Smashing Pumpkins FAQ v4.6, part 3
Mike Hamilton
Posting-Frequency: monthly (17th)
Version: 4.6
URL: http://www.ualberta.ca/~michaelh/FAQ.txt
4. -Merchandise-
4.1 Pricing/finding rarities
Since prices vary from area to area, and everything changes over time, I
can't give any pricing info here. If something sounds too expensive, ask
why. If you doubt the numbers they're giving you, check around. Steve
Hemming has a semi-accurate price guide for most releases at:
http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/prices/index.html
Finding items is also quite difficult at times, but recently, a site has
appeared which lists stores where such rarities might be found. Also,
suggested by Dave Asselin, check out the Goldmine magazine, which includes
tons of trader info, or visit their web site at
http://www.krause.com/goldmine/
4.2 Books
There are several books available on SP. Here's the info:
Title: Smashing Pumpkins
Author: Nick Wise
Pub: Omnibus Press/Book Sales Ltd.
ISBN: 0-7119-4166-1
Notes: 48 pages, color photos on each page.
Price: ~$12
Title: Smashing Pumpkins
Author: Jim Stapleton
Pub: Carlton Books/Music Book Services
ISBN: 1-85868-068-9
Notes: 120 pages, same size as a CD
Price: ~$10
Title: Smashing Pumpkins - A Tear-Out Photo Book
Author: none
Pub: Oliver Books
ISBN: 1-870049-92-6
Notes: 20 full-page photos, text on opposite sides
Price: ~$12
Title: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Author: Aaron Stang
Pub: CPP Belwin, Inc.
ISBN: 0-89898-825-X
Notes: Guitar tablature book, with intro and comments on each song by
BC.
Price: $20
Title: Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Author: Andy Aledort & Hemme Luttjeboer
Pub: Warner Bros.
ISBN: 1-57623-339-1
Notes: Guitar tablature book, includes 'Guitar Geek USA' articles written
by BC for Guitar World
Price: $30
Title: Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
Author: Andy Aledort
Pub: Warner Bros.
ISBN: 0-7692-6396-8
Notes: Guitar tablature book, with complete solos and piano scores.
Full-page pics of each members (like the cd).
Price: $30
4.3 T-Shirts
NOTE: If you have any official tour shirts that are not listed here,
please send a description to mich...@ualberta.ca :-) Thanks.
Here's a text-based description of the t-shirts, roughly in order of
appearance:
1. Devil shirt - Black with red/purple devil and gold glitter. Back says
"Mission To Mars".
2. Angel shirt - White with blue/silver angel & globe. Back says
"Altitude Not Attitude".
3. Gish picture shirt - White with b/w picture from inside Gish liner,
with white "Smashing Pumpkins" and "gish" text from the cover.
4. SP Heart shirt - White with red/black SP heart logo. One version has
city scene on back, with SD song titles as neon signs, other version has
the following text:
this is a smashing pumpkins t-shirt. rather than ask me why i'm wearing
this ask yourself why am i reading this? the message is there is no
message. one million souls tossing down their hard earned lettuce for a
piece of the hot rock indie alternative pie. i've sold out. how about
you? everybody's doing it even if they say they're not. don't ask me
cause i don't know. rock saves. it's the next big thing. have you
heard the next big thing? i'm part of the revolution. it's all coming
down soon. hope you're there.
5. Disarm Smile shirt - White with red/black "Smile" picture on front,
1993-4 tour dates on back.
6. Siamese Dream cover shirt - White with SD promo poster (2 girls, one
with a popsicle). Back has either tour dates for Midwest tour, or for
entire fall tour.
7. Star shirt - Black with red star & "smashing pumpkins" written in
white in the SD font. Back says "just say maybe".
8. Clown shirt 1 - Red with green clown in blue oval, 'smashing pumpkins'
written around inside of oval.
9. Clown shirt 2 - Black with white/yellow clown, red stars, etc. Back
has partial songlist in yellow & green.
10. Spaceboy shirt - Purple, with orange cartoon astronaut. Back has
part of Starla lyrics.
