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December 18, 2002 - Opera House - Toronto, ON, Canada Concert review by The Globe and Mail Smashing Zwan By ALAN NIESTER When Billy Corgan's band The Smashing Pumpkins ran out of steam exactly two years ago this month, the assumption was that Big Bald Billy would sit back, lick his wounds and count his money for awhile, The Pumpkins having moved more than 20 million CDs throughout the nineties, making them one of the most successful rock groups of the decade. But that has not been the way it has played out at all. Almost instantly upon The Pumpkins' demise, Corgan began writing and stockpiling songs for a new project. Within a year he was working them on stage with a brand new band. This week, Corgan was in Toronto fronting that new band Zwan, taping a MuchMusic session Wednesday night, and debuting the new outfit Thursday at a sold-out Opera House. At this point, Corgan and company have not even released their debut album (to be called Mary the Star of the Sea, its scheduled release date is late January, 2003). But given Corgan's reputation, a cartload of Internet activity, readily available teaser downloads and an already-released first single entitled Honestly, the buzz machine was in full gear for Zwan's pair of appearances. Expectations were high, and based on Zwan's Opera House appearance, seem to have been completely deserved. If The Smashing Pumpkins had been born in San Francisco in 1966 instead of Chicago in the late eighties, the result would have been much more similar to the sound Zwan produced late Thursday night. Corgan has enlisted a pair of superb guitar players, Matt Sweeney (ex-Chavez) and Dave Pajo (Tortoise), both of whom tend to be adventurous. And with bassist Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle) adding an occasional amplified violin to the mix, the results were positively, uh, groovy. But with Corgan's guitar-playing and unique vocal style, and Pumpkin's holdover Jimmy Chamberlin behind the drum kit, the Pumpkin traces were more than obvious. The opening number set the stage. Everything Just Feels Like Rain (probably the wrong title, but hey, the disc isn't out yet) was pure Fillmore West, 1967. With a long and drawn out introductory noodling session, the number eventually evolved into a swirling psychedelic ballad, with a jazz-tinged backbeat, a fluid full-on bass and a layering of guitars that dredged up memories of Quicksilver Messenger Service or Country Joe and The Fish. Pure sixties psychedelic nostalgia here. The next number (The World Goes Round?) still had psychedelic traces, but with a quicker tempo and a more pronounced vocals from Corgan, displayed a more Pumpkin-esque texture. And despite the occasional foray into odd tempos (For Your Love) and moods (Settle Down, which emulated eighties-styled shoe-gazer rock à la My Bloody Valentine), ultimately a kind of Pumpkins Revisited sound did begin to emerge and assert itself on later numbers such as Desire and Until I Died. But make no mistake, this is not ultimately Smashing Pumpkins Mark 11. This is going to be a wonderful and imaginative band, with Sweeney and Pajo capable of creating intricate musical backdrops for Corgan to work with. Ultimately, the story of Zwan may not be a very long one, but it certainly promises to be exciting.
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