Listening Room Blog

I love the Smashing Pumpkins. Without a doubt, this was the band of my youth and the music and lyrics still resonate with me to this day. Probably always will.

My thoughts on Billy Corgan looking for a drummer to replace Jimmy Chamberlin, hence, are a bit conflicted. I would love to see Billy continue to tour and continue to play the music of the Smashing Pumpkins, which I had the privilege to be a part of in NYC a few months back (that’s where this pic is from). But I’m sorry, I don’t think it’s right to bill this band as the Smashing Pumpkins, because it clearly will be a very different group. It was pushing it to call the band the Pumpkins even while Jimmy was in it, ya know?

What do you guys think about this move of holding auditions? I’m hearing opinions all over the map on this one. Either way, here’s my big chance to finally join the band!!

Billy Corgan is currently searching for talented musicians to join him. If you have an exceptional drumming ability and a desire to be part of a massive creative and progressive musical project with a rich 20-year history, then continue reading below.

The Smashing Pumpkins are continuing to make music after the departure of original member Jimmy Chamberlin. When Jimmy originally auditioned for The Smashing Pumpkins, he was playing in a locally touring jazz band that was playing weddings and street fairs. It just goes to show that you never know where the next big talent will come from.

The Smashing Pumpkins are taking submissions for recording and touring drummers. There may be multiple positions open for this call for entries.

What to submit:

• Resume – include a list of bands, shows, awards, education
• Photograph / headshot
• Any music / audio you have showcasing your talents. Links to digital files are encouraged.

• Video links are also encouraged

  To submit your information, send an email with resume and links attached to pumpkinsdrummer@gmail.com.

  Auditions will be held Friday, April 10 in Los Angeles for drummers who are looking to play with The Smashing Pumpkins.

Fans of the late glam rock icon Marc Bolan have launched a petition drive to have the former T.Rex frontman enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

The move includes a newly launched online petition making the rounds on the web, which assures the Rock Hall’s Selection Committee that Bolan’s “talents as a unique songwriter, explosive guitar player and fantastically charismatic performer make him an ideal member of the museum’s distinguished pantheon.”

As we noted in a recent Listening Room profile of Bolan, the former pop star helped launch the British glam movement of the 1970s. His signature song, “Bang a Gong,” rose to 10 on the U.S. charts, and was one of a handful of top 10 hits in the U.K. that included “Jeepster” and “Ride a White Swan.”

He was killed in a traffic accident in late 1977, while in the midst of a career resurgence prompted by a hit BBC television series titled Marc.

You can view the petition here. No word yet from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Bolan’s chances.

The All Points West Music & Arts Festival will be back at Liberty State Park for three nights starting July 31. More than 65 artists are scheduled to appear, with Coldplay, Beastie Boys, and Tool headlining.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 3.

(Photo copyright Gannett Suburban Newspapers/Ryan Murphy)

The ALL POINTS WEST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL LINE-UP (as of 3/30) is as follows:

Friday, July 31: Beastie Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend, The National, Fleet Foxes, MSTRKRFT, Q-Tip, The Pharcyde, Organized Konfusion, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, Seasick Steve, Telepathe, Shearwater, Heartless Bastards, Flying Lotus, College Humor Live, Arj Barker, Eugene Mirman and Bo Burnham.

Saturday, August 1: Tool, My Bloody Valentine, Gogol Bordello, Arctic Monkeys, Neko Case, The Ting Tings, Yelle, Crystal Castles, St. Vincent, Tokyo Police Club, The Cool Kids, Kool Keith, Cage the Elephant, Chairlift, White Rabbits, Electric Touch, The Postelles, Black Gold, College Humor Live, Tim & Eric, Judah Friedlander and Jim Jeffries.

Sunday, August 2: Coldplay, Echo & The Bunnymen, MGMT, The Black Keys, Elbow, Silversun Pickups, Mogwai, We Are Scientists, Ghostland Observatory, The Gaslight Anthem, Etienne De Crecy, Lykke Li, Akron/Family, Steel Train, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, College Humor Live, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Showalter and Todd Barry.