11. MCIS shirt - Navy blue, MCIS cover image on front, back cover on
back. Tie-dyed version also available.
12. Blue SP Heart shirt - Navy blue with white SP heart logo outline.
13. Liner pic shirt - Black with picture of rabbits & rats smoking, white
skull on back.
14. Discs shirt - MCIS CD images on front (pink/blue circles), tour dates
on back.
15. ZERO shirt - Black with silver "ZERO" and star, small silver SP heart
on left sleeve. Short or long-sleeved.
16. "Leave Me Alone" shirt - White with sketched smiley faces in a spiral
with red bar codes on their foreheads. Back says "Leave Me Alone" in red
1979 font
17. Black SP Heart shirt - Black with silver SP heart logo. Back says
"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" and includes a tracklist.
18. Vegas Logo shirt - Black with "Smashing Pumpkins" written in a
neon-like cursive, orange with yellow outline & dots. Background has
silver stars and a planet.
19. "World is a Vampire" shirt - Black with large silver frowning face
with fangs & horns, says "the world is a vampire" in MCIS liner font.
Back says "The Smashing Pumpkins Infinite Sadness Tour" in the Mellon
Collie font.
20. Baby Doll shirt - White with red SP heart logo. One size "Grrrl"
shirt.
21. Thermal heart shirt - Black long-sleeve thermal-textured shirt with
silver & white embroidered SP heart logo
22. 'Adore' cover shirt - cover of 'Adore' on front, back has tour dates
from 1998 tour, and words, "The Smashing Pumpkins World Tour".
23. 'Adore' shirt #2 - trio of black & white pictures of individual
band members, with "The Smashing Pumpkins" printed in silver in center.
Back has pictureo of D'arcy in see-through shirt, from 'Adore' booklet.
Older shirts are going to be somewhat difficult to track down, but they
can be found.
4.4 Videos
There are videos out for the following songs: Siva; Rhinoceros; Cherub
Rock; Disarm; Today; Rocket; Bullet with Butterfly Wings; 1979; Zero;
Tonight, Tonight; Thirty-Three; The End is the Beginning is the End; Ava
Adore; and Perfect.
Of course, MTV plays the most recent ones the most often (they're usually
put into heavy rotation when they're first released), but occasionally
you can catch one of the older ones late at night.
Brief descriptions of the videos:
Siva - band playing in a room, candles, flowers, weird makeup, etc.
Rhino - band sitting & playing different instruments in a room, D'Arcy
bouncing a ball, reverse footage, ornate fountains, & shots of the
members outside
Cherub Rock - band playing outside in the dark by some trees, weird color
effects, lighting diagrams, etc.
Disarm - black & white, closeups of members playing, aerial shots of
buildings, etc.
Today - Billy drives through a desert in an ice cream truck, picks up
James (wearing a dress), stops at a gas station & finds other 2 members,
they paint the truck all funky & then drive off, leaving Billy
Rocket - a few kids build a rocket out of junk, blast off from their back
yard, and land on another planet to find SP as an elderly band
Bullet - band plays on a stage in the middle of a dry dirt field full of
dirty workers. Billy has on the infamous Zero shirt & silver pants
1979 - shows a bunch of kids driving around, going to a party (at which
SP is playing), wreaking havoc, and ransacking a convenience store
Zero - dark colors, strange-looking people in odd makeup, closeups of
band, etc. Rarely played
Tonight Tonight - made to look like an old movie (flickery lights, etc.)
includes recreation of George Melies' 1902 film "A Trip to the Moon", one
of the first films to use special effects
Thirty-Three - various shots done in stop-motion style, creating a jerky
effect. Includes Billy by sunset and painting, and trio in suits
TEITBITE - space-age costumes & props, members floating around, with
shots from Batman and Robin in the background.
Ava Adore - band is dressed up in Gothic costumes (Billy with long gown,
heavy red eye make-up and white face...). Camera follows them through
different rooms.
Perfect - a so-called sequel to the 1979 video. A girl gets pregnant,
some guy tapes a Pumpkin show (very cool), the tape falls off his car
when driving, then he gets in an accident.
