NEW Jimmy Chamberlin interview from drumchannel.com

[paranoid]

Originally Posted by BlissedandGone2

Yes, they're fucking around with new material, but the only one not keeping up at all is Darcy.

jesus. clearly billy knows the song, as he wrote the damn thing, but he's just kinda skipping around with the riffs, not following the form, james is out of tune and hitting wrong notes here and there, and even our godly jimmy misses a couple of hits. darcy? what i'm seeing is she's clearly having trouble with her set up and is using the time where they are playing to get her set up going (fucking with her amp, tuning her bass, etc etc) and once in a while chiming into the jam to hear if everything is working all right.

So are we really docking points on darcy's playing based on a fucking rehearsal tape, where it's possible she had just learned the song? I mean really? You've been in bands, right?!? you know what it's like to rehearse, show other members parts, or learn parts of songs you haven't played? you understand it takes even the most on top of their shit musicians time to get into the groove of everything? my point has been, all along, that darcy did a fine job once she was in the groove of everything. Attempting to dismiss her musicianship of her in a low quality rehearsal video is missing the boat imo. you've heard them in live bootlegs, correct?? does the band not sound damn good? is she really the only one that's ever made a mistake in this band? Obviously she must have been doing something right if she was present during the time the band was at its absolute best and most energetic as a live unit.

this is all just a bit damn silly.

Also, as good and awesome as jimmy is and was with this band, i honestly felt the band sounded better in 1998, and especially in 1999.. and in early 2000 they sounded pretty bad. the energy was not as full. I attribute a lot of that towards the sound melissa brought to the band. yeah, she played the same 'simple' bass line, but her sound and feel was not as solid, and there is a big difference, and that ultimately impacted the live sound of the band. It took nearly a whole year before they started to sound like a tight unit again (the final metro show is a good example).

[paranoid]

Originally Posted by stumpycat

Aye-yai-yai!
Yes, of course I do. I never said D'arcy was unlistenable or terrible, I just said she did not have a very high level of musicianship which 1) probably limited her creative ability/ input (regardless whether she actually needed this ability or not) and 2) would probably be off-putting to someone who had a high degree of musicianship, like Jimmy--especially when you're a band just learning to play in time with one another and then learn some new songs.

In regards to D'arcy messing up new songs: people who are good musicians generally only have to do something a few times before they can pick it up. D'arcy seems like she is struggling to keep up through learning the new material at times, or sometimes just messing it up in general. These are not difficult parts she is playing, but it does not seem to come easily to her either.

Yes, I can agree with the first paragraph, but they kept her and it worked.. very well. It's not like she didn't improve enough for the tours. Had they had a better player overall, i don't think this band would have sounded better.. just different, and maybe not for the best.

messing up new songs: i really believe if she was allowed to have more input this would not have been as big of a problem.

[stumpycat]

Also, I should say that in regards to Billy and his live vocal performances, they are often actually not all that great and generally sound little like the multiple-take corrected versions on the studio recordings! No, he's not too swell at learning new lyrics, either, it does not seem. But that's not his thing--guitar is.

[paranoid]

so in conclusion, the only thing good about Smashing Pumpkins is the guitar and drums (this no longer applies to modern pumpkins, of course).

[pabrimmer]

I'm just glad the pumpkins are still out there making music. It will be a sad day when I think I'll never hear another new pumpkins song (again).

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by paranoid

Yeah, I agree, but he also hit a giant wall after some time.

lots of "real musicians" have

[slunken]

i mean i'm not saying d'arcy was awful or any of the other bass players were better than her. i'm all about her and will even go to bat for her during the arising tour (hawtness). i'm just saying that 9 times out of 10 if a song had to be abandoned it was because of her.

would it be better if i said every 5 out of 8 times? it's just an expression.

let's start talking about her weird facial expressions while singing backup instead huh?

[stumpycat]

Originally Posted by slunken

let's start talking about her weird facial expressions while singing backup instead huh?

Did she do this anywhere except the Adore tour? I don't recall.

http://photos.upi.com/slideshow/lbox...ING-STOLEN.jpg

http://textbookstop.files.wordpress....one_scream.jpg

[stumpycat]

Originally Posted by paranoid

so in conclusion, the only thing good about Smashing Pumpkins is the guitar and drums (this no longer applies to modern pumpkins, of course).

Yeah, for a start. Two guitars and a nice set of drums go together ohhhh so nicely when in a melodic relationship to one another! Billy should have actually turned up the bass a bit in the mix, because in tunes like Set the Ray to Jerry, Hummer, and Daughter it can actually be heard rather prominently and adds something. I like Billy's vocals on Gish best, but on Siamese Dream they are very well done (not surprising, considering how much processing went into them.) Only during the Gish era (and perhaps during the Adore era) do the live vocals seem to really match what is on the album though. Billy's voice is thin, for lack of a better term, and seems to wear out pretty easily on him.

[Trotskilicious]

daughter is a pearl jam song

[Trotskilicious]

don cawl me dotter my fait will be your picure kept will remieyiond me

[slunken]

Originally Posted by stumpycat

Did she do this anywhere except the Adore tour? I don't recall.


http://textbookstop.files.wordpress....one_scream.jpg

mostly this one

[Trotskilicious]

DON CAWL ME DOTTER!!!

[slunken]

damn it kind of looks like her too