Absolute Bollocks.

http://www.moderndrummer.com/site/2012/12/modern-drummer-readers-poll-2013/

Jimmy Chamberlin Snare's Archived...

So, remember when Jimmy Chamberlin sold off a bunch of his snares a couple of years ago (2005)? Well, I happened to stumble-upon where some of them ended up;  right here, at the The Audities Foundation - a charitable organisation concerned with "the preservation of electronic musical instruments, sound recording equipment and associated documentation for use in museums, recording studios, modern instrument research and new music / dance / film works." 

Image (c) The Audities Foundation

I may go through the list and match some of the snares, as I await my download of MCIS ...

Queens of the Stoneage Seeking Drummer

... and [The] Grunge Report recommends Chamberlin. 
Whilst the prospect is most certainly intriguing, I can't see it happening.

Jimmy Chamberlin Wraps Recording on New Album

The album Jimmy Chamberlin has been working on with Frank Catalano and Percy Jones is in the bag. Since announcing on Friday the 15th of November that he was "Up early this morning to set up drums for a recording session with Jimmy Chamberlin... [who is] tracking a new album" drum tech extraordinaire Vic Salazar has been keeping us updated with a couple of photos here and there.  Today he reports that the recording session has wrapped;  "It's all done. Time to mix!". 

For those of you scratching your heads regarding the kit Chamberlin has been snapped playing, no he hasn't re-signed with Yamaha - he's just playing the studio's kit.  Interestingly, to me at least, in none of the photos that I've seen posted has [standard] close-miking been evident.  I'll speculate a little here - but judging by the musicians, coupled with the ambient miking - I'm getting the distinct impression that this is going to be quite an improvisational jazz record...  Unless they've been rehearsing for months of course and lest we forget Life Begins Again took what 40 odd days to write and record, with only 10 days in the studio proper...

Anyway, I'll keep you posted as we learn more.

Smashing Pumpkins Archive Project - Dead. Again.

Remember the awesome archive project the Smashing Pumpkin proposed which was headed-up by Crestfallen.com 'author' Monte and 'super-fan' team "the Lucky 13"? Yeah, well - it's been abandoned, for the forseable future.

Let's use the rest of the post to reflect on some of the achivements of the Lucky 13;

























Well done guys - you dun goofed. 

REEL TIME JAZZ

Hurray. A wild Jimmy Chamberlin has appeared.

Chamberlin has been spotted at the Reelsounds Recording Studio in Chicago alongside Jazz Fusion Bass Master Percy Jones . Apparently laying down tracks for Saxophonist and 'modal rocker' Frank Catalano's latest album. According to Catalano's Yamaha Artist's page, this is a 'full album project' with Jimmy Chamberlin.

 

Today...

http://vicsdrumshop.com/postname/eventcontent/zildjian-day-in-chicago JC will be showing up according to the facebook.

L to R > Jimmy Chamberlin, Hannah Ford, Bun E. Carlos, and Vic


Update [03/10/2012] Album of photos from the event here, on FB

Streetcrawler Surfaces

Post update

Hipsters United

They are the site the Smashing Pumpkins deserve, but not the one it needs right now.

A little over a year after Blamo closed it's doors, the ladies and gentlemen over at HU have called an end to its 5 year reign as the most rational, balanced and informative source of Smashing Pumpkins news, rumours, reviews and analysis out there.

It will be sorely missed.

I wish them all the best in whatever they do both in this world, and that other real one.

Cheers.

Another Clinic with Jimmy Chamberlin

Sorry for the short notice, but it's tomorrow.

Tyson Meade Updates

For those wanting to keep tabs on the progress of the record which Tyson Meade is making with, amongst others, Jimmy Chamberlin, you should be able to view updates here; http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tysonmeade/tyson-meade-records-an-album-in-china/posts


Meade told the Machine Somehow that at this point he "hopes Chamberlin will play on at least four tracks and it would be awesome if he plays on more..."

100 Drum Heroes – in the shops now! | Rhythm | MusicRadar.com
Jimmy Chamberlin in new book...

Tonight Tonight, Chamberlin Leaves Skysaw

Skysaw is no-more, Chamberlin demo's Tonight Tonight, Geek U.S.A and Complex tracks.
Get the full lowdown over at HU.