For much more detailed descriptions of the videos, consult Marci's FWQ
(Frequently Wondered Questions) file, found at:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/6663/FWQ.html
4.5 "Bootlegs"
A bootleg can refer to one of two things: 1) an audience recording,
traded around by fellow fans, or 2) a CD manufactured by a company not
connected to the band, containing live or unreleased studio tracks. In
both cases, the band makes no profit from these, while in the latter
case, someone else -does-. CD boots, usually listed as "imports",
generally run for $20-30, and can be somewhat difficult to track down
(i.e. you won't find them at any large chain stores). Tapes recorded by
fans are most often traded for other tapes, although some traders sell
their tapes for cost. For more info, check out the FAQ for
alt.music.bootlegs.
4.6 Trading
The best way to trade is to have your list available on the web, and then
to post to the list or newsgroup with the URL. It's usually not good to
post a huge list to Listessa, although the newsgroup will do fine if you
don't have web space. After that, just wait for people to email you with
trade offers, as there isn't much else you can do. Posting your list
every day or week is -not- a good idea, and will usually just turn people
away or get you killfiled.
There is also a large trading area set up on the Smashing Pumpkins
Collection site: http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/
4.7 Tape Trees
Recently, the Smashing Pumpkins Live Recording Association (SPLRA)
has either set up, or sponsored a number of "tape trees". This began
with the Bridge School Benefit concert in October 1997. The show was
taped, and the master was donated to the SPLRA for a tape tree.
For those of you who don't know what a "tape tree" is, it's
essentially like a family tree. The seed (someone with a good
quality, master or 1st generation tape) posts to the newsgroup and
Listessa, looking for people to sign up as "branches" and "leaves".
Once the allotted time for sign-up to the tree has expired, the branches
send one blank tape and a few dollars for postage to the seed. The seed
then dubs the tapes for the branches and returns them. The branches each
do the same for their leaves, which they have been assigned.
For a better description, go to http://www.tapetrading.com/treehouse/
For more information on the goodness that is the SPLRA, go to:
http://www.starla.org/splra/
5. -News/Info/Net Resources-
5.1 Brief history/landmark events
1988/89- band forms, plays around Chicago, releases demo tapes
1990- I Am One 7", Tristessa 7" and 12" released
1991- Gish & Lull released; tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers & Pearl Jam
1992- "Singles" soundtrack; Reading Festival
1993- Siamese Dream released, selling millions; major tour
1994- band headlines Lollapalooza; Pisces Iscariot released
1995- Double Door concerts; another Reading Festival appearance;
MCIS released, outselling SD
1996- American Music Awards; Simpsons "Hullabalooza" appearance;
major tour; keyboardist dies, drummer fired (see 5.3); band
wins 7 MTV Video Music Awards; Ransom & Lost Highway soundtracks;
TAFH box set released
1997- Batman & Robin soundtrack; European festival concerts
1998- Adore released (June 2). Short promo tour follows.
For a more detailed chronology, check out the one at Starla.org:
http://www.starla.org/chrono/
5.2 Double Door info
In February of 1995, the Pumpkins played 4 shows (21, 22, 27, and 28) at
the Double Door bar in Chicago. The tickets cost $5 each, all of which
went to charity. The sets consisted entirely from new material from the
then-upcoming album MCIS, and it's b-sides, and a few older b-sides played as encores. A few songs played have not been released, like "Speed" (from
Pastichio Medley, from the Zero single), and "Towers of Rabble". While
security was extremely tight, someone was able to record the 21st and 27th shows, although the quality is quite poor at times. A second recording of the 21st show, but a few songs are cut.
5.3 The keyboard/drummer events
In the summer of '95, the Chicago Reader ran an ad by the Pumpkins,
seeking a touring keyboardist. 5-minute tape auditions (with a "please,
no pumpkins songs" condition) were to be turned in by July 14th. On
August 18, Entertainment Weekly ran the following:
"...aspiring Pumpkins needn't wait by the phone. Two months later, a
refrigerator box full of cassettes graces Chicago's Soundworks studios,
and there's not a listening station in sight. 'We've been too busy to
deal with them,' says Iha. 'I don't want to listen to a bunch of wack
keyboard players. It sounds like a nightmare to me.'"
