From the Zwan message board straight to your livejournals:
Post #1:
Ah, it's been such a long time...you know, relatively speaking, not too long I
suppose, but fortunately long enough...that's for you escher fans...in the
past, my posts have probably seemed a bit too obscure for most...so I will keep
this happily simple so no one can complain (yeah, right!)...this being a
positive age, or at least one that begs for positivity, I will stay on the
'sunny side of street' and be the bearer of only good news...the zwan album is
just about done and we are all very excited and proud that we were able to come
together to make this possible...we've been having a lot of fun, working like
wizards under red lights here in the studio... and once a week we foray into
reality for jack sweeney's open mic nights at the hideout/chicago, who were
gracious enough to let us have their stage once a week to do as we wish, and
we've been lucky enough to be able to share the night with some of the best
artists chicago has to offer...everyone in zwan has worked very !
hard so we could make the first zwan record a reality by the end of this
year...and it looks like we will probably be playing some shows after
thanksgiving, so please come and check us out if you can...and now for some
really exciting news regarding the vieuphoria dvd that's coming out for
christmas...when we decided to finally put out vieuphoria on dvd, the idea to
put out some additional footage came up...unfortunately, a lot of the tapes
that made up the original version are missing...but we managed to find some of
them, and look for extra songs from the same concerts in the honest hope of
uncovering something fresh...unfortunately, a lot of what I saw really wasn't
that goose pimple worthy, and as only a few weeks ago the only extra on the dvd
was going to some in-studio footage on the making of siamese dream...to be
fair, the siamese studio footage is actually quite entertaining, but it didn't
really feel like we were adding that much to the original vieuphoria...
Which brings me to the point of all this explaining...I had asked a friend who
works for us to look thru some of our stuff to see if we had our own copies of
the footage that was missing...he couldn't find what I had asked for, and in
frustration started digging around in some old cases seeing if anything had
been overlooked...these are old cases from the siamese dreams tours that we
keep in a storage locker...also in there is stuff from when bandmembers have
moved, you know, old lamps and couches and james' blacklight
paintings...anyhow, underneath some old tires he found a small cardboard box
with some unlabled videotapes...he brought these tapes here to the studio and
said I should look at them because it could be what I was looking for...so when
I put the tapes in, I really wasn't expecting much at all, certainly not what
he had found...I watched the tapes, and couldn't believe what I was seeing...I
had jimmy watch them with me, and we were so excited we asked anyone around us,
including matt, david, and paz to tell us what they thought...everyone agreed
that it was the most exciting and dramatic footage of the pumpkins that we had
ever seen from around the vieuphoria time period of 88-94...the tapes are from
1994, and prior to finding them we didn't even know these tapes existed...they
are a little raw, but really do capture the spirit and aggresion of the band
back in the good old days...on a personal note, jimmy's wife lori is about to
have a baby, and all of the zwan family is waiting as we speak to get the call
to go up to the hospital to be with both of them, so please send them your
prayers...we really appreciate all the good energy, support, and love that
everyone has shown us over the past year and a half...thanks a lot, and we look
forward to seeing you all very soon, wherever you are (this means you
australia, and south america too)...all the best bc.
Post #2:
Hello from The Zwan!!!
We are playing for the first time in Tokyo, and as always, have been given a very warm reception by our great Japanese audience. Everyone in Zwan is doing well, and we look forward to getting to play the Mary Star album for everyone and anyone. Recently, some concerns have come to light regarding the 'sound' of the album, and there seems to be confusion about whether or not there is a problem, which is understandable in the warm 'digital' age. So from my mouth to your ear, here's the deal: We set out to make the loudest fucking rock and roll album that was humanly possible. No detail was too small, and by that I mean that everything, and I mean everything on the album is distorted by yours truly. I became obsessed by the sound of the great mono albums of the sixties, whether it be Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, The Stones, The Who, The Kinks, etc. and their compressed excitement. so if our album is blowing up your speakers or making your dog cry, I can't say I'm sorry, but I do apologize for any worries this may have caused. Mary Star of the Sea uses everything but the kitchen sink in the analog or digital domain to push the sound of Zwan past the blur into something that feels fresh and exciting, and most importantly, LOUD at any volume.
So crank it up, and sit back and enjoy what it sounds like for us on stage in the overdriven glory.
We love you!!!
....BC
[*disclaimer: These are Billy Corgan's actual words from the Zwan message board, and not my own creation.]