Here's a couple of vids that have appeared, both of SP drumming masterclass Tonight/Tonight





Fingers crossed for a couple more... I'll keep you guys posted. Cheers.

BAM: BOO-YA: Streetcrawler

Dr, um...

Jimmy Chamberlin's drum clinic, due 16 August, at the Chicago Drum Exchange has been postponed.

According to the shops facebook profile it's due to Chamberlin undergoing an emergency operation on one of his fingers.

One must assume the op can't be too serious though - as the clinic has only been set back by a week.

Kickstart[ed]

Well, Tyson Meade's project featuring Jimmy Chamberlin (et al.) has been funded; http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tysonmeade/tyson-meade-records-an-album-in-china

GJ

Jimmy Chamberlin - Crazy Awesome Drummer

As Tyson Meade continues to drum-up publicity for his kick starter album campaign, in a new interview he sheds a little more light on the involvement of one Jimmy Chamberlin;

...Over the years, Jimmy and I have stayed in contact. When I came upon this idea to do this record in China with students I immediately thought it would be the perfect chance to work with Jimmy because I have always loved his crazy awesome drumming.

READ MOAR (if you want)

Matt Hearn of Turbo Fruits

Matt Hearn of Turbo Fruits

... I always loved Dave Grohl’s deliberate, hard-hitting style, Mitch Mitchell’s colorfully unpredictable fills, Jimmy Chamberlin’s unrelenting precision, and John Bonham’s explosive sound....

Jimmy Chamberlin Drum Clinic

 

http://jimmychamberlinchicago-zvents.eventbrite.com/

Vig on Chamberlin

Kickstart Jimmy Chamberlin's Project

with Tyson Meade right here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tysonmeade/tyson-meade-records-an-album-in-china

Zildjian Behind the Scenes - Toby Dundas of The Temper Trap

China Crash

Thanks to our good friend anonymous, we got a tip that Chamberlin will be playing the drums for a new record by Tyson Meade.  Meade, if you've never heard of him, is of influential & Billy Corgan favourite (who could have guessed) "Chainsaw Kittens". 

In an interview with NewsOK, Meade outlines the soon to be kickstarted project and that; "his old friend, ex-Smashing Pumpkin Jimmy Chamberlin, has agreed to play drums on the album."

So this
plus Chamberlin, could be rather interesting...

Be Awesome...

"Be awesome and just be different from every other drummer"

Lostprophets drummer, Luke Johnson, echo's Jimmy Chamberlin's (incidentally "[his] favourite drummer of all time") ethos in a new interview in Rhythm Magazine. 

I trust that in terms of legacy the most significant contribution an imitator will make is to illuminate and authenticate the true brilliance of the original.

Corgan Compares Chamberlin to Bonham

Corgan talks some sense this time;

Are there other things you admire about Zeppelin?
When John Bonham died, they announced the band is done. They didn't step back and think about it. I've always respected that, because he was their brother and they knew it wasn't gonna be the same without him. And I had to learn those lessons the hard way. When Jimmy Chamberlin left the band in '96, I thought, "I'll just get somebody. The band is big and we'll find somebody great. It won't be the same, but it'll be just as good in a different way." It just doesn't work like that. You just don't replace your brother like that.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-billy-corgan-on-vocal-smashing-pumpkins-fans-led-zeppelins-greatness-20120618#ixzz1yBBqjS1z

 

Listen to Chamberlin's take on Moby Dick

Billy Corgan Stirs the Shit, Again...

None too surprisingly with an album to promote, "spiritually enlightened" Corgan once again grabs the headlines by bad-mouthing former friends/lovers/bandmates/other bands... etc etc etc ... from our pals over at HU here's a portion of a recent interview in NME:

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 [...]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.

I'm not even going to bother to try and unravel the layers of bullshit in the above statements.

Happy Birthday JC

Have a good un.

Montessori fundraiser proves to be a masterpiece - Lake Forester

Montessori fundraiser proves to be a masterpiece - Lake Forester

Jimmy Chamberlin; The Replacement?

