Pumpkins Want 20th Anniversary to Be a Smash

(NEWSER) - After the departure of longtime—well, come-and-go—Smashing Pumpkin Jimmy Chamberlin and the audition of 1,000 hopefuls, frontman Billy Corgan has named a new drummer, the Chicago Tribune reports. And the kid’s 19. Oregon native Mike Byrne played with local groups before receiving the honor from the Chicago-based Pumpkins. “Dream come true, man,” he says on the band’s site. More»

Bands seeking new ways to market music in tougher market

(NEWSER) - The Smashing Pumpkins will release their next single, G.L.O.W., as a download for the video game Guitar Hero: World Tour, reports the ChicagoTribune. Band front man Billy Corgan will also appear within the new version of the popular game, which is due out in a few weeks. With CD sales in freefall and radio playlists limited, bands are seeking increasingly innovative ways to market their music. More»

'We're doing this for good reasons'

(NEWSER) - After 31 years, what makes a band decide to go separate ways ? For REM, it’s pretty simple. “We're happy. But we're done,” bassist Mike Mills tells Rolling Stone . Or, as singer Michael Stipe put it: “A wise man once said, ‘The skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.'" In short, “it's not because we have to or we can't stand each other or we suck,” Mills notes. More»

In what they insist is an amicable split

(NEWSER) - REM is calling it quits after 31 years of performing together, the band announced today, in what members insisted was an entirely amicable breakup. “We feel kind of like pioneers in this,” bassist Mike Mills wrote on REM’s website . “There’s no disharmony here, no falling-outs, no lawyers squaring off. We’ve made this decision together.” Frontman Michael Stipe added, “A wise man once said—'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.” More»

Female rockers don't get much action on tour, they say

(NEWSER) - Male rock stars are notorious for their groupie magnetism—but the same just isn’t true for female rockers, Salon finds. “Ladies in bands don’t get ANY action,” Neko Case tweeted last weekend, prompting a flurry of agreement from fellow women in rock. (Case made clear later she was not complaining, just stating a fact of the business.) “I have gotten laid exactly one time on tour, and it was an ex,” added a member of Crooked Fingers. So why the disparity? More»