Netphoria Message Board - So the new line up is BC, JC, James and Jeff

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- - So the new line up is BC, JC, James and Jeff (http://forums.netphoria.org/showthread.php?t=185958)

So the new line up is BC, JC, James and Jeff

As everyone guessed. There's been a mention of this in another thread, but I thought it warranted one of it's own.

Someone posted a picture from the photoshoot Billy mentioned on his instagram page. Expect this to go down real soon:

No Darcy, So @Billy on Bass?? @SmashingPumpkin #smashingpumpkins #playrhino pic.twitter.com/nLJ3x2RcgN
— サンドラ (@OzzyRhds) February 4, 2018

So does this mean Jeff plays bass, or is SP a three-guitar band (like Zwan) now?

I would liked to have been surprised @SmashingPumpkin @Billy @jccomplex and James Iha So summer tour?? pic.twitter.com/5k3d6CZowW
— サンドラ (@OzzyRhds) February 4, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardiac (Post 4413254)

So does this mean Jeff plays bass, or is SP a three-guitar band (like Zwan) now?

They need promo pictures for the "reunion". Billy, Jimmy, James and Jeff record
the new album. The unannounced bass player is only going to be there for the tour.
So it makes sense not to inclu*de him/her in the pictures. That's what I think is going on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amoergosum (Post 4413256)

Didn't Peter Hook say that his son Jack is playing with the Pumpkins this summer? I'm not sure though, can't find a link anywhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardiac (Post 4413258)

Didn't Peter Hook say that his son Jack is playing with the Pumpkins this summer? I'm not sure though, can't find a link anywhere.

That would be awful. Both Jack and Jeff have absolutely NO stage presence.

>>>

Quote:

Originally Posted by amoergosum (Post 4413259)

That would be awful. Both Jack and Jeff have absolutely NO stage presence.

>>>

And that would mean the much talked about reunion is just the lineup from that video + James. :(

Billy wants to play it safe.

Asking D'Arcy to join the band would have been the biggest risk obviously since nobody knows if she could handle the pressure.

Billy likes that Jeff has been loyal to him so he didn't fire him. James and Jeff have no chemistry though. Even though D'Arcy is not involved, it would have been a stronger "reunion" without Jeff.

Who knows...maybe it's gonna be awesome. I would have preferred a real reunion of course. It would have been unpredictable but the buzz would have been pretty amazing.

Ah but will Jeff wear a see through shirt???

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gooch (Post 4413271)

Ah but will Jeff wear a see through shirt???

https://i.imgur.com/1OZu4lx.png

Quote:

Originally Posted by amoergosum (Post 4413272)

https://i.imgur.com/1OZu4lx.png

Maybe this will be more JAMES part now. Still wonder, why he wasn't involved in the recordings yet, but JEFF...

It's even worse when you consider D'arcy was willing to come back.

Maybe they should bring back Mike as well. Just have a whole jamboree.

Worst to me is that they didn't reach out to D'ARCY to improve her skills in the last two years, but left her uncertain until the recordings and having to find out herself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardiac (Post 4413258)

Didn't Peter Hook say that his son Jack is playing with the Pumpkins this summer? I'm not sure though, can't find a link anywhere.

That was back when they were recording Day for Night. He would be playing that album tour with them... That could've changed now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corgan's Bluff (Post 4413277)

Worst to me is that they didn't reach out to D'ARCY to improve her skills in the last two years, but left her uncertain until the recordings and having to find out herself.

How do you know they didn't do exactly that and they told her as they went into the studio?

She even said she'd been playing bass again, and Bill said he was encouraged to hear that. It really seems like he thought a full reunion was in the cards and it turned out she wasn't capable.

Somehow I don't think the current line up would be happening unless both James and Jimmy agreed it was for the best.

Sucks but as long as they don't bill this as a reunion tour it's fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forgotten Child (Post 4413278)

That was back when they were recording Day for Night. He would be playing that album tour with them... That could've changed now.

Thank god.

I'm really hoping Jeff plays the bass this time around. If there are indeed three guitarists, I have a feeling that James' involvement will be extremely low effort. Meaning that he wouldn't have to carry the song ever, just noodle on top on suitable spots and half assedly strum along. Minimal preparation required - he'd just be there to cash the check and boost ticket sales. Had it been just him and Billy on guitars, they would've at least had to practice a lot together to make it work after all these years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadaloo (Post 4413291)

I mean, according to BC/JC/many others, she wasn't capable in the 90s either

She was capable enough to handle world tours for years and there's enough video evidence out there to prove that. Who knows now though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadaloo (Post 4413291)

oh that's absolutely how they're going to sell it, to as many places as will write about it too

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardiac (Post 4413293)

I doubt Jeff would be playing bass live tho. I guess they will have 3 guitars, Jeff's been doing most of the leads in a while, and James would probably do his usual parts from allowing Billy to focus on the singing. I'm assuming they won't be playing all songs together, not the three of them... Jeff plays a few other instruments himself, and so does Billy.

