SMASHING PUMPKINS ANNOUNCE U.S. TOUR OF INTIMATE VENUES STARTING JULY 6

Press Release Content:
DATE: JUNE 2, 2010

FROM: ALEXANDRA GREENBERG/MITCH SCHNEIDER/TODD BRODGINSKI, MSO

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS

ANNOUNCE INTIMATE U.S. TOUR DATES STARTING JULY 6
IN ADVANCE OF HEADLINE SLOTS AT
TWO SUMMER SONIC FESTIVALS IN JAPAN

The SMASHING PUMPKINS have announced a 14-show run of intimate venues beginning July 6 in Cleveland and wrapping July 24 in Memphis. This marks the iconic band’s first tour since December 2008 and will feature, says leader and founder BILLY CORGAN, “a balance of classics, a few obscure ones, and new ‘Teargarden’ material.” Last week, the Pumpkins released the four-song TEARGARDEN BY KALEIDYSCOPE VOL.1: SONGS FOR A SAILOR EP (Martha’s Music/Rocket Science Ventures). This is the first of an eventual 11 specially packaged EPs–taken from the in-progress 44-song work TEARGARDEN BY KALEIDYSCOPE–to be sold in record stores. Notably, all the music is being is released online, for free, with no strings attached.

CORGAN and his band mates–guitarist JEFF SCHROEDER, drummer MIKE BYRNE and new bassist NICOLE FIORENTINO—are planning to invite select fans to attend their sound checks (details TBA). “We are going to do something unique, which is play an invite-only set during sound check of almost all new, unreleased songs,” says Billy. “We're still figuring out a way to make it possible for some of the fans who'll be in the line outside waiting to get in for that.”

Rehearsals for the tour “have been fantastic,” adds Billy. “I haven't been this comfortable in a band situation since about 1995. Musically, we seem to have wound our way back to a more kinetic, electric, and psychedelic sound that reminds me of SP in Gish-Siamese era.”

The decision to play intimate venues keeps in line with the Pumpkins’ “long-standing tradition of trying to start up new tours at smaller venues because it allows the band the opportunity to take some chances musically,” explains Billy. The band has been recording and rehearsing in Los Angeles, and recently broadcast a full session live online: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-from-coldwater-studio .

After the U.S. dates, the Pumpkins will head to Japan for four shows, including headline performances at two Summer Sonic festivals in Japan–August 7 in Tokyo (Marine Stadium) and August 8 in Osaka (Maishima)–to be followed by two headline dates in Tokyo (August 10 and 11 at Studio Coast).

The very limited edition collector’s EP TEARGARDEN BY KALEIDYSCOPE VOL.1: SONGS FOR A SAILOR (“A Stitch In Time,” “Widow Wake My Mind,” “A Song For A Son” and “Astral Planes”) is packaged in a beautiful silk-screened wooden box. Each box contains a 4-song CD, a vinyl 7” and a hand-carved obelisk from the shadows of the Incan ruins in Machu Picchu. Of the first EP, Jerry Shriver of USA Today described the music as “a delicious swirl of howling psychedelic rock and melodic ballads (5/25/10)," while Edna Gundersen (also of USA Today) singled out the song “A Stitch In Time,” noting that “Billy Corgan binds a pretty melody to shimmery acoustic pop psychedelia, thus extending his brand's relevancy (6/1/10).” Elsewhere, Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times cited the “jammy, psychedelic side, with winding song structures, lyrics about endless seas and astral planes, and buckets of circa-'70s guitar fuzz (5/26/10).”

The Pumpkins also plan to tour South America and Australia in 2010 and hope to return to the U.S. later this year.

Here are the tour dates:

TUE	7/6	Cleveland, OH	House of Blues
THU	7/8	Grand Rapids, MI	Orbit Room
FRI	7/9	Columbus, OH	Newport Music Hall
SAT	7/10	Louisville, KY	Forecastle Festival
MON	7/12	Baltimore, MD	Rams Head Live
TUE	7/13	Richmond,VA	The National
THU	7/15	Norfolk, VA	The Norva
FRI	7/16	Charlotte, NC	Fillmore
SAT	7/17	Charleston, SC	Music Farm
MON	7/19	Orlando, FL	House of Blues
TUE	7/20	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	Revolution
WED	7/21	Tampa, FL	Ritz
MON	7/26	New York, NY	Terminal 5
SAT	8/7	Tokyo	Marine Stadium/ Messe
SUN	8/8	Osaka	Mashima/ Summer Sonic Site

www.smashingpumpkins.com

About THE SMASHING PUMPKINS:

The Smashing Pumpkins have created one of the most acclaimed bodies of work in musical history and sold over 30 million albums. Formed in Chicago in 1988, they released Gish, their influential (and platinum) debut in 1991, which was followed by more platinum and multi-platinum albums including the nine-time platinum Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and the four-time platinum Siamese Dream as well as the platinum certified 1998 album Adore. The pivotal group’s many hits defined the alternative music era and continue to resonate on modern rock radio, influencing a whole new generation. The Pumpkins returned in 2007 with their gold-certified and acclaimed sixth album Zeitgeist, which entered the charts at Number 2 in the U.S. and in the Top Ten internationally. Since their triumphant return to the stage in 2007, the Pumpkins have headlined some of the biggest events around the globe including the Reading Festival, Rock Am Ring, and the V fest. In 2008, the band was inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk. Their first post-major label release was the song “Superchrist,” issued via the Guitar Center CD Fresh Cuts Vol. 2. They subsequently recorded the song–the modern rock hit–“G.L.O.W.” for the Guitar Hero® World Tour game, marking the first time a band has recorded a new song exclusively for the franchise. In November 2008, the band released their first live DVD, If All Goes Wrong. In December 2009 The Smashing Pumpkins began releasing Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, a 44-song work with songs being released online one at a time for free (4-song physical EPs will be made available as the songs are released). The group’s BILLY CORGAN has said the new music “harkens back to the original psychedelic roots of The Smashing Pumpkins; atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty.”

Press Release Date:
Wed, 2010-06-02 21:00

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SMASHING PUMPKINS ANNOUNCE U.S. TOUR OF INTIMATE VENUES STARTING JULY 6