I went to the festival last year, attracted primarily by Radiohead. They were amazing, as always, and my friend and I basically camped out the entire day at the main stage to ensure a good spot — which we got. We were about 50 meters or so from the stage. So awesome.

Getting to the festival wasn’t too bad, but we were sure to catch an early ferry. Getting home was another story. We waited in line for quite a while to catch a ferry back to Manhattan. I hope they’ve worked on a better exit strategy.

Also annoying was the fact that we couldn’t buy beers and bring them back to the stage with us. If you wanted to drink, you had to do it in the beer tents. On a hot summer day, this was rough.

Of course the music was pretty good — we also got to see Animal Collective, Chromeo, and Kings of Leon, among others — but when you’re planning out your summer festivals, it’s good to know what you’re getting yourself into.

Personally I’d love to see Tool this year, but I think the third day offers the best overall lineup with Coldplay, MGMT, and the Black Keys. Also have heard good things about the Silversun Pickups and We Are Scientists, but can’t vouch for them until I give a good listen. I wish they would have condensed all the best bands into one day, because I’d also love to see MSTRKRFT, Gogol Bordello, and the Beasties, who put on a hell of a fun show.

Read on for the official press release.

Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy tells Roling Stone Magazine that the band’s next release will be their best, and will feature more studio work than their jam-based Sky Blue Sky release from 2007.

“We wanted to go in there with more of an eye for sculpting something sonically,” Tweedy said.

RS also says the upcoming album, scheduled for a June release, will have a country feel to it.

(photo courtesy of Gannett Photo Network)

“The forthcoming and still-untitled next Wilco album is nearing completion,” the band says on its website. “Jim Scott and the band spent the last few weeks mixing in Jim’s studio in Valencia, California and here’s a list of song titles spied on the reels—note this is not necessarily complete and not in sequence.”

Wilco also confirmed a guest appearance from Canadian singer Feist on the upcoming album.

Last August, Tweedy told Rolling Stone that the next album would be involve more “sculpting the sound in the studio.”

The band was formed in Chicago in 1994. Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt are the only remaining original members.

The anticipated rock festival to mark Woodstock’s 40th anniversary with shows in New York and Berlin may not happen after all — at least not this year.

The show’s producers tell Rolling Stone Magazine that the planning is far behind schedule and may force the event into next year.

“It may not be the year for Woodstock,” Joel Rosenman, business partner for Woodstock show producer Michael Lang, told Rolling Stone.

(photo courtesy of the Associated Press/file photo)

The plan had been for the two shows on two continents to mark the anniversary in August. Lang helped organize the 30th anniversary show, and had hopes for another this year.

Officially titled the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair, the 1969 festival has remained the stuff of legends, featuring Hall of Fame acts like Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Joe Cocker (pictured above), and scores of others.

It also immortalized other performers, including Richie Havens and Arlo Guthrie.

Woodstock has also been among the most mimicked concepts in rock history. It’s just that this year may not serve as another example.

The Dead today confirmed over at cloud.dead.net that they’ll perform three shows on Monday at three different venues: an acoustic set (Bob Weir/Phil Lesh/Warren Haynes) at Angel Orensanz (showtime 5 p.m.), an electric full-band (including Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Jeff Chimenti) set at The Gramercy Theatre (showtime 8 p.m.) and the electric finale at Roseland (showtime 11 p.m.).

Best part? You can win free tickets to one of these shows by signing up at cloud.dead.net.

Winners will be randomly selected and then notified via email. Some restrictions apply, so read the fine print.

This sweepstakes began at 3 p.m. today and ends at 7:59:59 p.m. tonight. In other words — get on it!!! And good luck!!!

Coldplay will go on hiatus after they wrap up their current world tour, contactmusic.com reports today.

Lead guitarist Jonny Buckland says the top-selling British alternative rockers have already spent more time on the road than they originally intended — and they don’t fans to get sick of their music.

