SMASHING PUMPKINS announced Tuesday, March 25 via the band's social networks that they've signed an Artist Services deal with BMG. Via Martha's Music/BMG, they will issue two new SMASHING PUMPKINS albums in 2015: "Monuments To An Elegy" and "Day For Night". The first single is expected to be released by year's end.
The PUMPKINS' Billy Corgan says, "For those interested in sound, think: 'guitars, guitars, guitars, and more guitars,' but more so on the epic side of things than say, grossly metallic."
Recording sessions began this week, "as plenty of songs have been written and are ready to go," said Corgan. "Manning the boards will be producer Howard Willing, with whom I first had the pleasure of working with during the 'Adore' sessions. We expect a single out by year's end."
Corgan also noted, "Additionally, this stands as the initial post on a new nexus: The Panopticon, which through its simplicity should better address the speed of modern life. A continuing feature, items regarding each day's recording will be shared that same evening, with song titles, lyrics, poetic impressions, pictures, sound clips, studio gear and the like offered for a circuitous, bird's eye view of the process as it unfolds."
The PUMPKINS released their last studio album in 2012: "Oceania", which entered The Billboard 200 chart at No. 4, earned the No. 1 spot on the Independent Albums chart and garnered vast critical acclaim.
SMASHING PUMPKINS have created one of the most acclaimed bodies of work in musical history having sold more than 30 million albums, and won multiple Grammy Awards in the process. Formed in Chicago in 1988, they released "Gish", their influential and platinum debut in 1991, which was followed by 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 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 acclaimed sixth album, "Zeitgeist". They have since remained on the cutting edge of music and technology with various online releases.
A PERFECT CIRCLE, the multi-platinum rock band helmed by Maynard James Keenan (TOOL,PUSCIFER) and Billy Howerdel (ASHES DIVIDE), has premiered its first new song in a decade, "By And Down" via Spin.com.
"By And Down", which is included on the outfit's forthcoming greatest-hits release "Three Sixty", was written after A PERFECT CIRCLE returned from its self-imposed hiatus for a series of live performances throughout 2010 and 2011.
"Three Sixty" will be released on November 19 via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).
"Billy and I created A PERFECT CIRCLE out of a now long-running friendship, and I think the music we have made reflects that personal connection and has given us the ability to further develop and trust our intuition," explained Keenan. "I feel 'Three Sixty' is an accurate representation of that friendship and those instincts."
In a brand new interview with RollingStone.com, Keenan stated about "Three Sixty": "Of course, record companies always have their little clause in their contract, about their right to release a greatest-hits record. I think that can be kind of weird sometimes, when you see 'the greatest hits,' no, no — 'the greatest greatest hits.' Releases by a record label that the band had nothing to do with, and there's several versions of the same thing, over and over again. That's kind of why we did the DVD and the box set. If you're going to release a greatest hits, we should also offer something that's not just the old recordings, rearranged. But on that greatest hits, there's going to be the studio version of 'By And Down', which is the new track that we've been working on, that we never quite got around to recording."
A PERFECT CIRCLE formed in the late '90s with Keenan and Howerdel making up the core of the band with a number of well-known musicians having recorded and/or toured with the outfit, including James Iha (SMASHING PUMPKINS), Troy Van Leeuwen (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, FAILURE), Paz Lenchantin (ENTRANCE BAND, ZWAN), Jeordie White (MARILYN MANSON), Josh Freese (THE VANDALS, DEVO) and Tim Alexander (PRIMUS).
A PERFECT CIRCLE also recently announced the release of a limited-edition box set titled "A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone And Echo". The collection, which focuses on the band's live outings from 2010-2011 includes a full-length DVD of the outfit's August 2011 Red Rocks concert (with accompanying audio) as well as a 3-CD collection of live releases, one dedicated to each of the three studio albums from the band's discography. The collection is available on November 26.
"Three Sixty" track listing:
Standard Edition
01. The Hollow
02. Judith
03. Orestes
04. 3 Libras
05. Weak And Powerless
06. The Noose
07. The Outsider
08. Blue
09. When The Levee Breaks
10. Imagine
11. Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums
12. Passive
13. By And Down
Deluxe Edition