Chamberlin joins Fox Cities folk-rockers onstage in Chicago 11:04 pm // Thursday, March 8, 2012
Posted by susan in jimmy chamberlin, live, news.8 comments
Althea Legaspi of the Chicago Tribune reports that former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin joined members of the rootsy Appleton, Wisconsin-based band Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons on stage last night at the Vic Theatre in Chicago. Chisel & Sons were serving as the openers for Seattle act The Head and The Heart.
In a series of excited tweets, Wandering Sons drummer Darren Garvey says ”[I am] honored that Jimmy Chamberlin sat in on my drums last night!!… He was there wanting to play…I went tamb for a tune. Great times!” According to a sibling of a band member, Chamberlin joined the band to close out their set with a rendition of their song “Born Again.” Band leader Cory Chisel added that the band and Chamberlin are “doing a whole show together in July!”
A YouTube search reveals no videos of the performance, but you can watch the music video for “Born Again.” I dig.
Internet fans: James Iha less important to TSP than Slash is to GnR 3:48 am // Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Posted by 34 in ac/dc, analysis, beatles, bullshit, d'arcy wretzky, ginger reyes pooley, guns 'n' roses, james iha, jimmy chamberlin, led zeppelin, satire.42 comments
According to some highly non-scientific research (i.e. paging through google search results of “not $BandName without” queries), James Iha ranks above John Bonham and Bon Scott (not to mention any other former TSP member), but lower than Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne or Slash, when it comes to “it just isn’t Band X without Member Y” fan opinion. Check below to see who “matters” more to a band’s sound/identity (or perhaps merely which bands’ fans are the most vocal about lineup changes).
(more…)
Chamberlin regales press as Skysaw plays first headlining shows 11:29 am // Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Posted by jjb in interview, jimmy chamberlin, zeitgeist.19 comments
On the occasion of his new band’s first two few headlining shows, Skysaw drummer Jimmy Chamberlin has given interviews to websites based in Chicago and Washington.
Chamberlin’s chat with Chicagoverseunited is available in audio format (and was broadcast in part on Chicago’s Alternative Lame Duck, Q101), while his interview for the site Songwriters on Process — from which the following excerpt comes — appears in digital print. Dynasty descend.
When I was with the Pumpkins and we did Zeitgeist, it had been almost seven years since we made the album before it. So having to go and play that style of drumming again, I was often I was at loggerheads with myself because I was saying, “I don’t really play like this anymore. I wouldn’t make those choices again.” It became difficult to mine that stuff from 1996 and relearn how to play like that. It would be like writing in the style you did when you were a sophomore in college. That would be difficult since you’ve moved on and your toolbox has grown. You don’t need that big hammer anymore. You can use the smaller hammer that’s more beautiful.
UPDATE: Chamberlin further mulls needle movement with Zeitgeist hater Allison Stewart of the Washington Post.
Chamberlin speaks about Pumpkins reissues, Byrne, Complex 1:46 pm // Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Posted by alex in interview, jimmy chamberlin, skysaw.25 comments
Suburban Apologist has posted an interview with Skysaw’s Jimmy Chamberlin and Mike Reina, in which Chamberlin speaks a bit about the upcoming Smashing Pumpkins reissues, Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne, and his other band the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex.
Highlights from Chamberlin:
On the Smashing Pumpkins reissues: “I am very excited. Those records are sacred to me and I’m thrilled that they will be Repackaged and marketed to another generation. The Pumpkins still have a lot to offer, old and new I’m sure.”
On Mike Byrne: “I think Mike is perfect for what Billy is doing now; a great drummer with an extremely bright future.”
On the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex: “The complex lives and will rise up again at some point. Mohler and I started working on stuff before I left the Pumpkins and we continue to do so. It’s really just a time issue. We are both very busy these days.”
Skysaw to play Chicago’s Metro on June 25th 4:16 pm // Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Posted by alex in jimmy chamberlin, live, skysaw, tour.4 comments
Jimmy Chamberlin’s band Skysaw confirmed this afternoon that they will perform on June 25th at Chicago’s famed Metro, where the Smashing Pumpkins performed dozens of times betwen 1988 and 2000 (and once in 2010).
