(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Billy Corgan has given away a clear signal that he is en route to rebuilding the seminal rock group Smashing Pumpkins, as the band has reportedly signed a management deal with Jared Paul and Paul Geary at Irving Azoff’s Frontline Management.
Billboard reported that Corgan and Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin will begin work on a new studio album soon, the first since the band’s swan song, “MACHINA/the machines of god.”
Original guitarist James Iha and bassist D’arcy Wretzky are reportedly not participating in the reunion, but sources say multi-instrumentalist Billy Mohler, who formerly played bass for The Calling and appeared on Chamberlin’s 2005 solo album “Life Begins Again,” will be involved in the project.
The band is already being rumored as a featured headliner at this summer’s Lollapalooza, scheduled for August 4-6 in the band’s hometown of Chicago, and they are expected to his the road some point later this year.
“As long as Billy has Jimmy, he can make the essential Pumpkins record, I’m sure,” former Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur told Billboard. She added that she is not involved in any reunion plans, but “my services are always there to play my favorite songs. If D’arcy is not available, I’m always happy to be second in line.”
Rumors of a reunion have circulated since the band first broke up, but Corgan stunned fans last summer by taking out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times announcing his intentions to “renew” and “revive” the band, on the same day that his solo album, “The Future Embrace” was released.
In December, Billy teased fans on his MySpace site with the promise of a surprise. He said it “all will be announced soon enough. Hold on to your horses. After all, good things surely [come] to those who wait. Don't you just love the suspense?” –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