Fan's of The Replacements want Chamberlin as their new drummer (amongst others)

FACEPALM

I know this is old, but I forgot about it until it popped back up in a feed;

"...so [for Oceania] I had to learn the ticks of the trade and make it sound articulate like Jimmy... - Mike Byrne.

For someone who purports to be a fan, he doesn't seem to get that he's going against everything Chamberlin has stood for over the past 20 years?

THE Smashing Pumpkins

Cheers DrCopperpot

lol

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Smashing-Pumpkins-Signed-Adore-Album-LP-Jimmy-Chamberlin-/110874726172?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d0a60f1c&ssPageName=RSS:B:SHOP:US:101

Jimmy Chamberlin on Butch Vig (Rhythm Magazine)

June issue of Rhythm on sale now | Rhythm | MusicRadar.com

Butch Vig talks hitting the studio with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Muse and more. The studio wizard also discusses getting back into the saddle with Garbage, mixing acoustic and electronic drums live and how working with Grohl, Hawkins, Cool and co has influenced his own playing. PLUS: Jimmy Chamberlin, Josh Morgan and Taylor Hawkins talk working with Butch.

Talking of Polls...

 Treble runs a feature on their collective 50 favourite drummers, of course, JC is right up there;

... [Chamberlin's] roots are in Buddy Rich and Deep Purple, and that his neurotic, gunslinging style is considered semi-revolutionary among rock drummers for its reliance on jazz-style riffs. His most varied work was on the titanic of nineties avant-rock, Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness, famous for its excess but scattered with off-chart gems like "Thru The Eyes Of Ruby," which perfects the Chamberlin snare sound  and "Galapagos," a piece of stormy minimalism which Chamberlin has identified as one of his favorite Pumpkins moments...

The band as it then existed crashed on the rocks, of course... but at the peak of the Pumpkins, no one brought the thunder more regularly — no one in the entire world.

Offical Lucky 13 - Archive Project Poll

Do it: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TheLucky13Survey1

Not that I tend to keep track of these kind of things...

... but Jimmy's show-case for DW drums, released around 10 months ago, just hit 100,000 views on YouTube.  Congrats JC.  If you haven't already seen it, enjoy;

Its somewhat eclipses the view count for the last official release from the Smashing Pumpkins', from 8 months ago, Owata (music video version) sits at 27,000... :O

The "Lucky" 13 - SMASHING PUMPKINS ARCHIVE UPDATE

"Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins has commissioned an intermediary team for the purpose of recommending upcoming Smashing Pumpkins Record Club (SPRC) releases. In conjunction with fan input, “The Lucky 13” team will review archival material, identify possible pricing models, and propose methods and formats of distribution for selected audio and video releases.

The scope of archival material currently under consideration includes professionally taped or filmed live shows, soundboard recordings, unreleased songs, demos and alternate takes.
Fan input is essential to this project. Here are three ways fans can contribute:

1. Email recommendations to TheLucky13Team@gmail.com
2. Share suggestions on your preferred Smashing Pumpkins messageboard. Members of the team will be monitoring designated “The Lucky 13” threads to gather fan input
3. “Like” the “The Lucky 13” Facebook page and leave comments"

 _________________________________________________________________________

Well, despite not believing this will make a shred of difference, here's my two penneths worth

