“Free is the most punk-rock thing I can do,” Billy Corgan told Steve Jones in a recent interview on Jonesy’s Jukebox. Well, here’s the today’s installment of the Smashing Pumpkins main man’s giveaway – a sitar-spiked psych-pop song that could have regaled sit-ins in the 1960s. No matter what you think of Corgan’s tack – […]
Jonesy’s Jukebox is back – although not exactly on the air. The radio show hosted by the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones – a linchpin of FM station Indie 103.1 during its five-plus years on the Los Angeles FM dial – has found a home on the Internet. Jones now has his own show (actually, his […]
When Laura Ann Masura’s longtime friend Josiah Mazzaschi heard she had been injured in a motorcycle accident, he didn’t sit on his hands. He got on the phone. Mazzaschi, the frontman of local indie-rock band Light FM, has organized a benefit concert, Jam for Laura Ann, on Sunday at the Echoplex to help Masura, a […]
I’ve been to a lot of residency Mondays at Spaceland over the years, and tonight’s lineup, front to back, rivals any I’ve seen. Residents Local Natives could probably pack the place themselves, but they have two other great SoCal bands on board – the Henry Clay People and Aushua. Not to mention: Fun., who are […]
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, touring as part of a nine-piece band called Spirits in the Sky that features Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, played 10 new songs during a 90-minute set Friday night at the Long Beach bookstore {open}. My review of the set appears on SPIN.com. More photos here. Corgan winds up the […]
Billy Corgan has been holed up in L.A. in recent months, writing new Smashing Pumpkins material, and at the Sky Saxon Tribute on Friday night at the Echoplex, he sprung one on the audience. Fronting a one-night-only band called Spirits in the Sky, which featured members of Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Electric Prunes (as […]
[Since I’m still ravaged by a cold and living on fluids ending in “-Quil,” I’m going to leave the serious reviewing to others. LA Weekly has Timothy Norris’ photos from the night here; the OC Register reviews here. Here are some quick observations from last night:] The 20th-anniversary Smashing Pumpkins tour ought be called “If […]
[Here is guitarist Jeff Schroeder’s first installment from the Smashing Pumpkins tour. Introduction to Schroeder here; a bit about his band the Lassie Foundation, along with a download, here.] Chapter 1 (New York): First of all I’d like to thank Buzz Bands for giving me the opportunity to write this tour diary for the next […]
His close friends call him Shredder, thanks to his talents with a guitar, but two years ago Jeff Schroeder was just a part-time musician — and a full-time graduate student, working toward his Ph.D. in comparative literature at UCLA. Then a mutual friend helped him get an audition with the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan and […]
Not much I can say about what I witnessed Saturday night at a Hollywood soundstage, except that there is Guitar Hero, and there are guitar heroes. One room separated them: an outer area with an open bar, free food and enough video games to anesthesize the youth of a nation; and the room that housed […]