Ah, it's been such a long time...you know, relatively speaking, not too long I
suppose, but fortunately long enough...that's for you escher fans...in the
past, my posts have probably seemed a bit too obscure for most...so I will keep
this happily simple so no one can complain (yeah, right!)...this being a
positive age, or at least one that begs for positivity, I will stay on the
'sunny side of street' and be the bearer of only good news...the zwan album is
just about done and we are all very excited and proud that we were able to come
together to make this possible...we've been having a lot of fun, working like
wizards under red lights here in the studio... and once a week we foray into
reality for jack sweeney's open mic nights at the hideout/chicago, who were
gracious enough to let us have their stage once a week to do as we wish, and
we've been lucky enough to be able to share the night with some of the best
artists chicago has to offer...everyone in zwan has worked very !
hard so we could make the first zwan record a reality by the end of this
year...and it looks like we will probably be playing some shows after
thanksgiving, so please come and check us out if you can...and now for some
really exciting news regarding the vieuphoria dvd that's coming out for
christmas...when we decided to finally put out vieuphoria on dvd, the idea to
put out some additional footage came up...unfortunately, a lot of the tapes
that made up the original version are missing...but we managed to find some of
them, and look for extra songs from the same concerts in the honest hope of
uncovering something fresh...unfortunately, a lot of what I saw really wasn't
that goose pimple worthy, and as only a few weeks ago the only extra on the dvd
was going to some in-studio footage on the making of siamese dream...to be
fair, the siamese studio footage is actually quite entertaining, but it didn't
really feel like we were adding that much to the original vieuphoria...
Which brings me to the point of all this explaining...I had asked a friend who
works for us to look thru some of our stuff to see if we had our own copies of
the footage that was missing...he couldn't find what I had asked for, and in
frustration started digging around in some old cases seeing if anything had
been overlooked...these are old cases from the siamese dreams tours that we
keep in a storage locker...also in there is stuff from when bandmembers have
moved, you know, old lamps and couches and james' blacklight
paintings...anyhow, underneath some old tires he found a small cardboard box
with some unlabled videotapes...he brought these tapes here to the studio and
said I should look at them because it could be what I was looking for...so when
I put the tapes in, I really wasn't expecting much at all, certainly not what
he had found...I watched the tapes, and couldn't believe what I was seeing...I
had jimmy watch them with me, and we were so excited we asked anyone around us,
including matt, david, and paz to tell us what they thought...everyone agreed
that it was the most exciting and dramatic footage of the pumpkins that we had
ever seen from around the vieuphoria time period of 88-94...the tapes are from
1994, and prior to finding them we didn't even know these tapes existed...they
are a little raw, but really do capture the spirit and aggresion of the band
back in the good old days...on a personal note, jimmy's wife lori is about to
have a baby, and all of the zwan family is waiting as we speak to get the call
to go up to the hospital to be with both of them, so please send them your
prayers...we really appreciate all the good energy, support, and love that
everyone has shown us over the past year and a half...thanks a lot, and we look
forward to seeing you all very soon, wherever you are (this means you
australia, and south america too)...all the best bc.
Post #2:
Hello from The Zwan!!!
We are playing for the first time in Tokyo, and as always, have been given a very warm reception by our great Japanese audience. Everyone in Zwan is doing well, and we look forward to getting to play the Mary Star album for everyone and anyone. Recently, some concerns have come to light regarding the 'sound' of the album, and there seems to be confusion about whether or not there is a problem, which is understandable in the warm 'digital' age. So from my mouth to your ear, here's the deal: We set out to make the loudest fucking rock and roll album that was humanly possible. No detail was too small, and by that I mean that everything, and I mean everything on the album is distorted by yours truly. I became obsessed by the sound of the great mono albums of the sixties, whether it be Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, The Stones, The Who, The Kinks, etc. and their compressed excitement. so if our album is blowing up your speakers or making your dog cry, I can't say I'm sorry, but I do apologize for any worries this may have caused. Mary Star of the Sea uses everything but the kitchen sink in the analog or digital domain to push the sound of Zwan past the blur into something that feels fresh and exciting, and most importantly, LOUD at any volume.
So crank it up, and sit back and enjoy what it sounds like for us on stage in the overdriven glory.
We love you!!!
....BC
[*disclaimer: These are Billy Corgan's actual words from the Zwan message board, and not my own creation.]