• 1) Rename 'The Lucky 13' immediately. It already feels non-inclusive
• 2) Be transparent; reveal who this team are. If people get even the faintest whiff of a rat, this isn't going to work
• 3) Score an early win - release the damn Metro Show
• 4) [a] Consult the fans who know, who really know, the history and availability of current bootlegs/material
• 4) [b] DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE EXCLUDE Netphoria or any other long standing message board; speak to at least CoolAsIceCream, 34, Redbull, Spaldz and PistolPete
• 5) [a] Do not, DO NOT, bandy about pricing, release models, packaging or anything else for a product which does not exist. Seriously, I repeat, do not do this again
• 5) [b] If a real archivist has been at work, seriously, if you had a real archivist on this project - listen carefully and; release the catalogue for the fans to understand what the base library actually is. Make it easy for them to understand; apportion said library into sections by era and media. Then rate, with examples, quality of said media in it's raw format.
• 5 [c] Define your objectives (is this about releasing quality or quantity). This will help inform said fans what sort of pricing structure they may wish to consider for said material
• 6 Stop being vague. Stop it. Seriously
• 7) [a]Thus, again, create Samples
• 7) [b] and create direct feedback model against said samples ie; polls
• 8) Do not release anything post 2008
• 9) Do not listen to ANYONE who touts GM Palace 1997 as there favourite boot
• 10) Do not listen to ANYONE who touts post 2008 material as superior, in any shape or form, to any previous work. Even Blinking with Fists
• 11) Know your demographic: Listen very carefully, to this; your fans are not, in the main, idiots. Please stop treating us as such with running such an amateur outfit. You have already, once again, opened the flood gates for people to be disappointed that you haven't considered their own absolutely ground-breaking idea;  there is no way on this planet that you are going to be able to aggregate the multitude of vague recommendations / demands / ideas which will inevitably pop-up; the way in which you have [re-booted] this venture is, in my humble personal & professional opinion, a disaster. So start again, again. Make clear you vision and your values for the project, explain how and what you want to deliver and then and then open it up to consultation
•  13) GET. IT. DONE. 

Anyway what say you JC fans? I'm sure I've missed a point or ten...

Jimmy Chamberlin's 'Penny' Prototype Kit

The kit Jimmy decided to order has a custom "prototype" Copper Lacquer Specialty with Chrome Hardware. Jimmy actually sent in a penny that we used as a color match. The Shells are a ply combination of VLT Maple and Mahogany with no reinforcement hoops. The kick drum hoops are Solid Black Lacquer. Sizes: 5x8, 7x10, 8x13, 10x14 rack toms, 14x14, 16x16 floor toms, and 16x22 kick, with a matching 5.5x14 snare and a stainless steel 6.5x14 snare.

So, check it out > 

Exploration of Music - Jimmy Chamberlin from Brendan Baldwin on Vimeo.

Buy - MCIS Triple Platinum Award, Signed by JC

http://www.charitybuzz.com/categories/29/catalog_items/295647

Starting at $750 ...

Jimmy Chamberlin Re-Joins Smashing Pumpkins

(Again, Again, Again)

Just got word that Jimmy Chamberlin has re-joined Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins.  Sources close to the band report that following a serendipitous invite to the true-fan only ‘Amazon Listening Party’ for the Smashing Pumpkin’s forthcoming album,  Oceania, Chamberlin was so awestruck by the quality of the recording that he reached out to former bandmaster Corgan and tabled a deal to re-join the outfit.   

Sources reveal that Chamberlin privately cited many reasons for his return to fold; “it’s been too long… it’s totally driven by a desire to not sound anything like ‘classic pumpkins’ and to explore totally new ground… It’s all about the cash… I just love wrestling and tea and so does Billy…my shaman told me to do it… Teargarden has been an unmitigated success so far – it's the best release method ever”.

However, the official announcement, announced over at Smashing Pumpkins.com states Chamberlin’s true motivation:

"I want Corgan’s dreams, his songs and his band back together..."   

"...I have waved any creative input and final say on everything, it will be, and rightly so, all Billy's. This is a make or break year for the band and only securing the best marketing deal will ensure the bands future, not the music.”

When asked by the "gatekeepers" of Smashing Pumpkins fandom, oddly comment disabled site Crestfallen.com, about the specific moment he realised he wished to reconcile his musical ideology with Billy’s own, Chamberlin explains;

“It was about 7 or 8 tracks into the new record. In each track I heard the drums doing things I have done in other songs or pretty much would do - given the chance.  I kept thinking, this in an odd bastardisation of my originality as an Artist and if Billy wanted to just get someone in to play like me, why not pick, say Matt Walker.  He actually did it OK”.  He continues “I figured that; if they’ve got a new guy in and he’s just going to approximate what I’d do, but so incredibly poorly I can’t really comprehend it, I should probably just do it myself”.  

Chamberlin continues, “I was quietly optimistic that Billy would move forward in new musical directions, as he always used to try and one of the reasons I used to love the band, but now my priorities have changed & it’s why I’m back in; I am all about living in the past now. I am the difference, I am the 97%.  I realised that touring on ‘Rat in a Cage’ into my 60’s, is my real dream future”, gushes Chamberlin.