They will probably have a guest bass player live... I think Katie Cole has more changed than Jack Bates tho.

Quote:

"My apologies to all of the Smashing Pumpkins fans out there who are excited about this oncoming reunion tour of the original members of the band. I know this is a huge disappointment for me, as well, but it's not going to happen [with me]," Wretzky told Blast Echo [via Alternative Nation].

She added, "I only just found about yesterday that the band has decided to go with a different bass player."

It just sucks to read this.

It's all speculation. But "I only just found about yesterday that the band has decided to go with a different bass player.” doesn't sound to me like they were much engaged on her.

Like, I guess JAMES will play guitar more on the older songs, as only JEFF is involved in the new ones.

This is not The Smashing Pumpkins

This is Little Billy And The Jaybirds

2016:

Quote:

And speaking of those I’ve been fortunate enough to share the stage with, I see that it’s D’arcy Wretzky’s birthday today: So a big and happy B-Day to her from here! I’m encouraged to hear that she is playing music once more, and writing songs. As I’ve often said, no one had better musical discernment in our band than she.

As I head home, it’s crazy to think that it was nearly 30 years ago that I began this wild and wooly journey, and that meeting James, then D’arcy, then Jimmy would alter all of our lives forever; for the better, I would argue. Which I suppose makes the hardships that came too, bittersweet. And as I feel speculation start to swirl about what happens next for SP, I’d like to say quite simply and directly that what matters most to Jeff and I is the music. Because from our darkest days together over the last 10 years it’s been our faith that the music we make, and by extension our loving curation of the songs made from the beginning on, that’d sail this old, creaky ship forward to another year.

https://www.stereogum.com/1874678/bi...em-essay/news/

2017:

Quote:

But drummer Jimmy Chamberlin returned to the band in 2015, and the next year Corgan smoothed things over with Iha and even reestablished a relationship with reclusive bassist D'arcy Wretzky. "I talk to D'arcy all the time," says Corgan. "We reconnected, I guess, about a year and half ago. We talk really regularly. I'm really happy to have her back in my life."

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/f...mpkins-w504739

Quote:

Chamberlin was then asked if it was hard to have a "strong bond relationship" when everyone in the band is riding the same roller-coaster. "I would say the same about our relationship today, right," he says. "The two hours that we spend playing music together is the greatest thing in the world. It's the other 22 hours of the day that him and I are … he's got opinions, I've got opinions; we're both grown men, right?"

"We were talking about playing next year with the band and somebody asked me, you know, 'What's it like trying to coordinate that?' I said it's like Grumpy Old Men 3, only there's four grumpy old men and one's a woman.' So [laughs]…that's how it's gotten to be, when we're all kind of crotchety [imitates an old person]."

http://loudwire.com/jimmy-chamberlai...en-ones-woman/

2018:

Quote:

Speaking exclusively to BlastEcho via text, Wretzky wrote, “My apologies to all of the Smashing Pumpkins fans out there who are excited about this oncoming reunion tour of the original members of the band. I know this is a huge disappointment for me, as well, but it’s not going to happen [with me].”

She added, “I only just found about yesterday that the band has decided to go with a different bass player.”

http://blastecho.com/exclusive-darcy...pkins-reunion/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corgan's Bluff (Post 4413310)

Like, I guess JAMES will play guitar more on the older songs, as only JEFF is involved in the new ones.

How do you know that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forgotten Child (Post 4413317)

How do you know that?

Guess he meant "new" as in songs from Teargarden -> MTAE. I wouldn't want to see James play Being Beige either. Might as well play only James-era stuff including the upcoming album.

this whole thing is already so awkward! i definitely have to go to a show!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corgan's Bluff (Post 4413277)

Worst to me is that they didn't reach out to D'ARCY to improve her skills in the last two years, but left her uncertain until the recordings and having to find out herself.

Yeah. I'm guessing she is in no state to perform. But Billy handled it terribly.

They should get rid of Jeff hire Melissa and release Machinas III & IV.

On meth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoolofaTook (Post 4413340)

Yeah. I'm guessing she is in no state to perform. But Billy handled it terribly.

She probably played two years her ass off to be involved again in the band, to be confronted with the beginning of the recordings, not to be wanted at all.