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More Info on Matt Walker leaving the Pumpkins -
Smashing Pumpkins announced Friday, November 14 that drummer Matt Walker will no longer be playing with the band. Walker, who used to play with Filter and has been playing live with the Pumpkins for the past two and a half years since Jimmy Chamberlin's departure, has left to pursue his own band, The Cupcakes. During his time with the band, Matt recorded "The End Is The Beginning Is The End" for the Batman & Robin soundtrack and laid down the supporting drums for Billy Corgan's tracks on the Ransom soundtrack.

While Matt Walker played drums for the bulk of the Mellon Collie tour, many fans never accepted him as a full replacement for ousted drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who was thrown out by the other band members after his involvement with Jonathan Melvoin's heroin overdose in July, 1996. Matt's drumming was often characterized by fans and even the band as 'too good' and 'technically perfect', while Jimmy's playing was seen as 'jazzier' and 'more soulful'.

Before anyone starts jumping to conclusions by thinking Matt's departure might bring Jimmy Chamberlin back, fans should recall the interview with the band on MTV before the Video Music Awards, where Billy Corgan asserted that Jimmy Chamberlin would never play with Smashing Pumpkins again, and that he was completely out of their lives. One can only speculate who will occupy the drummer's throne this time.

New Album Soon! -
The Smashing Pumpkins will be back in the studio in August, to work on the follow-up to the mega-selling 'Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness' double album. According to a report in the band's 'local' paper, the 'Chicago Tribune', the Pumpkins will be working with producer Brad Wood on the LP, with a likely release through Hut during the spring of 1998. And this time around, the Pumpkins are set go for a low-key groove, which is in contrast to their recent electronic dabblings for the soundtrack albums to both 'Lost Highway' and 'Batman And Robin'.
Expect also a softer effort from guitarist James Iha, who's been working on his own solo album for Scratchie Records, the label he co-owns with bassist D'Arcy. Scratchie is also home to both Fountains of Wayne and The Frogs. Iha has told 'US' magazine that he tends to write "quieter, more acousticy music" than Pumpkin mainman Billy Corgan. Iha shouldn't be getting his hopes up too much of having songs on the new Pumpkins LP, though - last time out, Corgan was reluctant to use any of his songs on 'Mellon Collie...'!

Source of information etc, Kerrang Magazine.

James Iha Solo Album -
James Iha's new album comes in February with 11 tracks. The name of the album is "Let It Come Down".
James Iha's new album, comes out on February 10, 1998.

Tracklisting:
Be Strong Now
Sound of Love
Beauty
See the Sun
Country Girl
Jealousy
Lover, Lover
Silver String
Winter
One and Two
No One's Gonna Hurt You

Pumpkins Star`s Xmas Cracker! -
Corgan records solo song for charity album

"Smashing Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan has recorded a solo song for the upcoming charity record `A Very Special Christmas` Apparently, Corgan recorded the song - appropriately titled `Christmastime` - when he was in New York recently, producing the new solo album from Ric Ocasek, the Bad Brains/Hole producer who was also a one-time member of classic `80s American pop-rock band The Cars.
So far, there has been no confirmation as to who else played on `Christmastime` with Corgan. `A Very Special Christmas` will be released at the end of the year, although the label it will be issued on has yet to be confirmed. Apart from Corgan`s contribution, the festive record will also feature Orange County superstars No Doubt, who have recorded a cover of the song `Oi To The World` originally by cult Californian punks The Vandals"

Matt Walker has Left! - Matt Walker has left the Pumpkins to join another project, the question now is who will replace him?

Pumpkins Sued - The Smashing Pumpkins are being sued for a hefty six-figure sum following the destruction of camera equipment at one of their shows earlier this year. The Lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles against the Chicago superstars by the TIG Insurance Co. who claim that $214,709 worth of damaged was done to equipment they had insured for a company called Presentation Services and used during a Pumpkins date at the War Memorial Building in Rochester, upstate New York on January 26 this year. More on this one as it breaks.