Talking about the future, for the handful of you out there wondering about the prospects of drumming tyke Mike Bryne, unfortunately the one and only music pundit who was in the slightest bit bothered by his dismissal, didn't have much hope;

“Even if my life depended on it, and I had Bonham, Moon and Rich as my phone-a-friends, I couldn’t pick this guys style out of a line-up of 5 ‘mathrock’ drummers."

Bryne, tweeted his disappointment at his inevitable dismissal; “shit. I dun goofed #imitationnotnecessarilythesincerestformofflattery”. 

Chamberlin Talks Korg

Right Here

Nothing really news worthy per-se, but will be interesting to hear kind of track what he incorporates this drum into next...

Jimmy Chamberlin - Folk Rocker

Jimmy Chamberlin hit the throne for a single track, "Born Again", with soulful folk band Cory Chisel and the Wandering Son - when they took the stage on the 07th of March, at the Vic Theatre Chicago.
 
Will post vid/audio if it appears.

Full story over with my chums at HU.

Wait a minute - It appears James Iha has also graced the stage with Corey... http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/317327_301039836588809_171710496188411_1277845_944696669_n.jpg

Unite JC & BC - in your mind

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/10517030-421/vote-who-belongs-in-chicagos-all-star-band.html

Corgan Continues Charm Offensive...

Further to Corgan's most recent contradiction, thanks to Machine Somehow reader Chris and Arachnea, here's a little extract from a recent interview Corgan conducted with Mojo Magazine here in the UK, where he continues to lavish praise on musical soulmate Jimmy Chamberlin... 

Mojo: You were playing with James and D'arcy but the arrival of Jimmy Chamberlin changed everything. How?

Corgan: When Jimmy joined the band we were playing a lot of kind of Cure type songs, very simple beats. Right away I could tell it was almost like he was playing dumb. We had one heavyish song and he was playing it without breaking sweat when any other drummer would have been huffing and puffing, so it wasn't too long before we sold our Jazz Chorus amps – which were the alternative amp of choice – and we got Marshall half-stacks. The louder we played, the louder he played. He was always one step ahead of us. There was nothing Jimmy couldn't do. Jimmy is an incredible emotional interpreter of the song, He would bring these emotional swells, almost like an orchestral swish, to what we were doing.

Did the band come close to splitting around Mellon Collie…?
No... Are you going to kick out one of the greatest drummers in the world who just helped make this massive album? Are you going to kick him out when you are playing this sold-out tour all around the world?...

In 2001 you and Jimmy formed Zwan with Matt Sweeney (Chavez), Dave Pajo (Slint/Sterolab) and Paz Lenchantin. What were you trying to achieve?

Jimmy and I had held this myth that if James and D'arcy had been better musicians the Pumpkins would have been bigger. So Zwan was an attempt at getting better musicians. It wasn't designed to be grandiose like the pumpkins, it was the opposite – let's have some fun, let's make a really good record with people we like. We went to Key West and rented a house. We would sit on the front porch and write songs and play all this kind of groovy stuff. Then, when it got serious the whole thing started to blow up and it was like "Oh my god, I am in the same nightmare again." It was the classic thing where you get out of a bad relationship and you think, "I am never going to do that again," and you go out and get the same kind of girlfriend but worse. That's what I did.

Updated Downloads

Added one or two bits and pieces here, for the canny eyed amongst you. Grab um before SOPA (mk2) gets um for no good reason. Oh, and if you have any requests or shows I don't have - give us a shout down below - or on twitter or such like. Cheers.

Drum Hero... DRUM GOD - Jimmy Chamberlin

http://thepantherlabmusic.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/drum-gods-jimmy-chamberlin/

Jimmy Chamberlin DRUM HERO

"I think Jimmy Chamberlin is a fucking animal, just unbelievable." So says drumming tyke Mike Byrne again.

 

Skysaw to make Cathedral Centrepiece of new Record

Well, it could be an EP - so say's Mike in a new interview with ROCK EDITION