The show will come on the heels of Skysaw’s previously announced southeastern U.S. tour, which will take them between Texas and North Carolina States in late May and early June.
The performance looks like it will mark Jimmy Chamberlin’s first appearance on stage at the Metro since July 6th, 2004, when he performed alongside Billy Corgan at the Rock for Kids Charity Concert.
Skysaw’s “Great Civilizations” streams online 9:30 am // Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Posted by alex in great civilizations, jimmy chamberlin, releases, skysaw.15 comments
Amid the tumult of yesterday’s big announcement from Billy Corgan about new and old Smashing Pumpkins music, Jimmy Chamberlin released some “new and old” music himself. As planned, Chamberlin’s band Skysaw began streaming its album Great Civilizations online. Tracks 1-3 and 8-10 are from the version of the album released in MP3 format in November, when the band was using the name This, while tracks 4-7 are new additions. The stream is available at RecordStoreDay.com and at SoundCloud.
UPDATE: MP3, CD and vinyl editions of Great Civilizations are now available for pre-order from Dangerbird Records.
Skysaw announces 12-city U.S. tour 5:05 pm // Friday, April 22, 2011
Posted by alex in jimmy chamberlin, live, news, skysaw, tour.16 comments
Jimmy Chamberlin’s Skysaw has officially announced a 12-city tour that will take them across the southern U.S. in late May and early June. “We’re really looking forward to it. Gonna be a great time,” said Skysaw today via its official Twitter account.
As previously reported, the band will be touring in support of Dangerbird Records labelmates Minus the Bear.
Chamberlin: “I always wanted to be in this role, as a songwriter.” 9:06 am // Friday, April 8, 2011
Posted by jjb in interview, jimmy chamberlin, skysaw.55 comments
Jimmy Chamberlin, the musician who’s done many things, has been interviewed by Spin Magazine about his new band Skysaw and his former band the Smashing Pumpkins.
Chamberlin talks about recording Skysaw’s album Great Civilizations, cops to living in the suburbs, and explains how he was introduced to pretty Skysaw frontman Mike Reina. Spin’s William Goodman also wanted to explore Chamberlin’s relationship with Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan, and the drummer obliged the interviewer with several remarks.
Here’s a mildly dramatic excerpt from the end of Goodman’s article:
“It’s important for Billy [Corgan] to carry on as the Pumpkins — that’s a lot of his ownership and a big part of his personality,” says Chamberlin, who explains that he and Corgan are friends “from a distance.” “He’s an extremely talented musician, fantastic songwriter, and a great guy at getting what he needs. But as time went on it became less and less about my journey and more about facilitating someone else’s.”
“I’ve learned that you can call it a band, but unless everyone is contributing it’s not really,” says Chamberlin. “It’s pretending that it’s a band. I wasn’t interested in creating another experience like that. Skysaw is predicated on a three-way split.”
He adds, “That situation [with the Pumpkins] placed constraints and a parameter on my career that’s wasn’t always easy to deal with. That can stagnate your growth as a musician. Not anymore.”
HU Podcast #74: Corgan off Facebook 8:50 pm // Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Posted by chris in facebook, jimmy chamberlin, podcast.49 comments
We made some bold predictions on the last podcast about the coming golden age of fan/band communication on Facebook…and we were dead wrong. This week we dissected what went wrong and also found some time to discuss Jimmy Chamberlin’s new project.