The position was filled by Jonathan Melvoin, who played keyboards and
acted as a second drummer for Silverfuck. He also appeared with SP on
the American Music Awards.
On July 12, 1996, Jonathan was found dead from a heroin overdose. He and
drummer Jimmy Chamberlin had shot up the previous night, and Jimmy awoke
to find Jonathan dead. Jimmy was charged with misdemeanor heroin
possession, and the rest of the band were taken in for questioning, and
later released. All tour dates through July 27th were postponed. A few
days later, the band released a statement saying that Jimmy would no
longer be the band's drummer.
Private/closed auditions were held a while later to find a replacement
drummer for the remainder of the tour. Matt Walker, former touring
drummer for Filter, took over. While auditioning for Filter, he
reportedly dropped a drumstick and finished with one- he was hired
immediately. Dennis Flemion, founding member and drummer/keyboardist of
The Frogs, was chosen to be the replacement keyboardist. A press release
was issued on August 8th. The band played a surprise warmup show at the
Metro on August 23rd with the two new touring members, and resumed the
MCIS tour after that.
During the recording of Adore, SP used several drummers, including
Joey Waronker (Beck), Matt Walker (MCIS tour, Cupcake), and Matt
Cameron (Soundgarden). Drum machine programming was done by Bon
Harris of Nitzer Ebb.
For the recent Adore tour, the band hired a decent-sized backup band
that consists of drummer Kenny Aronoff, keyboardist Mike Garson, and
percussionists Stephen Hodges and Dan Morris.
Recently, Rolling Stone and Mtv reported that Jimmy was back with the
band, recording a new album. However, Virgin Records has not yet issued
an official press release regarding the issue. When and if this does
happen, it will no doubt be posted to Listessa and the newsgroup, as well
as most websites. (See section 1.1 above).
5.4 Tour info
Tour dates are kept current at the Smashing Pumpkins Live Recording
Association. Go to http://www.starla.org/splra/ for more information.
Occaisional special concerts (ie: Billy solo at Chicago's Metro club) are
still slowly coming out of the woodwork and will be put up on Josh
Provost's site (the Smashing Pumpkins Live Recording Association,
SPLRA) when they become available.
5.5 IRC info
There are several IRC channels for pumpkin-heads: #smashing_pumpkins on
Undernet, EFnet, and IRCnet, #smashing_pumpkins and #pumpkins on EFnet,
and #smashing-pumpkins on DALnet. #smashing_pumpkins on oz.org is also
a popular place for Aussie SP fans. To use IRC, you must have a client
program. For more info, check out the mIRC homepage at
http://www.mirc.com
5.6 Web links for cool stuff
Since there are hundreds of web sites devoted to SP, it may be difficult,
at first, to find what you're looking for. Here are the best sites I'm
aware of for specific features:
Tour info - http://www.starla.org/splra/
Tour History (archive only, no updates) - http://www.spyral.net/avatar/
Trading - http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/
Links - http://www.starla.org/
Listessa - http://www.spifc.org/spifc/
Discog (visual) - http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/
Discog (text info) - http://www.xero.com/sp/spdiscog.txt
Bootlist - http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/~daher/boot.html
- http://www.starla.org/jackboot/
Recording Sessions - http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/recording/index.html
Tab - http://www.starla.org/pumpkinsoup/
General - http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/
- http://www.netphoria.org/
Official sites - http://www.jamesiha.com/
- http://www.virginrecords.com/xspx/
If you're creating a new site, keep in mind that simply copying someone
else's site is NOT a good idea, as you will likely get a lot of
complaints. Try to come up with something novel and original, and
remember that content is more important than how many "hits" you get. Do
-not- post your URL 10 times a day to the newsgroup. Announcing it only
once upon creation, or after a time of extreme upgrade/change, and
including the URL in your .sig is the best way to go. If it's good,
people will visit it. If not, perhaps it could use some improvement. :-)
5.7 Other recommended sources
Frequently Wondered Questions - written as a supplement to this FAQ by
Marci. Found at http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/6663/FWQ.html
Discography - exhaustive text version maintained by Dave Asselin,
contains everything you wanted to know about every official SP release.
