Zwan: the end

And doesn't that have an off-putting, Phil Collinsian ring to it?

However, I bet $1 that Jimmy Chamberlain still lays down his beats.

I could be wrong, but aren't some people saying the exact same thing about you on the Michael/Janet thread?

Hooray! It's about time.

Nickalicious, I hope you are right about him being let loose. Hopefully he'll have someone unfazed enough to tell him when he's doing shit stuff though.

no, but his voice does.

Well, that someone won't be me. ;-)

no, but his voice does.

That's a very rude thing to say about Mr. Durst.

I liked the Zwan album, in the end. I dunno what kind of solo career Billy will have. We're always led to believe that he recorded Siamese Dream single handedly, so yeah it could be great. I just hope he does record something sooner rather than later, as the later will be very late, I fear.

Yeah, but they're all members of the Mindless Cult of Jackson-appreciation, which I'd situate somehwere between Sci*ntology and Thulsa Doom.

Beat it, smooth criminal.

i got all excited there for a minute. i thought he was gonna say that he was ready now to retire and take up golf.oh well. at least i never had to hear zwan on the radio. hopefully solo corgan will be just as gloriously absent.

Yeah, magnified by the big bald head.

I think the real problem with Corgan and Zwan is that it's a supergroup, made of confident, upstanding musicians who have made it on their own. He probably couldn't direct the music as much as he wanted to, being the control freak that he is alleged to be, and hence, had to split.

yer right. My apologies to Phil.

A pressing question: What shall be the fate of "Djali Zwan," the band's acoustic "incarnation"?

As far as I remember, the interview is also the first time Corgan publicly admitted Darcy had drug problems. Hmm...I really don't want a reunion, but maybe there is some behind-the-scenes reconciliation going on. He'll go off and do his solo album, no doubt about that. But if that doesn't fly high, then I do predict reunion.

Djali Zwan > True Poets of Zwan > Mary Star of the Sea Zwan. There's a huge back catalog of at least 80 unreleased tracks. Oh well.

Same here. It was glorious as it was, DO NOT GO BACK.

There are tons of great Zwan tracks out there and I want them all. I figure the official site might finally become some sort of repository for them all or something.

I got home and threw on the Zwan CD, in tribute. It sounds good, especially since I've been in the mood for "comfort-food" music like this.

Re: the new APC record. It's got...odd bits. Quite different from the last. Haven't head the original but "The Nurse Who Loved Me" is strikingly gorgeous.

I just cut'n'pasted this quote from my Zwan feature in Kerrang! earlier this year...

“I love being in a band,” he smiles when asked why he decided to form Zwan, as opposed to taking the solo-artist route.
“It’s a lot more fun, it just is,” he continues, Paz singing a sweet folky ditty in the background. “I can do the solo thing any time I want. I could’ve done it during the Pumpkins, if I’d wanted to. I prefer working with people I’m close to. The best music is made by bands. I think 80% of the greatest music is made by bands, and 15% done by singer songwriter types. But ego-driven solo ‘projects’, they’re neither here nor there. It’s not completely independent, and it’s not completely collaborative.”
He remembers who he’s talking to, grins sharply. “And when I do finally record my solo album, you can be sure that quote will return to haunt me.”

When the european tour was cancelled due to "family matters", I was suspicious if the "family" wouldn't be Zwan itself. Here's hope that Corgan's solo career will be based in long droney soundscapes, punctuated by guitar-noise freakouts and beautiful doodling melodies.

... "The band wasn't going to reach its full capability spiritually and musically," Corgan said. "I didn't see the commitment necessary. I was reliving `Behind the Music,' and I'm not getting on that train to hell again."

... cracks began to develop in the facade last June, when Zwan abruptly canceled its European summer tour dates, citing "family matters." Bassist Paz Lenchantin later announced her departure and joined another Zwan member, David Pajo, in his group Papa M.

"Paz played a vital role, and now it's unraveling," Corgan said. "Without that sense of family, there's no point in putting everyone through this."

... He said he continues to have a strong relationship with Chamberlin and is leaving the door open to future collaborations. A solo career will now be his main focus. A book of his poetry will be published next year, and he is completing a group of acoustic folk songs about Chicago that he hopes to release as an EP-length, six-song CD next year. ....

(According to everyone who has ever worked with the power-mad megalomaniac, he spends most of the time erasing everyone else off the tape and re-recording himself instead.)

ex-Djali Zwan material?

he spends most of the time erasing everyone else off the tape and re-recording himself instead

*sigh* Not that simple, dude. He recorded all the non-drum parts for Gish and Siamese Dream because he could knock them out in less takes. Let's face it, Darcy wasn't a great bassist.

http://www.drummerworld.com/drum/dpa25/jimmychamberlin9.jpg

Billy Corgan's recent appearance for The Poetry Center of Chicago was undoubtedly the most hyped-up poetry event Chicago has ever seen, with write ups online at Rolling Stone, Billboard, MTV and in dozens of other mainstream media sources. And with word of his band Zwan's breakup originating on Chicago's "very own" WGN days prior to the reading, it is no surprise the Art Institute's Rubloff Auditorium was virtually sold out at $35 a pop, making this event probably the most successful benefit for Chicago's much deserving thirty year old poetry organization. And you just have to love Corgan, the former lead singer of the internationally acclaimed rock band Smashing Pumpkins, for coming back to his sweet home Chicago to present this intimate, multi-media presentation. That takes a big heart.