Listen to the whole show (36:25)
(download)(iTunes)
Panelists
-Chris, Jason, and Alex
Topics
-A few weeks on interesting Facebook dialogue were submarined when Billy took offense to some inane fan comments. Is there any hope for Billy with social media? (22:23)
-Jimmy Chamberlin’s work with This Skysaw remains unreleased, but for $20 you can enjoy some intense drumming beneath the relaxation therapy of self-titled “Shaman” Durek Verrett. Do Jimmy’s recent statements change our perception of his split from the Pumpkins at all? (7:55)
Song of the Week
-Lucky 13, Berlin, Germany; June 6th, 2007
Verrett, Chamberlin take listeners on “journey of excellence” 6:21 pm // Sunday, January 16, 2011
Posted by jjb in jimmy chamberlin, news, releases.85 comments
The audio collaboration between Jimmy Chamberlin and Durek Verrett has yielded two lengthy tracks posted online yesterday. “Prana” and “Pinda” pair Verrett’s shamanistic verbiage with Chamberlin’s jungle drumming for 35 minutes of mesmerization. Stream the sounds for free or pay $9.99 for each download at Verrett’s page on the Bandcamp platform.
Verrett says he and Chamberlin are “working on new [meditations] next week and doing a live performance around summer.”
Shaman encouraged Chamberlin to leave Smashing Pumpkins 10:07 pm // Saturday, January 15, 2011
Posted by jjb in interview, jimmy chamberlin, news.96 comments
Jimmy Chamberlin, interviewed by Metrosource magazine for a new profile of spirit-talker Durek Verrett, says the mystic vocalist’s advice resonated with him prior to a big decision two years ago:
When Chamberlin first met Durek, he had been playing with the Smashing Pumpkins, an alternative rock band, for 20 years. Durek said spirit guides were telling Chamberlin that he needed to leave his band and create his own music. “Durek was the one that took me aside and said, ‘Look, there’s nothing to be afraid of; only good will come out of this,’” says Chamberlin. Since then, Chamberlin feels he has more balance in his life. “My life pre-Durek and post-Durek is diametrically opposed. I really owe a lot of it to him. He was instrumental in facilitating a massive change in my life. I cherish our friendship and every word he says.”
UPDATE (1/16): Verrett comments.
Transcribed segments from Drum Channel interview of Chamberlin 12:59 pm // Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Posted by jjb in history, interview, jimmy chamberlin.43 comments
Last month, Drum Channel (“a spearhead of entertaining, educational and inspirational drumming related content”) began offering to its subscribers a four-part video including a long interview — which seems to have been conducted even a few months earlier — of ex-Smashing Pumpkins sticksman Jimmy Chamberlin by the drummer Terry Bozzio. Chamberlin and Bozzio philosophize, tell war stories (including Chamberlin on joining the Pumpkins in 1988, and Bozzio on auditioning for the Pumpkins in 1996), and then take to their kits and jam out at length.
Following are two transcribed excerpts, both from the second video segment. Hopefully these excerpts do fairly represent the speakers’ meaning, but keep in mind that the video is preferred for full context and tone.
(starting at the 13:15 mark)
Jimmy Chamberlin: You know, I was never really into that [Smashing Pumpkins] type of music, and I had to kind of shoehorn my own style…which I love doing. I mean, I love the challenge of playing Michael Walden-type drumming in alternative music. I mean, I know you do too, I mean, I’ve seen you play with Korn, and…
Terry Bozzio: Yeah.
Chamberlin: …you’ve played that blistering stuff. What’s great about it is, you know, although it has its moments, and certainly the leader of that band [Billy Corgan] had ideas about tempos and stuff like that that you and I kind of agree are a little…not our thing.
Bozzio: Yeah, well, you know, let me explain that part. When I got that demo [prior to auditioning], there were sections that rushed, and dragged, and it was just like, you know, I thought, well, okay, this is, you know, I probably thought, “Well, this guy can’t groove,” you know. Then I met Billy, and he explained to me, “No, this is exactly how I want it, and it takes us a long time to get that push and that release,” and all that kind of stuff, and then I realized this was like, you know, Boulez…it was Boulez’s version of a kind of garage band, you know, punk.
Chamberlin: It was difficult to do on a consistent basis…because it ended up being like some subverted, twisted classical piece that you had to kind of get your rocks off…
Bozzio: Like, metronome exactly this, and then it goes up for the next section, and that’s difficult to do.
