Smashing Pumpkins have announced their first album in 18 years featuring the founding members of the band.
Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin, with guitarist Jeff Schroeder, got together at legendary producer Rick Rubin’s famous Shangri La studios to produce the eight-track LP, ‘SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN.’, which is due for release on November 16.
The band have released the second single ‘Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)’ with a lyric video, the follow-up to lead single ‘Solara’.
The record, the Grammy-winning alternative rock outfit’s first with the reformed line-up since 2000’s ‘Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music’, will be released on Billy’s very own Martha’s Music under exclusive license to Napalm Records.
Meanwhile, Billy recently insisted Smashing Pumpkins won’t invite original bassist D’Arcy Wretzky back into the band.
The 51-year-old frontman said the rest of the band tried to "rebuild the bridge" with her, but got nowhere.
He spilled: "We spent two years trying to rebuild the bridge with her, and, at the end of the day, she chose not to be involved.
"We made every effort to involve her, including offering her the ability that she does not even have to be on the tour. She could show up at any time, she could play as much as she wanted to play."
Corgan claimed that they’d advised the 50-year-old musician that she’d probably not be able to perform all of their songs live because of her almost 20-year absence from the stage, and how in the end they decided it was best to "move on".
He added: "She insisted that even though she hasn’t been on stage in 19 years, that she should play every song …
"And we were, like, ‘This is just an unrealistic thing for somebody who hasn’t been on stage for 19 years – to expect you to play a three-hour show.’
"What it came down to is that she didn’t really wanna be involved. It was like a game of chicken and, eventually, we called her bluff and we made a decision to move on."
D’Arcy lashed out at Corgan and the reunion as a whole amidst a bitter row between the two parties in February.
Reflecting on when they started talking again in 2006, D’Arcy – who left the group after 11 years in 1999 – said: "I just was so out of that world for the longest time, I wasn’t aware of a lot of the crazy stuff, like he supports Trump. What? The shapeshifting thing, I honestly think he may have a brain tumour. He’s always been insufferable."
The tracklisting for ‘SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN.’ is as follows:
1.’Knights of Malta’
2. ‘Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)’
3.’Travels’
4.’Solara’
5. ‘Alienation’
6. ‘Marchin’ On’
7. ‘With Sympathy’
8. ‘Seek And You Shall Destroy