Hole In Billy's Plan - The collaboration of Billy Corgan and Courtney Love on Hole's next album seems to have fizzled. Originally, the word was that the band itself would produce the record, with Corgan as the man behind the curtain, overseeing the entire thing. That, it turns out, will not be the case. In fact, Courtney recently told MTV that she's brought in Michael Beinhorn, best known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, Soundgarden, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to do most of the hands-on producing. But the split between Billy and Courtney, if it can be called that, seems to be amicable, and it looks as though Corgan will still have his name attached to the album--although it's unclear what his title will be. And anyway, he's found other outrageous friends besides Courtney and her brood to spend time with. After all, he was seen hanging with Dennis Rodman before and after most of last week's N.B.A. Finals games.

D'Arcy's Animal Rescue - The folks at the Indiana-based organization Animal Aid are smiling, thanks to Smashing Pumpkins' bass player D'Arcy Wretzky. D'Arcy donated her signed gold record of "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" and a check (in an amount described as "very healthy") to Animal Aid in gratitude for their success in rescuing her Great Dane who was lost in a snowstorm near her farm in Kalamazoo.

New Batman movie with Pumpkins new song The End is the Beginning is the End - The Smashing Pumpkins have recorded a new song for the soundtrack of the upcoming Batman and Robin film entitled "The End is the Beginning is the End."
The song features former Filter member Matt Walker and will be the first single from the album. The Pumpkins are scheduled to convene with the movie's director, Joel Schumacher, next month, to film a video for the song. The fourth Batman caper features yet another new Dark Knight, this time ER's George Clooney, with side-kick Chris O'Donnell, Batgirl Alicia Silverstone, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and a silver-flecked Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. Click here to go to the Pumpkins Batman page, there you can see the lyrics and video for the new song.

EYE - LOST HIGHWAY SOUNDTRACK - Eye is the Pumpkins latest song. It is in the Lost Highway soundtrack. It sounds a little different but I like it! Click here to go to the EYE page, there you can see the lyrics and download the song.

Pumpkins Get 1 Grammy - Best Hard Rock Performance "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" Their 6 other nominations went sorely unrequited. The band was also on hand performing "1979" live.

MCIS Tour Over! - After over a year of being on tour the Smashing Pumpkins Ended their tour on Feb. 5 1997.

The question is, what's next?

Billy wants to take a break and decide with the band what they want to do. In the mean time the Pumpkins are working on a new song for the New Batman Movie that will be out this summer. It is rumored that they will also make a video for this song, we'll have to keep our fingers crossed.

New Video, 33 - After the release of the Aeroplane Flies High the Smashing Pumpkins have released the final music video from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The new video released 1 year after the MCIS only shows Billy, James and D'arcy. Jimmy is left out.......oh well.

The Pumpkins at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards -

The Pumpkins Won 7 Awards at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards:

Breakthrough Video (Tonight, Tonight)
Best Direction (Tonight, Tonight)
Best Alternative Video (1979)
Best Art Direction (Tonight, Tonight)
Best Special Effects (Tonight, Tonight)
Best Cinematography (Tonight, Tonight)
Best Video of the Year (Tonight, Tonight)

They won 7 out of their 8 nominations, the only one they didn't win was viewers choice award.

New Drummer and Keyboardist - The Pumpkins have found a new Drummer and keyboardist for the end of the tour. The new drummer is Matt Walker of Filter replacing Jimmy Chamberlin. The new keyboardist is Dennis Flemion from the Frogs replacing Jonathan Melvoin who died from the heroin overdose.

Jimmy Chamberlin is presently now appearing in court for his involvement in Jonathan Melvion's death.

Jimmy has been fired - Jimmy Chambelin was fired from the Smashing Pumpkins on July 18, 1996. The Smashing Pumpkins have issued a statement announcing that they have fired drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who was with Jonathan Melvoin when he O.D.'d last week, and who is due in a New York City courtroom August 12th to face a charge of misdemeanor drug possession.

"For 9 years, we battled with Jimmy's struggles with the insidious disease of drug addiction," said the Pumpkins. "It's nearly destroyed everything we are and stand for."

The band plans to seek a new drummer and finish its tour, which was suspended for a month.