Chamberlin: Funnily enough, when we did some stuff later, in a band called Zwan, and we did some drumming, and the whole record I did to a click. We actually increased the tempos during the solos and then had to drop them back down for the verses in order to get that vibe that he was talking about. Which, you know, if you go up to 127 and have to bring something down to 125, in order to give it…I mean, you’re falling out of your…it’s like, whoa! It’s like your stick turns into a noodle and then you’re like, “Oh, man, it’s so slow right here!”
Bozzio: Yeah, yeah.
Chamberlin: But that’s just the way it was, and it was kind of my trial by fire.
(17:40)
Chamberlin: Once we’re okay with ourselves, we can really turn a corner with our drums. I mean, you’ve gone through life changes, I’ve gone through life changes, we both have families, we both have kids. And, you know, there’s a lot to be said for perspective, I think, especially with drumming. You can go listen to a thousand drummers, like you said, and the one guy that moves you, you know, may not be the greatest drummer, but just for some reason there’s something in that DNA that matches up with your DNA that just happens to click. I mean, I’ve heard a lot of sloppy drummers that I think are great, and I’ve heard a lot of fantastic drummers that I think are just antiseptic and sterile.
Bozzio: Yeah.
Chamberlin: It either rocks or it doesn’t, and nobody can really tell you what that rock is.
Bozzio: No, it’s a subjective, subjective thing, yeah.
Chamberlin: I’m not a fan of my drumming back then. I mean, I’m personally not. I listen to that stuff and it drives me nuts. Because, I mean, the stuff I’m writing now, I’m really conscious of stuff like, you know, what we talk about. Like, it’s got to have a pocket, and I mean, I love watching you, the stuff you did with the Buddy Rich band not too long ago, was just, I mean…swingin’, man.
Chamberlin resonates with shaman, renames new band 12:08 pm // Friday, December 10, 2010
Posted by jjb in interview, jimmy chamberlin, news, skysaw.43 comments
Jimmy Chamberlin appeared last night on spirit-talker Durek Verrett’s live audio program “Get Real” (hosted by ‘radio’ outlet Indie1031.com). You can listen to the recorded program via blip.tv.
Chamberlin and Verrett have been working together on a musical project, which Chamberlin described:
I work in my studio on the piece that we’re doing, so I’ve been waking up to his voice say for the past maybe 25 days, which is great. And there’s a healing resonance within that voice that certainly…it doesn’t matter if it’s coming through on the computer or the tape, whatever, the phone, it doesn’t matter how you’re hearing, that resonance is there. And when you can add another compassionate resonance underneath it like a drum, it doubles the healing output. And if you can find the vibrational frequencies where they resonate together and make compound frequencies, the healing becomes exponentially greater.
Chamberlin also mentioned his band with Mike Reina and Anthony Pirog — a band that had previously gone under the name “This” — giving the band’s current name as “Skysaw” (or “Sky Saw,” possibly). He said the band members are in Los Angeles and have “inked a deal” with Dangerbird Management. Chamberlin expects the band to tour next summer.
According to the domain registrar GoDaddy, skysawmusic.com was registered on October 29 to “J C” at an address in northern Virginia (where This cut its record Great Civilizations).
“This” is not happening? Sources say band will change its name 1:56 pm // Friday, November 5, 2010
Posted by jjb in amusing, great civilizations, jimmy chamberlin, news, rumor, skysaw.69 comments
This band needs a better name.
After its Monday release through online retailers, downloadable music from the album Great Civilizations has been taken down from iTunes as well as Amazon. Multiple sources have since told HU that the men behind the record — former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, singer-songwriter Mike Reina, and guitarist Anthony Pirog — pulled it down at least in part to reconsider their chosen band name, the pronoun “This.”
What now?
On radio call-in show, Corgan revisits split with Chamberlin 10:57 pm // Thursday, November 4, 2010
Posted by jjb in billy corgan, business, interview, jimmy chamberlin, news, radio, revival, skysaw, teargarden by kaleidyscope.43 comments
Smashing Pumpkins survivor Billy Corgan was a guest Monday night on the long-running syndicated radio call-in program “Rockline” (full audio here), fielding a variety of questions from listeners, host Bob Coburn, and, uhm, System of a Down singer Serj Tankian.