http://www.xero.com/sp/spdiscog.txt
- in depth visual discography has a scan of every known
release. Even has a lot of bootleg scans.
http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/discography/disco.html
Bootlist - includes tracklists & info on all known bootleg CDs.
http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/~daher/boot.html Text-based (by Karl Daher)
http://www.starla.org/jackboot/ HTML-based (oh, it's very hi-tech)
6. -Miscellaneous/Semi-Related-
6.1 '666' Bootleg Video
A completely new FAQ has been created for this subject. Please consult
that FAQ for information pertaining to the subject of the 666 bootleg.
http://www.ualberta.ca/~michaelh/666FAQ.html
6.2 Starchildren
The Starchildren is a side-project band consisting of Billy and various
other people. There have also been "secret" pumpkin shows under the
name. Starchildren have released a split 7" with Catherine (Delusions of
Candor/ Flight of the Eagle, b/w Songs About Girls), and covered
"Isolation" for the Joy Division tribute album, "Means to an End."
Rotating members of Starchildren have included James, Jimmy, and D'Arcy,
Bob English, and Mark Rew, Neil Jendon, Cliff Fox, and Kerry Brown of
Catherine. Starchildren has not made an appearance as of late.
6.3 Catherine
Catherine is, unfortunately, usually thought of as "D'Arcy's husband's
band." However, despite poor marketing from TVT, they're definitely a
cool band to check out. The band consists of Mark Rew (guitar/vocals),
Fever (guitar), Gus (percussion/keyboards), Keith Brown (bass), and Kerry
Brown (drums). Former members include Neil Jendon, Jerome Brown, and
Cliff Fox.
Catherine's releases are: the split 7" with Starchildren (Songs About
Girls/Delusions of Candor - TVT 4612-7); the Sparkle/Charmed (for Taylor)
7" on Limited Potential (LimP 011); an EP "Sleepy" (March Records MAR
005, reissued TVT 4610); Songs About Girls/It's No Lie 7" on Rough Trade
(45rev35); and albums "Sorry" (TVT 4620-2) and "Hot Saki & Bedtime
Stories" (TVT 9020-2). There's also a track "End of Something" on the
Absolute Middle of Nowhere #17 compilation. Videos are available for
It's No Lie, Songs About Girls, Saint, and Four-Leaf Clover.
Earlier releases are very guitar-heavy (3 guitars), and the final songs
on Sleepy and Sorry feature extended feedback jams similar to "Drown"-
the latest release is more poppy.
Billy Corgan co-produced the 2 7" releases and Sleepy EP. D'Arcy sings
on "Four-Leaf Clover" and "Punch Me Out" from "Hot Saki & Bedtime
Stories", on which James Iha & Jimmy Chamberlin are also credited for
"additional equipment". "Blew Away" (Disarm (smile) single, Pisces
Iscariot) features Kerry Brown on drums. Kerry is also a co-owner of
Scratchie Records, and has helped record and produce a number of SP
songs.
For more info, join the Catherine mailing list (send "subscribe
catherine" to majo...@jade-v.com), and/or check out the following web
sites:
http://pages.prodigy.net/heutchy/catherin.htm (includes a FAQ)
http://www.halcyon.com/cantwell/cat/catherin.html
http://www.smashing-pumpkins.net/catherine/
http://www.catherine.org/
6.4 The Frogs
The Frogs are a Milwaukee-based band that Billy is both a fan of and
close friends with. Consisting of brothers Jimmy and Dennis Flemion and
bassist Damian Strigens, The Frogs can best be described as satirical.
Though largely underground, The Frogs have developed a sort of cult
following, and their live show is simply unforgettable.
