Zwan: more of the same from Billy Corgan? (1 Viewer)

[Pete_S]

Ever since Adore, I've been a big fan of The Smashing Pumpkins and just Billy Corgan in general (he's made available a ton of demos that are just him and an acoustic guitar, and he often took on much of the recording responsibilities for the Pumpkins anyway). I've been following Zwan closely since they started touring a year ago, acquiring SHN copies of all their shows but one (don't worry, admins; the band supports bootleggers).
The band has already played over 50 unique songs at their shows, so obviously not all of those are ever going to see the light of day when albums start getting released, but now the band has put up a brand new studio song on their website... Honestly. I understand it's also getting around to radio stations, too.
So, what do you guys think? Same Smashing Pumpkins under a different name and with a couple different members? For me, I could care less, 'cause I've grown to like pretty much all of Billy Corgan's music, and all any band he's in will ever be is a vehicle for his music.
Oh, one last note: I know someone in Chicago whose friend is actually the sound engineer for the band. He said all the band does in the studio is sit around and play video games all day. From what he said, Billy isn't very good at Halo. But anyway, he said from what he could tell, the album definitely wouldn't be done (much less released) before the end of the year.

 

[Nigel McN]

Grab DirectConnect++ and jump on the Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan Hub and grab some of the concerts for a wider range of material by Zwan. I have most of them and they rock.

 

[Nigel McN]

Software
http://dcplusplus.sourceforge.net/
Hub
tsphub.dyndns.org:1979

 

[Nigel McN]

Just a note because there is lots of news in the land of Zwan.
Home Movie 4 is up.
The New album "Mary Star of the Sea" is out at the end of Jan.
They have started to tour again and the first new show is up on the Hub (as mentioned above) the show is 2002-12-06 @ Spaceland, LA, the sound is really good (would be great except for one guy screaming )

 

[Philip_G]

interesting, adore is the last SP cd I ever purchased

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Same Smashing Pumpkins under a different name and with a couple different members?

And barely different ones at that! I saw them tonight in DC, and I'd not known anything about the other band members. We have Billy and Jimmy from the Pumpkins plus a sexy female bassist and a low-key Asian guy on guitar. No, they're not named Marcy and Ames, but they sure do seem reminiscent of prior folks nonetheless! The only new factor comes from the hillbilly-looking third guitarist.

I have to imagine Billy consciously recruited two musicians who strongly remind us of his two ex-bandmates - somehow I can't see this as a coincidence. It startled me nonetheless...

 

[Nigel McN]

Which is funny considering that Zwan was effectively created around 8 years ago between Billy and the hillbilly-looking Matt Sweeny. David Pajo is Filipino American (from Texas) which I guess makes him Asian. Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle) was the last member to actually join the guys when she arrived on the scene earlier this year (Zwan started performing last year)

Consider that they are guitar orientated rock band (Paz also plays violin, Pajo plays piano), I don't think many people were expecting them to be incredibly divergent from The Smashing Pumpkins.

But then, is that a bad thing?

Either way there is plenty out there to listen to, download away and enjoy. (pass on the 2002-12-11 stuff, no good boots out yet)

 

[Colin Jacobson]

But then, is that a bad thing?

Not at all! My comments weren't intended to be negative. I simply felt startled to see a band that included so many musicians either actually FROM the Pumpkins or who demonstrated incredible similarities with former Pumpkins members. Like I said, I have to believe Billy recruited David and Paz at least partly as some sort of statement. That's not a slam on their abilities - I'm not saying they ONLY made the band because they fit the James and D'arcy mode. But I think it made a difference...

 

[Tom Meyer]

This talk about Billy Corgan recruiting David Pajo because he wanted to keep the same sound as S.P is rather humorous because David Pajo was in Slint, a band that S.P effectively aped on many of their songs. Not saying that S.P weren't original (tho I can't stand them myself), but in the Indie Rock Scheme of Things, Slint/Squirrelbait/the whole Louisville scene was pretty much the precursor to a lot of what went on in the 90s. Listen to Spiderland REALLY LOUD if you don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

This talk about Billy Corgan recruiting David Pajo because he wanted to keep the same sound as S.P is rather humorous because David Pajo was in Slint, a band that S.P effectively aped on many of their songs.

I never implied or said that he recruited him for the SOUND...

 

[Nigel McN]

ouch after listening to the those samples of 2002-12-11 again, definitely stay away from both. They are both quite harsh to listen to.

 

[Robert Burkes]

This is a little off topic, but this post has introduced me to DC++. I'm still learning how to use it, and I was hoping you all could post some other cool hubs for music. Thanks!

Rob

 

[Nigel McN]

well the best thing to do would be to search for your favourite bands and try to find forums that know what their attitude is towards taping. Opinions can differ wildly, etree.org is a great place to start off as it has information on many groups and what their reaction is to concert recording. Find some forums for the Band(s) and they should be able to point in the right direction. Other than the public server list you can get within DC++ (the leftmost icon that looks like a PC with a cable coming out of it) I couldn't tell you any others because I don't use any others.

 

[StevenW]

So did anyone get the new Zwan album today? I'm definetly diggin it so far. I really have liked the past couple efforts from Billy.

 

[Tim Markley]

I was a big fan of Smashing Pumpkins before Adore. Siamese Dream is still one of my favorite CDs. I'm not a fan of the newer stuff so probably won't like Zwan although it's good to see Billy with a new band and CD.

 

[Jason_H]

Interesting you say that Tim, because the new single "Honestly" reminds me more of Siamese Dream than anything else. The production and the GUITAR SOLO. I was actually quite surprised. I am also of the opinion that Siamese Dream was their peak.

 

[Todd H]

Been listening to the Zwan album since Tuesday. Sounds like SP to me. Not bad, but not groundbreaking either. But I'll keep it in my car's cd player for a while longer to see if it grows on me.

 

[Nigel McN]

this one was a weird one for me. This is the first time in my life where I was very familiar with the music before the album came out, so when I finally heard the album versions is was like 'dang, this isn't what it normally sounds like', but I really enjoy it now, just most of the songs seem shorter on the album. Like in concert MSTOTS can be 20 minutes on its own.

 

[Nigel McN]

Interesting to see that a similar 'debate' is happening over the mastering of the album, that happened hear of the mastering of the last Rush album.
http://zwan.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?q=Y&a...6676036512&p=1
no official response yet.

 

[Dave Morton]

Honestly has been getting a lot of airplay in chicago. I really like that song. I was never a big SP fan. I only liked Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. I will be picking up this cd this weekend.