Chamberlin done with Skysaw 12:22 am // Friday, August 24, 2012
Posted by jjb in jimmy chamberlin, news, skysaw.comments closed
Jimmy Chamberlin told attendees of a drum clinic in Chicago on Thursday night that he has left Skysaw, this the rock band he formed in 2009 with singer Mike Reina.
During the clinic, hosted by instrument retailer Chicago Music Exchange, Chamberlin demonstrated several drum parts from his repertoire, including the Smashing Pumpkins classics “Tonight, Tonight” and “Geek U.S.A.” along with a few Jimmy Chamberlin Complex numbers. Chamberlin also explained why the clinic had been rescheduled from a week earlier: He’d sliced his thumb while putting a mailbox together, badly enough to require treatment at a local emergency room.
Skysaw released one album, Great Civilizations, which in its final form went on sale during June 2011. A supporting tour comprised about 15 concerts.
UPDATE (8/29): Chicago Music Exchange is sharing some video from the clinic.
Corgan calls Iha “one of the worst human beings I’ve ever met” 11:55 pm // Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Posted by jjb in interview, news, jimmy chamberlin, billy corgan, james iha, d'arcy wretzky.comments closed
The June 16 print edition of the New Musical Express has a writeup by Emily Mackay of an interview with Smashing Pumpkins torchbearer Billy Corgan. The discussion revisits familiar thoughts from Corgan regarding Courtney Love, Resistance Pro, and the Tarot, but he does offer fresh—or at least newly extreme—commentary on his relationships with former bandmates Jimmy Chamberlin, James Iha, and D’Arcy Wretzky. Following are two excerpts.
Billy Corgan: Success held that band together longer than it should have been held together. It was dysfunctional. There were a lot of years there where I regretted the way it all went down, and now I think it was meant to die when it died how it died. We stole from the Promethean fire to fuel whatever our weird psychic death trip was and then we paid for it. Or got too close to the sun and crashed. It was just meant to be that way. And you can draw parallels from that with Jimmy’s situation [when he left the band in 2009] because maybe that was just a continuance of something that hadn’t been resolved back then.
NME/Emily Mackay: He said in his statement on leaving that he “couldn’t just cash the cheque”…
Corgan: See now, here is a perfect opportunity to bury Jimmy as a fucking liar. But I won’t. That’s a lie. That statement’s just a flat-out lie.
NME: Was it that you wanted to take the band in a commercial direction, and he didn’t?
Corgan: Ha ha! No, it’s the exact opposite. I wish I could explain it, but I don’t trust the world to understand the complexity of it. I think it’s telling that the first thing Jimmy did when he left the band was make a statement about money because that had a lot to do with it. But if you look at what I’ve done since he left, where have I made money?
Later:
NME: Do you still feel any rancour towards the other band members about the way it ended?
Corgan: Uhhh… I’m OK with Jimmy. We don’t have a relationship at the moment, but I mean, I have no ill will. I want to see him do well. James Iha I think is just a piece of shit. I think he’s one of the worst human beings I’ve ever met in my life. And D’Arcy, she’s sort of, in her own way, sort of an innocent.
NME: Those photos that were released when she was arrested for missing a court date last year suggested she wasn’t really in a good place.
Corgan: Yeah, it’s terrible. But she’s not a bad person. And I don’t hold any ill will towards her, even though I’ve had to deal with fucking lawsuits and stuff like that. If there’s any culprit in this it’s Iha. But, y’know, he was there at the right time of my life, we did do good things together, I think he is a good musician when he gives a fuck, which most of the time he doesn’t. And that’s about it.
The same issue of NME carries a review of the Pumpkins’ new album Oceania; Mackay’s declaration that it is “the strongest Smashing Pumpkins album in years” notwithstanding, the review gives Oceania six of a possible ten points. UPDATE (6/18): The review is now available online.
Chamberlin joins Fox Cities folk-rockers onstage in Chicago 11:04 pm // Thursday, March 8, 2012
Posted by susan in jimmy chamberlin, live, news.comments closed
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, d'arcy wretzky, ginger reyes pooley, guns 'n' roses, james iha, jimmy chamberlin, led zeppelin, satire.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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)
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.comments closed
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
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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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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.comments closed
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!