The Frogs have opened for the Pumpkins and Pearl Jam, and played second
stage at Lollapalooza in 1994, with Billy coming out on a few occasions.
Dennis was chosen as the replacement keyboardist for the pumpkins' MCIS
tour, and appeared with them from August '96 on. Jimmy took a roadie job
with the tour, and came out on stage in his green-sequined, winged
costume to play along for 1979 and choose audience members to dance on
stage.
The Frogs have released 2 albums ("It's Only Right And Natural",
Homestead [HMS169-2], and "My Daughter the Broad", Matador [ole 155-2]),
several 7" singles ("Now You Know You're Black", "Here Comes Santa's
Pussy", and a split 7" with Wesley Willis), a cover of Pearl Jam's
"rearviewmirror" (found on PJ's "Immortality" CDS), and an EP "Starjob"
on Scratchie Records [314 534 838-2], produced by Billy Corgan.
The pumpkins' home video, Vieuphoria, includes a brief "Meet the Frogs"
segment, including bits of live shows, and featuring excerpts of "Homos"
and "I Only Play 4 Money" (found on "It's Only Right And Natural" and
"Starjob", respectively).
For more info, check out one of the two Frogs web sites at:
http://www.northcoast.com/~alora/frogs
http://www.thefuton.com/frogs (includes text discography, Real Audio,
Real Video, and pictures.)
6.5 Scratchie Records
Scratchie Records is a label co-owned by James Iha & D'Arcy, as well as
Jeremy Freeman, Kerry Brown, and others. The label puts out cool music &
does really cool stuff for its customers & fans. :-) Check their web site
out at http://www.scratchie.com/
The label occaisionally posts to the newsgroup, announcing
Scratchie-related news, so watch for these announcements.
6.7 Cabal (...) / Junta (...)
Although scarcely mentioned nowadays, the Cabal (there is no Cabal) and
Junta (there is a Junta, I know, they suck) were two "secret
organizations" that were brought up occasionally a while back. Their
mention provided amusement for some, annoyance to others, and is included
here purely for nostalgia. :-)
7. -Conclusion-
7.1 Acknowledgments
This work could not have been made possible without the generous
contributions (info and otherwise) from the following people: ERIC AGNEW.
Adam Bellinger; Adam Cutler; Adam Newman; Allison Baird; Andrew Miller;
Ankh Raid; Badfish; Brian McCall; Brandon; BuGG; Chris Carman; Christine
Henry; Damian Strigens, and Dennis & Jimmy Flemion; Dave Asselin; Davin
Mehrbani; Emmy Bristow; Eric Heutchy; Henry Bent; Jamie Halle; Jason
Petrait; Jason Ting; Jenn Miller; Jeremy Adams; Jeremy Freeman; Jesse
Miller; Josh Sherman; Joshua Provost; Karl Daher; Kim Wisniewski; Kristen
Kapica; Laura Ann (SPFC); Looselucy9; Marci; Mark Gillis; Mark Andrew
Hamilton; all the Matts and Mikes; Matthius Rheaume; Nikki Christoff;
Onica; Phil Herring; Pissant; Roger Janssen; Saira Hussain; Scott
Carpenter; Scott Spencer; Steve Hamel; Steve Hemming; Tariq Hussain;
Tom Jackson; Wristy; all the other people who've sent in info, plugged the
FAQ; everyone who's taken the time to create a cool, info-packed web
site; and, of course, the band, for their inspiration & all that awesome
music. :-)
7.2 Disclaimer
Anything that you think should be included in this FAQ should be mailed
to me (Mike Hamilton) at mich...@ualberta.ca. Please keep in mind that
I'm a full-time University student, and I do have a social life, so I
don't always e-mail you back immediately. Be patient. Thanks.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|--[mike*hamilton]--(mich...@ualberta.ca)--|
|--please stop loving me, please stop loving me, I am none of these things--|
|--[smashing*pumpkins*faq]--(http://www.ualberta.ca/~michaelh/FAQ.txt)--|
|--[lifepoint*mp3*files]--(http://members.tripod.com/PegRecs/index.html--|