The Smashing Pumpkast

DISCLAIMER: We recorded this on Frank's iPhone in Pat's car, so the audio is a little rougher than usual. Your boys at the Pumpkast got to attend the Pumpkins performance at The Late Late Show with James Corden. We almost didn't make it, but we lived to tell the tale! Enjoy.  How to support the 'kast: MERCH Our PATREON buymeacoffee.com/Pumpkast Please rate and review us! Follow us on the soci...

A misunderstood and underappreciated album for its time? Sounds like our Billy! Today on the 'kast we're discussing Billy Corgan's first solo outing, TheFutureEmbrace . An underrated "electronic" (but having more in common with shoegaze) album featuring some refreshing, surprising elements that for whatever reason (many reasons) didn't resonate with the public and some fans at the time. It also di...

Hard to believe but today marks the SECOND ANNIVERSARY of the official launch of The Smashing Pumpkast! We could think of no better way to mark the occasion than with our brand new interview with the phenomenal Jeff Schroeder !  Jeff sits down with us to discuss everything from his unique musical contributions to The Smashing Pumpkins to the benefits of having a guitar teacher with a vast mus...

We've veered off into solo project territory again today with the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex and their 2005 alterna-jazz-rock-fusion album, " Life Begins Again. " More Fugazi than Dave Brubeck, more Slint grooves than brass sections, it was a "jazz" album we weren't ready for at the time but (as full-grown GENRE-DEFYING adults) we really f**king dig now.  First off: Jimmy's cookin’ it up so fas...

Hey there Pumpkast listeners! Want a FREE taste of what our our Patreon has to offer? We decided to unlock the most recent episode of our Patron-only spinoff podcast, " Beyond The Patch with Frank & Pat ," in which your hosts share some of our favorite non-SP/Corgan tracks we've been diggin' recently. Old stuff, new stuff, deep cuts and rediscovered gems are all on the table (and as you'll hea...

Zwan Zeason is finally going into hibernation and in this special Bonus Pumpkast episode, listeners chime in with what they love about ZWAN! Frank and Pat also give their final thoughts (for now) on the band, the moment and the surprisingly extensive body of work left behind by the jolly band of true poets. Thanks to listeners Dean Shaffer, Matthew Matenaer, Reggie Chamberlain-King, Hugo Rios, Auz...

Zwan Zeason is almost over, and today we're excited to present a very special episode covering some key, remaining "Oddz 'N' Endz" from Zwan's unofficial, unreleased catalogue. We had almost 50 songs to chose from! Needless to say, we were overwhelmed and turned to our Patreon members and social media followers to help us narrow it down (you're the best, Pumpkinheads!). We tallied the votes, crunc...

While we put the finishing touches on Zwan Zeason, we decided to catch back up with Katie Cole to talk about her new single " Dreams of Mine " (and how it speaks to being an artist), virtual shows, "The Uncomfortable Zone", manifesting more cats, being open to the future and staying true to the art you can be proud of. She also gives us a tiny peek behind the curtain (as much as she can) of her wo...

It's the Djali Zwan album (and official movie soundtrack) that could've been! Today on the 'kast we're talkin' the unreleased, technically unofficial soundtrack to the 2002 Jonas Åkerlund film, Spun , which consists primarily of an impressive collection of original and cover songs performed by the Djali Zwan.  Joining us to talk about these tracks and the film is Matt Billington ( Phantom Han...

We're kicking off 2022 with the penultimate, climactic installment of Zwan Zeason, our coverage of the one and ONLY official full-length Zwan album, MARY STAR OF THE SEA ! Joining us is a great old friend of ours (and unofficial Pumpkast producer), comedy writer, music journalist and Zwan enthuziast, Alex Scordelis ( The Cinnamon Boys , Paper Magazine , writer for Difficult People and Billy on the...

[The following audio is from a Zoom session. Audio may not be as clear as usual] Another year come and gone in Pumpkinland!  Joining Frank (since Pat is still Holiday travelin' on the East Coast) to talk about all the Corgan/Pumpkin highlights of 2021 are some wonderful Patreon members: Will Alexander , Pamela Fisher , Steve Foley , David Jepsen , Christian Perez , Faith Tyler and Justin Wils...

Zeason's Greetings! We're kicking off Zwan Zeason with a lil' introduction to the band and its history, and then cover their "first official, ticketed show," which took place at The Glass House in Pomona, CA on November 16th, 2001 (listen to it HERE ).  We of course get right into the impressive musical pedigrees of each individual band member, our personal connections to their various pre- a...

