Corgan's New Pumper

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS will release "Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. II: The Solstice Bare" on November 23 via Martha's Music/Rocket Science Ventures. This physical-only four-song EP is a limited-edition, beautifully packaged CD and deluxe 12-inch vinyl picture disc with the four songs — "The Fellowship", "Freak", "Tom Tom" and "Spangled" as well as an unreleased B-side track, "Cottonwood Symphony". The lid covering the 12-inch box is a metallic/foil wallpaper motif, with a 1970s design by The Flavor Paper Co. As with the band's EP "Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 1: Songs For A Sailor", which was released in May of this year, quantities are limited worldwide.


"Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. II: The Solstice Bare" marks the second EP to emerge from the band's in-progress 44-song project "Teargarden By Kaleidyscope", from which songs are being released online, one at a time for free (with four-song physical EPs being issued along the way). Thus far, two singles have been released from "Vol. II: The Solstice Bare". The first single, "Freak", is quickly ascending the U.S. Alternative radio charts. With a cumulative audience of over 20 million, "Freak" is receiving national airplay at the biggest Alternative rock stations in the country. And the second release, "Spangled" — described by mainman Billy Corgan quite simply as "just a pretty song" — is also earning critical attention.


In touring news, the band — singer/guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist Jeff Schroeder, drummer Mike Byrne and bassist Nicole Fiorentino — completed two runs of dates in the U.S. and shows in Asia, before heading Down Under for concerts in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, followed by a concert in Auckland, New Zealand on October 19. After a break, they'll travel to South America in November for concerts in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Columbia.