Smashing Pumpkins Tease Major Announcement
We've known for a while that Smashing Pumpkins have been planning something big, and they're almost ready to tell the world about it. An announcement is expected to be made on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018 at noon Eastern.
One the home page of their website, they've launched a countdown clock that reaches zero at that particular time. Rather than keep that browser tab open until then, you can sign up for their mailing list, which will presumably send you the information as soon as it becomes public.
It's not known whether this announcement will be about an album, tour or both. But we know that Billy Corgan has been in the studio with two other original members of the band, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, as well as Jeff Schroeder, who has played guitar with Corgan in the past. Since D'arcy Wretzky has said that she is not involved in the new project, it's believed that Schroeder will serve as the bass player. In addition, Wretzky, in revealing her lack of participation, said that a tour was going to start in July.
The Pumpkins also launched a contest for residents of New York and Los Angeles. They've place an ice cream truck -- a nod to their video for "Today" -- and told fans to post their photos of it with the hashtags #SP2018 and #entry with a prize being something courtesy of Yamaha Guitars.
Corgan took a couple of swipes at Wretzky's bass-playing in an Instagram post. In making an allusion to 2000's Machina/The Machines of God, Wretzky's last album as a member, he wrote that it was the last time he saw Iha play bass, "despite reports claiming a certain 'flaxen Saxxon' did; and as you know with much that is written is patently f-a-l-s-e)."
He concluded the post by telling his fans to "kindly, truly, embrace the life you are living TODAY, which reminds me of a song that I also played bass on."