However, Corgan's big heart couldn't save his forced, sophomoric attempts at creating what he must have thought poetry is suppose to sound like. Corgan seemed utterly uncomfortable on the stage in starched slacks, sporting a long, gray mortician's tie, fumbling with and dropping his pages, pacing back and forth, his nasally speaking voice subtracting from work already lacking in inspiration. For the most part, his poetry was so bad it was comical, sounding like a pile of high-school assignments composed by the C-minus student in the class. His poetry contained no energy, no rage, no dazzling metaphor or impressive usage of language, no unique voice, no imagery, no passion: in short, no Billy Corgan. It was probably fitting that he included a psalm from the Bible in the show, because his work came off like a collection of parodies of psalms, complete with the words "Thy" and "Alas". At times, I thought I should feel guilty for not feeling privileged that Corgan was sharing something so private as these unpolished exercises in stiffness, these embarrassing journal entries. At other times, I thought, certainly he must be making fun of poetry. But, more often than not, I just thought: for heaven's sake, even Jim Morrison had his moments--when is Corgan's going to start! I wanted to sneeze out, "Throw that dusty manuscript in the can, Billy. It's a noble first attempt, but put it where it belongs. Now try it again, from the beginning--using your own voice this time." Corgan either decided to demonstrate what a brilliant lyricist he is by comparing his music to how god awful his poetry can be, or he truly believes that poetry in the Millennial Age has to be sucked dead, dry of rhythm, must be read with a style completely lacking in emotion, and is totally undeserving of an encore. If Corgan sincerely believes that what poets do on stage is that much different than what he normally does with a band backing him up, that's just plain insulting. He didn't break a single rule with his poetry, creating something so obnoxiously unnatural and lifeless that even traditionalists would cringe at it. And he's not making any Slam teams either, trust me.

But--"Alas!"--as soon as Corgan grabbed hold of his guitar and sang a few lines of his poetry, all the disappointment melted away instantaneously and his words took flight. He breathed new meaning into his words as he sang them. In a rare, unplugged performance using a steel guitar, Corgan showed what a genius he can be when he is honest with himself and when he remains true to his own style. Poetry can be sung. Go figure.

--C. J. Laity

Billy's First Published Poem A Twixt the Twine

A twixt the twine and flowers divine
Devise the deign of this copper wane
Aghast the mask of ripping change
Aloft amongst the highest paid

Blend in the softer hues
Bespeak of melon and her honey fuse
Light my ire's with playful trust
For devour you insatiable I must
So mixed the mire the many did soar
Sour the supine on the slippery floor
Green the grievous poured wound into salt
Salacious and sated the savory sport

Don't get certain, play tricks with mine pull
Gather your colours and ever your sulk
No manners in me matter the most
Than playing valor to your consummate host
Pillow the phenom on purring divan
Mellow the missing on vanilla white toast
Laboured among the living lull last
Repay the repast in revolting rake

Never come give it up, whatever you may squander
The figs in the pockets and the cousins down under
By blood are the passions passing us up
By pill is the poison feeling
The heat it kills me everyday
By graveyard vigil and candles I bake
And kitchens are aching for archangel falls
Of soft baby bottoms and polished skulls, amen

Stick to soundtracks, please! Or something!

"Life's a bummer/When you're a hummer/Life's a draaaaag"

And those are from songs I love. I'm not even getting into "What I choose is my choice" or the giant climactic "I just want to be me!" (also a song I like FWIW).

oh and i suppose 'rocket' was good.

HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH NEW ORDER, BILLY?

BILLY
Fantastic, just bloody fucking fantastic. Amazing, great. It blew my mind.

MATT
Me and Jimmy went out to see them play together, it was inspiring.

WERE YOU EXPECTING TO BE ASKED TO JOIN? IT SEEMED A STRANGE DECISION, ON BOTH SIDES…

BILLY
Well, actually it wasn’t that big a stretch. I’d known Peter Hook for, like, ten years. Pumpkins was really influenced by New Order – one only has to listen to the 1979 single, which is totally New Order – so I knew them, and I was such a fan, so it wasn’t that big a stretch. But then again, see, that’s, even me as a fan, you try to imagine how those guys think. Because they don’t. their whole world is just whatever the fuck they wanna do, they’re not reverent about anything, the past, the future, anything. They’re like military people [laughs] whatever they gotta do to find that groove, that feeling, they’ll go all the way. It blew my mind. Joy Division is such a revered thing, to me – they’re the godhead, they’re right up there with the Beatles – and they talk about Joy Division like they were talking about their tea, its not a big deal, it’s just not. They haven’t bought any of the hype, they just think they were a good band.

crikey. there were very good pics of him in a mani hat @ the time
of those gigs.

