Article by Arthur van Pelt Hosting by Alberto “Somewhere in the not so distant future, we may find a world of not so subtle torments…”(1) Glass and the Machines of God is a (presumably unfinished) Smashing Pumpkins/Billy Corgan project that dates back to the year 2000. Right now, Smashing Pumpkins official eBay account (officialspmemorabilia) is auctioning a rare and previously unreleased poster related to the project. Due to the typical limited duration of eBay auctions (30 days in this case), there is a somewhat urgent need to inform the potential buyer(s) what they are considering purchasing. With respect, SPfreaks would like to give […]
Article by Arthur van Pelt Hosting by Alberto “I’ve often felt that our B-sides show more of our true character than some of our albums.” (1) Many fellow SPfreaks members will remember the SPfreaks Live Compilations that were available for download on SPfreaks.com from 2008 through 2010. Here, we present a starting point to revisit those Live Compilations in the upcoming months, but we also present an ending point. There was always the idea of closing the series with a fifth edition, but it never took proper shape. However, that has changed: we managed to get permission* to spread a six-hour […]
Article by Geo Folkers Before The Marked or Smashing Pumpkins were conceived, Greg Bates co-founded Coat of Eyes with Billy Corgan. Not much is known of this band, but at least one full cassette tape of music was recorded (see pictures below). Last week, Greg and Billy reunited forces at the opening of Billy’s new Tea House in Highland Park, IL, called Madame ZuZu’s. They played Smashing Pumpkins’, Today. I had a chance to sit down with Greg and ask him a few questions about the band that very few people know about. Here’s what he had to say. 1. How […]
Article by Derek Miller Very few Grecian Smashing Pumpkins items have ever been officially released by Virgin. However, Virgin Greece (the Virgin Records label in Greece) has been producing its own releases since at least the 1990s. We only know this because of a few rare Grecian vinyls that have been acquired by collectors throughout the years. Virgin Greece ceases to exist today, because in 2001 EMI Minos (EMI’s own Grecian record label), consolidated Virgin Greece and discontinued the use of the Virgin brand name. So what Smashing Pumpkins releases came out of Greece during Virgin’s tenure? As stated previously, […]
Article by Arthur van Pelt Both online and offline 1988 is considered to be the starting year of Smashing Pumpkins. And yes, the band consisted as a somewhat stable four-piece after hiring Jimmy Chamberlin to take over the drum kit in that year. Jimmy played with the band live for the first time at the Cabaret Metro (back then, Joe Shanahan’s own Metro, Chicago was still referenced this way) on October the 5th. And they even played a few live gigs earlier in 1988, starting with the Chicago 21 venue on July 9 and the Avalon venue on August […]
Article by Arthur van Pelt Sourced by DutchCowboys, ComputerWorld, Archive.org Since The Internet Archive and BitTorrent Inc. announced a partnership last week, and sealed that cooperation with already over 1.5 million torrents available on Archive.org, the fans and collectors of Smashing Pumpkins live music can benefit from the move forward of these two parties. The vast majority of internet users think, and know, BitTorrent and other torrent tools are used for illegal-or-not downloads of all kind of files, in a wide variety of software programs, movies, music, books and other digital media. While BitTorrent is often in the news because […]
Update by Arthur van Pelt Sourced by Now News (Shi-Jie Lin), China Times, CTS, The Liberty Times & Apple Daily Additional translations, material & photo by Ed & Geng Hao Our long time friend and contributor of SPfreaks.com Ed reports, in his unique English style, from Taiwan, where Smashing Pumpkins kicked off the Twinkle Rock Festival last night in Taipei at the Taipei World Trade Center (Hall 2). ‘2012 Twinkle Rock Festival’ running from 10th started by The Smashing Pumpkins to kick off the 2012 show, members including lead singer Billy Corgan, drummer Michael William Byrne, bassist Nicole Fiorentino, and guitarist Jeff […]
Article by guest writer Annie S. Alejo Photo by Magic Liwanag Billy Corgan says he grew up around a lot of Filipinos. His fans here, meanwhile, have waited nearly two decades to see him and his band The Smashing Pumpkins in the flesh. MANILA, Philippines – Billy Corgan could not have come to Manila at a worse time. Twenty years late, by his own sheepish admission, the horrible weather that greeted them here would be a real test to The Smashing Pumpkins front man’s resolve, as well as that of his many fans that had waited this long for him to be […]