Just in time for your Thanksgiving travels (or to keep you company as you actively avoid the family) it's time to feast on Judas O ! Gather 'round the Pumpkast table as guest Matthew Legard  ( The Colourflies ) helps us tackle this delicious b-sides collection and spiritual sister to Pisces Iscariot . We speculate on questions like: What's the meaning behind the titles "Marquis In Spades" and...

To fulfill their contractual obligations, the Pumpkins' final (at the time) release was a compilation album entitled Rotten Apples: The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits, with some copies being sold with an additional b-sides collection entitled Judas Ø (a spiritual sister to 1994's Pisces Iscariot) . In this episode, with help from our special guest Matthew Legard  ( The Colourflies ), we'll b...

[This episode is audio from our YouTube Zoom Roundtable video which you can watch in full HERE ] Frank and Pat are joined by guests Mandy Dayton , Melissa Moore and John LaMantia who share their experiences attending one (or five) of the recent "WPC Early Years: 1985-1990" shows at Pumpkinhead hub/friendly neighborhood teahouse, Madame ZuZu's in Highland Park, Illinois. The place where you were bo...

It was to be the FINAL performance of The Smashing Pumpkins. An emotional night and return back to where it all started, the Cabaret Metro. While Frank and Pat weren't fortunate enough to attend the show, through the miracle of technology and a VERY crowd-noise-heavy bootleg, they transport themselves back to December 2nd, 2000 (two days before Pat's 17th birthday -- the very EDGE of 17...) to dis...

[This episode is audio from our YouTube video which you can watch HERE .] Frank and Pat couldn’t make it to the long-awaited, triumphant return of The Smashing Pumpkins in concert (and live music in general, and moshing!?), but our guest field correspondent Pamela Fisher is here to share her experiences from both festivals. The good, the beard, the loud and the "QUIET!" Follow us on the socials! T...

It's another listener appreciation episode ! Today we (raindrops + sun)shower praise on Machina and Machina II ! Pumpkast listeners share with us what they love about these once underrated but now appreciated and beloved albums.  Thanks to Kim Rosas, Stephen Patrick Kelly, Justin Reeves, Faith Tyler, Will Alexander, Tony Bacigalupi, David G., Scott from South Australia, Evangelina S. and...

Well, we always get a little melancholy on the last day of summer... but the last day of MACHINA SUMMER never felt so cold! We conclude our discussion of the Machina II EPs with Alan Passman ( When The Pain Starts ), covering EP THREE (CR-03) aka "the alt/counter-versions EP." We talk about the epic bones of “If There Is A God,” the "1979" and Fountains of Wayne-like quirk of the alternate version...

Aaaand.... we're back! We continue our in-depth discussion of the Machina II EPs with Alan Passman ( When The Pain Starts ), covering EP TWO (CR-02) . This installment takes us into the spiritual connection of "Soul Power," "Lucky 13" gets us going about Jason Takes Manhattan and we ponder a "Speed Kills"/ Monuments To An Elegy connection. We also discuss the misguided criticism of the grandiosity...

Fall is right around the corner, but Machina Summer ain't over yet! Today we're covering the Machina II EPs , starting with EP One (CR-01) . Joining us to talk about all three EPs is musician, writer and longtime Pumpkinhead Alan Passman (author of When The Pain Starts ), who tells us about the "Stand Inside Your Love"-inspired poem and artwork from his new graphic novel and what the song and band...

Released for free on the Internet (ever heard of it?) in September of 2000, The Smashing Pumpkins' sixth and "final" studio album, MACHINA II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music was an unconventional release, born of resistance from the record label to the idea of a grand Machina double album and an instinct to lean into the new phenomenon of digital file sharing rather than fight it. Despite...

It's Part Two of our Machina/The Machines of God deep dive! In this episode we go deep into the maturation of the band's jangly, goth, pre-Gish sound into something thick and powerful, the 80's Pop Rock of "The Imploding Voice," and some seeds of CYR to come. We also discuss the Bowie Scary Monsters influence, the beautiful inspiration behind "With Every Light," and Frank's "Crying Tree of Mercury...

It was the end of The Smashing Pumpkins (for a while, of course). In 2000, the band announced their breakup and released what was to be their final album, Machina/The Machines of God . A loosely conceptual album that got buried in a time of TRL Teen Pop and Nü Metal, over the years Machina has gained the respect and admiration (we believe) it deserves. In Part 1 of our 2-part coverage of "Machina...

In this Bonus mini-episode, Pumpkast listeners who attended "The Arising! Tour" share their firsthand accounts. Thanks to Adam B., Julie R., David K., Zwee, Art A., Andrew R., Glenn G and Brian for sharing!  Follow us on the socials! Twitter @PumpkinsPodcast Instagram: @smashingpumpkast e-mail: thesmashingpumpkast@gmail.com Please rate and review us!