(photo courtesy of Myung Jung Kim/Associated Press)

Coldplay formed in 1998 in London, led by Buckland and singer/guitarist/pianist Chris Martin (above), and a rythm section of Guy Berryman on bass and Will Champion on drums. The band has sold more than 50 million albums to date, and are currently touring behind their latest, Viva la Vida.

Two-day passes to the Disco Biscuits’ “Bisco Inferno” Colorado run sold out in only four minutes last week. As a result, the band has announced that their previously scheduled May 29 performance has been moved to a larger venue: Denver’s Ogden Theatre.

All passes already purchased will be honored at the new venue, of course. But tickets to this show are only available as a combo deal through BiscoTix at www.DiscoBiscuits.com. Get ‘em while they’re hot, folks.

Ticketmaster will release the remaining May 30 Red Rocks tickets on Saturday.

Read on for the band’s official press release.

Alternative metal rockers Tool will be hitting the road again this summer, their first tour since an 18-month road trip wrapped up in December, 2007, Rolling Stone reports.

The Grammy-winning band told fans this week on their website that there are no specific dates yet, but that “once they are finalized and official, we’ll be sure to announce them on the site.”

(photo courtesy of Denuo and Wikipedia.com)

Tool, founded in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, has earned a reputation as a top touring band. They have a cult following that has earned them more than 9 million record sales over the years.

Their last tour followed the release of the 2006 album, 10,000 Days. No word yet on a new album.

E Street Band guitarist Little Steven Van Zandt is lashing out at Primal Scream, claiming that the Scottish alternative rockers turned down an offer to tour the U.S., London’s Guardian reports today.

And Van Zandt didn’t stop there. He called Primal Scream singer and co-founder Bobby Gillespie a “drug addict” and a “waste of space.” Van Zandt, who won additional acclaim playing Sylvio Dante on the hit HBO series The Sopranos, contends that Scream’s manager walked out on him after refusing to play 20 U.S. dates.

Whoa. Sounds like a rock and roll feud is in the making.

(photo courtesy of Louis Lanzano/Associated Press)

Primal Scream was co-founded in 1982 by Gillespie, who was then the drummer for the Jesus and Mary Chain. Despite a few gaps in their recording portfolio, Scream has remained commercially successful over the years, and retains a large and loyal following.

No word from them yet on Little Steven’s rant.

“Arrogance is the first word that comes to mind,” noted record producer Tony Visconti once said of Marc Bolan. “He was really full of it, and he knew he was great. He could back it up, though.”

Yeah, I know. Bolan’s hit “Bang a Gong” is a rock classic — hardly under the radar. And the former T.Rex fontman has been dead for nearly 32 years. So, why is he a guitar player you should know?

Because you need to listen to him again.

(photo courtesy of Jorgen Angel Photography)

Bolan helped spearhead the British Glam Rock wave of the 1970s with David Bowie, and influenced scores of musicians since with an approach to pop music that was singularly his own. BBC music critic Chis Jones noted in 2002 that Bolan had “a voice like Edith Piaf on acid and lyrics that mixed Joycean wordplay with private teen mythology. Simply, no one sounded like Marc Bolan and T.Rex.”

Often lost in Bolan’s musical legacy is his ability as a guitar player. He played on Ike and Tina Turner’s hit, Nutbush City Limits, and had a penchant for catchy riffs and raunchy chords — most evident in his live performances — that influenced countless artists well beyond the punk and New Wave eras.

Born Mark Feld, the former fashion model’s flamboyant persona and engaging performances carried him to pop music stardom from the mid-1960s and into the early 1970s. He scored with U.K. hits like “Jeepster” and “Ride a White Swan.” Despite having more modest success in the U.S., “Bang a Gong” — off the 1971 album Electric Warrior — nonetheless rose to 10 on the American charts.

But by the mid-1970s Bolan’s star began to fade, as the British music scene began to pass him by. He began a successful resurgance in early 1977, when he signed on for a six-part British television music variety show titled “Marc.” The show, which included performances by friends like Bowie and Elton John, relaunched Bolan’s career to great fanfare.

