June 28, 2005 9:30

SMASHING PUMPKINS REUNION GETS CLOSER

Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain says: ‘I’m in’…

SMASHING PUMPKINS are one step closer to reforming after drummer JIMMY CHAMBERLAIN said he’s up for reforming.

As previously reported on NME.COM, former Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan, who recently released his debut solo album ’TheFutureEmbrace’, took out a full page advert in the Chicago Tribune newspaper last week where he said “his heart” remains with his old band.

He added: “I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams. In this desire I feel I have come home again.”

The band split in 2000 after the release of their final album ‘Machina’.

Chamberlain has now revealed that he too wants to get the group back together.

Speaking to the Tribune on Friday (June 24), the drummer said: “All I can say is that the Smashing Pumpkins are Billy, James (Iha - guitarist), myself and D'Arcy (Wretzky - bassist). In an ideal world, that's what it will end up being. The hope is that everybody will come to the table, but I can only speak for myself in saying that I’m in, and I'm excited."

Since the Pumpkins split, Corgan and Chamberlain have collaborated as members of the short-lived [a][/a].

Chamberlain told the Tribune that he has not spoken to Wretzky since she left the band in 1999 though he does e-mail Iha and – although they have never discussed a reunion – he said: “I intend to reach out to him.”

He also said that he is unaware of whether Corgan has talked about reforming with the remaining members of the band, but does think the advertisement in the paper “opened the door” for a return.

According to MTV News, Chamberlain said: “It's still all very new, and I don't know if anybody really knows what's going on. We really haven't sat down at the table and figured out the nuts and bolts."