An insane judgment indeed. He should like them BETTER than the Beatles. (Though to be fair he was actually talking about Joy Division, though the same applies.)

i did read a quote from billy bitching (HA! who'dathunkit?) about how 'people were more concerned about getting laid and getting pot than the music'. which i think is hilarious!

i think i need to secretly dose billy with LSA on a regular basis, and remind him that Cream and Zepplin were good bands that he should emulate.
where did the billy from 1991-94 go?
i'll tell ya. rich.
and it's made all the difference.

And yet I make it a personal rule not to read or hear a non-sung word from
Corgan: EVER.

Does it really matter what name he releases under? He's such an ego freak,
the only vocalists he works with sound even worse than him (despite the
fact he always sounds like an adolescent frogman with it's nuts in a vice).

even 'Blew Away' is pretty weak, and it was one of the more rawkin James songs. it's so strange, he can play soooo well, do the solo's all nice and stuff, but what he writes is such fluff.

i know, let's take away all the SP member's money and connections and make them start over!
tell them is they can even come close to replicating the passion they once had they can have it back, but if not- you get no more money!!!
bah, it'd never work...
ahh, 'the slink and impotence that money can afford'.

there was potential. the B-sides he wrote were much better than the album inclusion, particularly "Said Sadly." his voice and Nina Gordon's worked together quite nicely.

http://www.billycorgan.com/

no. wait.

i forget who it was. i'm fairly certain it was some horribly forgettable band, is why, but the adverts with the bright, technicolour photo of the bald, round back of some dude who was all dressed in black's head, with the text underneath reading "WHO IS EGGMAN?"

...er, yeah. always, always provoked a BC-solo giggle.

hrrm. XD

the very first song at the very first Zwan show still gives me chills. this is an astounding performance, first post-pumpkins song, the lyrics and the music are so optimistic and zen for BC - moving on without bitterness, wistfully looking back at everything the pumpkins accomplished but determined to move forward without the weight of the past. none of this came to pass obviously, but i find the optimism so incredibly moving, a wish un-wished. "a flower's still a flower crushed to dust inside my hand" - what a gorgeous way to describe the end of the pumpkins and what they meant, and still mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfaeOnSHq2c

yesterday you still seemed all right
you'd still hold me tight and whisper me my name
now the time has come to let this go

there i go walking straight but backwards
there i go talking upside down
there i go
there i go singing slow but faster
there i go dragging love around
there i go

staying up to find the way you'll always let me bloom
i am a part of everything you've loved and hated so
you know i'd pay a lot to cry, to try to understand
a flower's still a flower crushed to dust inside my hand

we were going somewhere
we were going somewhere

yesterday you still seemed so bold
you'd still draw the road i'd always walk upon

now i've paid for mistakes i've made
for the way i've strayed and never taken pause
now the time has come to let this show

there i go walking straight but backwards
there i go talking upside down
there i go
there i go singing slow but faster
there i go dragging love around
there i go

there i go singing slow but faster sometimes
up inside my youth, to wear a troubled crown
you know i'd pay a lot to cry, to try to understand
a flower's still a flower crushed to dust inside my hand

we were going somewhere
we were going somewhere
we were going somewhere

yesterday
yesterday
yesterday
yesterday we were going somewhere
we were going somewhere

20 years old huh? Should I relisten

Considering so myself

It's a good album.

Ned is right, and the answer is yes

nabisco otm

I wrote about it back in January. It's a good record.

still weirdly underrated, corgan's last good album

I wrote about it back in January. It's a good record.

― but also fuck you (unperson)

Good read! Got off on the wrong foot because I wont take “gish” slander because it’s my favorite SP album - but there’s so many quotes and context around the band I don’t think I was even aware of. Ok, I’ll listen to it!

https://www.stereogum.com/2220848/billy-corgan-has-65-unreleased-songs-for-a-new-zwan-box-set/news/

probably the most interesting thing he has in the vault so hopefully this won't take forever to release

great article unperson!

it's pretty funny he tries to portray the others are unreasonable (though pajo was probably a train wreck) when sweeney has collaborate with a million quirky personalities and people seem to like him.

this really rules as close as billy got to marquee moon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cQ66dYE4WY

Good piece, unperson! I was really into this album when it came out... I would listen to it while I played Super Mario Sunshine (in fact, I can still see Mario jumping to the tune of "Lyric" in my head). I also saw the band play at a club (Spaceland), which was pretty awesome.

But I’m glad to see that people have reappraised some of the music, because it is strong. In many ways, it’s like the great lost Pumpkins record. The quick backstory on it was when things started to go south in the band when we were making the record, Jimmy and I just took the record over and basically turned it into a Pumpkins record, because I felt the shadow of the record company over me.

Sure man, you "took it over"... what an asshole!