Corgan Tweets:Pre-order the début record from Jimmy Chamberlin, Mike Reina and Anthony Pirog (produced by Roy Thomas Baker) on MP3, CD and Vinyl - right here: http://store.dangerbirdrecords.com/products/great-civilizations
JC's new band Skysaw http://soundcloud.com/skysawmusic/sets/great-civilizations/s-ScmpM
"Major @smashingpumpkin announcement this coming Tuesday. Regards new and old SP music. Big changes…exciting news.”Grunge Report wishes "it was that Jimmy Chamberlin was re-joining the band". Don't think it's going to happen I'm afraid guys.
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| The one that got away... Chamberlin talks about shark fishing |
"I want to be 'Jimmy Chamberlin, the drummer, the musician who's done many things,'" the 46-year-old rocker tells SPIN.com, "not just 'that guy from the Smashing Pumpkins.'"
"After I left the Pumpkins, I went home and just sat around," Chamberlin explains. "I have a studio in my basement and I found myself writing all these songs, just taking advantage of the relaxed situation. I wrote about 30 songs in about 30 days."
His partnership with Reina was a total fluke: "I was talking to a friend, saying, 'I wish I could find somebody who looks like a cross between Chris Cornell and Jim Morrison, has a great voice, is independently wealthy, has their own studio, and doesn't do anything but make music.' [Laughs]. Then my friend says, 'I know [Reina]!'
The two started trading songs via email, and then Chamberlin invited Reina to Chicago, where the duo "rented a proper studio for a couple of days," says Chamberlin. "We went in and wrote a song specifically for the exercise of getting to know each other. It sounded great and from then we worked together."
The collaborative experience was refreshing for Chamberlin, who had taken a backseat to Billy Corgan in the Pumpkins. "I always wanted to be in this role, as a songwriter," he says. "In the Pumpkins it was always impossible because Corgan would wake up and write five songs. He was so prolific there wasn't a lot of room for anyone else."
With Great Civilizations Chamberlin is exploring a new, more experimental direction from his Pumpkins days, while still respecting the moody elements of his past. The LP is a collection of prog-leaning, psychedelic jams with flourishes of acoustic guitars, keyboards, piano, and more. Think a proggier, more expansive Sparklehorse. "It's symphonic at points and gets really dark, too," says Chamberlin. There's a full string section on "Am I Second," while songs like "Capsized Jackknife Crisis" and "Tightrope Situation," Chamberlin's personal favorite, recalls experimental bands Yes and King Crimson.
Outside of Skysaw -- originally called "This," a name that "wasn't resonating with me," says Chamberlin, "it's a prohibitive name to Google" -- the drummer is a "closet suburbanite," living outside Chicago where he spends a lot of time with his two children...
He's psyched, however, to return to music and move forward with Skysaw, and put his past with the Pumpkins behind him. "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 wasn't always easy to deal with. That can stagnate your growth as a musician. Not anymore."
Jimmy Chamberlin would like to announce that he is now playing Drum Workshop!
"After 18 years at Yamaha I have decided to move on. I feel that DW is the company that can take me, and my evolution as an artist, to the next level. They are truly an amazing company that are at the forefront of innovation and are making huge leaps in the advancement of the instrument. I feel like I have found a home with like minded people who are just as obsessed with drums as I am! I wish everyone at Yamaha the best and thank all of you for 18 great years."
Chad Szeliga of Breaking Benjamin will took a break from filming his DVD here at Drum Channel to join us on DC LIVE. Chad will met up with Terry Bozzio for a LIVE interview and jam session, and special guest Danny Seraphine and Jimmy Chamberlin jumped in on the conversation.
Lights, Camera: Jimmy Chamberlin and DW, killer combo. Great shoot yesterday with Smashing Pumpkins drummer, Chicago boy does good.Meanwhile, Heather Szeliga fiancée of Breaking Benjamin drummer Chad Szeliga tweets;
Just had dinner with Jimmy chamberlain and Danny Seraphine along with the DW crew . What a great night:
Elsewhere over at SKYSAW's Facebook, they posted a picture of the rehearsals before last Monday's show. Here, zoomed in, Jimmy is clearly playing a different DW kit to the one he played at the show. Actually, there's a bit of an amalgam of two different DW kits going on (including the one he used at the show) as far as I can see. I don't know much about DW myself, having played Yamaha exclusively for the past 15 years. So, if anyone has any details about which kit(s) he is using, please share in the comments.
On Monday night fans of acclaimed drummer Jimmy Chamberlin were in for a surprise. At SKYWAW's live début, Jimmy was playing a DW branded drum kit and not one of his usual unique Yamaha custom kits. Further, he had changed his set-up, which has been his standard for over 20 years. Some suspected that it was simply a hired kit, myself included, and there was nothing else to it than that. Following a volley of tweets, announcing he was going to announce something, Jimmy issued this statement, which confirmed what many fans had been thinking:"Friends and fans, some of you have noticed that I used a DW kit on Monday night. I would like to briefly explain why I have chosen to switch from Yamaha at this point in my career. On hearing the most recent Smashing Pumpkins track 'Lightning Strikes', I was struck by how closely the sound of the drums resembled my own; the snare sounded like my signature snare, there were two low toms panned left and right just like with my own set-up and even some of the fills themselves sounded like they were from my palette. It was sort of like I was playing, but only much... much better.
I have been really inspired by their drummer and had an epiphany of sorts; from now on I am going to strive to sound just like him! Hence, this change of my manufacturer to the one he uses. However, I am saddened to have to concede that as it sounds like he's now playing my old unique kit configuration even more creatively and with so much more facility than I could ever hope to achieve; I feel that, in this respect, I am left with but no choice other than to try something new. Else, I would simply end up being a pale imitation of someone imitating me. That is something JC can not resonate with.
I trust you understand"
