Smashing Pumpkins: Same drummer, different beat

The Smashing Pumpkins were careful to stray from predictable sounds in their latest release, "MACHINA/ the machines of God"

March 15, 2000
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EST (2200 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Smashing Pumpkins faithful no doubt will demonstrate their allegiance again to the band, packing concert halls and amphitheaters to see "The Sacred and Profane" tour. The United States junket -- promoting the Pumpkins' latest release "MACHINA/ the machines of God" -- is scheduled to launch April 8 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The latest album represents a change for the group. "Adore" (1998), the band's previous album, failed to live up to expectations commercially and critically, selling about 3 million copies worldwide.

	ALSO
Review: Pumpkins back with smashing 'MACHINA'
	SAMPLE 'MACHINA/ the machines of God'
"Everlasting Gaze" [256K WAV] or [224K MP3] "Stand Inside" [320K WAV] or [320K MP3] (Sound courtesy Virgin Records)

Lead singer Billy Corgan says the band resisted pressure to replicate its earlier success with an album comparable to "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," released in 1995. Members made a conscious effort to ignore outside expectations, he says.

"I think that kind of completely removed the pressure," he says. "We just did what we would do in a vacuum."

And band members happily admit "MACHINA" won't suit everyone's taste. "As I like to say, if everybody likes what you're doing, you're doing something wrong," Corgan says.

Another defining difference between "MACHINA" and "Adore" is the return of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, whose heroin addiction forced the band to fire him in 1996. Clean now, Chamberlin was dismissed following the drug-overdose death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin.

"The music has really been the thing that has healed us over and over again. It is the thing that has held us together and taught us about each other."
— Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins

Faithful fans stand in line for a special in-store promotional concert in Los Angeles

Band members are proud to have overcome intense personal and professional turmoil.

"I don't mean this in any sort of trite way," Corgan says. "but the music has really been the thing that has healed us over and over again. It is the thing that has held us together and taught us about each other."

Fans also can learn from the band's struggles, he adds.

"What has gone on in my childhood, and the personal problems that we've had in the band, have given a lot of people hope," Corgan says. "(It shows) if you keep your nose pointed straight you can actually get somewhere -- to a happy place."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Official Smashing Pumpkins site
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