Among other subjects, Corgan talked about material from new Pumpkins album Teargarden by Kaleidyscope (calling “Astral Planes” a “voodoo dance-around-the-fire kind of song”), getting started as a young musician (“The first 50 songs I wrote were probably terrible”), pricing of digital downloads (“The dollar-to-$1.29 model I think is just too expensive”), and his 2009 split with former Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Following is a transcript of that last discussion, which can be heard at the end of “Billy Corgan Clip 3″ on the Rockline website.
Bob Coburn: Jacob is in Lincoln, Nebraska. Welcome to Rockline, Jacob — you’re on with Billy Corgan.
Caller: Hello, this is Jacob and…what was the final straw to the release…the Jimmy?
Billy Corgan: Uh, say that again?
Bob Coburn: What was the thing that caused separation with Jimmy Chamberlin, I think that’s what he’s asking.
Billy Corgan: Oh, yeah, Jimmy, the original Smashing Pumpkins drummer and I parted ways, I guess it would have been around February of last year? Uhm, you know, I haven’t really spoken much on it publicly, because when you have a long relationship, and my relationship with Jimmy goes back to 1988, and we’ve parted ways now three times, uh, it’s complicated, there’s no real one-sentence answer. Uh, but…to not…to be…to not be disingenuous and try to avoid the question, I’ll try to answer the question.
I think there comes a point where, you know, I’ve always been the person in the band through my songwriting and through my sense of things, to choose what I think is the best direction moving forward, and of course not everybody in the band always agrees. And I thought we had reached a point where we saw things in a different direction and I just couldn’t believe that at the age that we were at at that point, which I would have been 42, and he would have been 45, that we were still having this kind of disagreement about what the future of the band was. And to me then it became simple, it was nothing I was going to fight over. He’s doing what he wants to do, he’s got a solo band now, I think the band’s called “This,” and so I’d encourage everyone to listen to it. He’s an incredible musician.
It’s ah – you know, not all band members live in reality. And I live in reality. The reality that we live in today as musicians in the public sphere is a very complicated reality, and I’m very determined to move the band forward into the future with new music. I’m not interested in being an oldies act. I’m not interested in just sort of taking money to…to pay my bills. I’m very much an artist to always be an artist, and that’s served me well, so ah – he was going in a different direction, was sort of thinking, like it was time to shut things down and kind of make it more simple for people to understand, i.e., become basically an oldies act, and I’m sorry, I just…I don’t see the Smashing Pumpkins ever being an oldies act. I don’t care if I’m 80, I’ll still be trying to write new songs.
This record goes on sale 11:59 pm // Monday, November 1, 2010
Posted by jjb in great civilizations, jimmy chamberlin, news, releases, skysaw.109 comments
Great Civilizations, the first release from former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin’s new band This, appeared today at online retailers. The six-song record sells in MP3 format at Amazon and iTunes for $5.94.
The official This website remains entirely black, and we haven’t seen any press coverage of…this news, but for all anyone knows there may have been some.
This album “Great Civilizations” coming out this month 4:33 pm // Sunday, October 10, 2010
Posted by jjb in great civilizations, jimmy chamberlin, news, releases, skysaw.61 comments
Mike Reina, the singer-songwriter working with former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin on a band called This, has revealed the status of that band’s first project to music site betterPropaganda (HT: The Machine Somehow):
Great Civilizations, the first release from THIS will be available for download mid October at bandcamp and the vinyl release will follow shortly thereafter.
Jimmy Chamberlin contributes to two tracks on new album 8:44 pm // Sunday, April 11, 2010
Posted by Jill in audio, jimmy chamberlin.82 comments
A recent article on Truth In Shredding reveals that Jimmy Chamberlin has contributed his talents to the latest record entitled Not From Here released by guitarist Gannin Arnold. Chamberlin joins a hard-hitting line-up for the The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex guitarist’s LP, contributing to two tracks (“Not From Here,” “Get On With It”).