However, his comeback was cut short in September, 1977, when he and girlfriend Gloria Jones, his former backup singer, were in a traffic accident after a night of drinking. Bolan was killed at the scene, less than a mile from his home. He was two weeks shy of is 30th birthday.

His legacy has never really died. In 1985 “Bang a Gong” became a hit again when it was recorded by The Power Station, led by singer Robert Palmer. And Bolan’s music continues to surface here and there, including three songs in the soundtrack of the 2000 hit movie, Billy Elliott, most notably the 1977 T.Rex song, “I Love to Boogie.”

His son, Rolan Bolan, is also now a performer in his own right, with a portfolio of music hauntingly reminiscent of his father’s.

But let’s face it, his old man is one tough act to follow.

(NOTE: This is part of my ongoing series of reports on guitar players who fly under the mainstream radar. Keep checking The Listening Room for future installments of guitar players you should know – JF)

The artist-again-known-as-Prince is jumping back into the spotlight in a big way. The 50-year-old musical prodigy, born Prince Rogers Nelson, is releasing three albums simultaneously, in addition to playing three L.A. shows in one day on March 28.

Talk about a full plate.

(photo courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/Associated Press)

Prince has certainly always danced to his own drum, and has never been shy about promotion. There’s also no denying his remarkable talent as a musician and songwriter — whether or not you like him.

According to USA Today, he’ll be releasing three albums: LOtUSFLOW3R, MNPLSoUND and Elixer. Each has its own flavor, from raunchy rock riffs, to techno-flavored rock, to pop, the newspaper said. While initially available to subscribers to his website, the trio of albums will eventually be sold at Target stores.

In addition, NewsDaily.com reports that Prince will also play three shows in Los Angeles on March 28. The buzz on his website is that the shows will run from 7:30 p.m. and into the wee hours, with the last gig set to start at midnight.

Sounds like the man is serious about getting back on top of his game.

In news that will shock and upset at least one member of the Listening Room staff, Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin announced Friday he has left the band. The news was first posted on the band’s website without any additional details as to the reasons for his abrupt departure.

Chamberlin’s departure leaves frontman Billy Corgan as the only original member of the iconic alternative rock band that began in 1988. Chamberlin has played on all their albums, with the exception of 1998’s “Adore” and was the only other original member to play with Corgan when the band “reunited” and resumed touring in the spring of 2007.

According to the announcement Corgan will continue with plans to enter the studio this spring to record a new Smashing Pumpkins record.

Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, is planning a brief North American tour that will take him to Toronto and New York, according to USA Today. The shows are to coincide with the release in early May of Yusuf’s next album, To Warm You Through The Night, the newspaper says.

It will be interesting to see what kind of following he still has.

(photo courtesy of Jamal Records/Associated Press)

In his heyday, Cat Stevens sold over 60 million records, and was one of the most successful artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s. His songs have continued to be covered by various artists — Sheryl Crow is among the most recent, with her rendition of “First Cut is the Deepest.”

However, Stevens gave it all up at the height of his fame. He converted to Islam in 1977 and, the following year, changed his name to Yusuf Islam. He gave up performing and devoted himself to philanthropic causes within the Muslim Community.

He returned to pop music in 2006, when he released An Other Cup, his first album in nearly three decades. He has gone on to be a vocal proponent of world peace and other causes, even while recommitting himself to music and recording.

Personally, I thought it was a crime that he gave up music in the first place. We’ll pass on details on the shows when we get them.

Still waiting to see how Bob Dylan responds to the latest issue floating around his Malibu estate.

Specifically, the folk/rock legend has been hampered lately by complaints from neighbors of his expansive Mailbu spread because the port-a-potties he makes his staff use are spreading toxic funes around the neighborhood, or so say his fed-up neighbors.

The story broke last week, and got picked up by the LA Times and seemingly every other paper in the nation that cares about this stuff. Dylan’s next-door-neighbors even set up industrial-strength fans to bl0w the fumes back, but the breeze from the folk crooner’s ocean front mansion was too much for them.

Well, we’ll see how it works out. But this is one wind that’s blowin’ against Dylan lately.