Preview “Not From Here” below or buy the full release via Arnold’s official site here! Thanks to HU reader Megan for the news tip!
Corgan on Chamberlin: “Jimmy is a Destructive Human Being” 10:53 am // Thursday, March 4, 2010
Posted by chris in billy corgan, interview, jimmy chamberlin, magazines.150 comments
One of the more-anticipated portions of Brian Hiatt’s sprawling profile of Billy Corgan in the latest issue of Rolling Stone was the promise of details regarding the surprising departure of Jimmy Chamberlin from the Smashing Pumpkins. Scant details were provided at the time, beyond the assertion from the Chamberlin camp that “there is no drama, bad blood, or anything else but a full committment to music,” leading many fans to believe that the parting was mostly amicable and that Jimmy was possibly no longer willing to devote the same time and energy into the Smashing Pumpkins that bandleader Billy Corgan was.
As time passed, it became clear that the former “musical soul mates” may not have parted on as good of terms as the two parties may have stated publicly, but no details have emerged until now. Hiatt portrays two very disparate accounts of the separation:
Billy:
Chamberlin is sober now, but Corgan is convinced that his character hasn’t changed, that he is fundamentally “unhealthy.” “Jimmy is a destructive human being, and people who are destructive break things,” Corgan says. “I don’t see me reaching the highest levels of my creativity if I’m unhealthy and if I have unhealthy people areound me.[...]” After Corgan told Chamberlin he was out, the drummer “unloaded” on Corgan, unleashing 20 years worth of pent-up insults. “So I was like, ‘Fuck you,’”, Corgan recalls. “‘Go ride around in a white van for the rest of your life.”
Jimmy:
Chamberlin becomes apoplectic when he hears Corgan’s account. “In the middle of the last tour, Billy said it was the agent’s fault, then it was the band’s fault, then it was the fans’ fault,” the drummer says. “Yes, in the past, I was a destructive human being. I was a complete drug addict and a complete loose cannon, but I’ve taken responsibility for my life.”
Those looking for a dispassionate, objective account of what occurred to so-quickly submarine a 20-year working relationship are sure to be disappointed, but those looking for a bit more context around the departure and the states of mind — at least as presented to an interviewer — of the principals will want to pick up a copy of the magazine.
A Complex Man 2:16 am // Sunday, January 17, 2010
Posted by apm in family, influence, interview, jimmy chamberlin, magazines.add a comment
The February 2010 issue of Modern Drummer includes an interview with former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The interview, a “Drummer to Drummer” feature, has Jimmy being interviewed by his one-time Jimmy Chamberlin Complex bandmate Will Mohler. Mohler played bass in the Complex and is currently the drummer for the band War Tapes. Jimmy then interviews Will in the 2nd half of the article.
The interview, only available in the dead tree version of the magazine, doesn’t offer any answers to why Jimmy left the band last spring, and in fact doesn’t even mention it, nor does it mention his new project This. But as one might expect from a drum-focused magazine, the interview does offer plenty of deep thoughts from Jimmy on drumming and being a drummer.
How he developed his “signature”:
I really try to concentrate on being myself when I play. I know that sounds simple, but I think it takes years of emulating your heroes and practicing to finally arrive at the required amount of facility to just “be yourself” on an instrument. I think that’s where the hooks come in. When you can be yourself, only you can play like you. Things start to sound like a musical version of your personality.
How important is it for a drummer to understand harmony and chord structure:
Knowledge of harmony and melody is key if you want your drum parts to “sing the song.” I have always thought that you should be able to know what song you’re hearing just by listening to the drum part, and that’s what I strive for. The same goes for any instrument.
What’s the greatest lesson he’s learned:
Everything for me revolves around my instrument. It’s been with me longer than anything else in my life. My ability to be a good father, husband, friend, composer, teacher, kite flyer, gardener, pet owner is reflected in my relationship with the drums. When I’m in groove with work, everything else falls into place for me.
