|
 And
you thought Queens Of The Stone Age had the final
word on the rock supergroup last year, with cluster-bombs
on. And hell, maybe they did, but that isn’t going to
stop Zwan having a bit of a scuffle to get it
back, with evenly sprinkled shrapnel-popping candy on
top. If you’re still feeling a bit uninformed here and
haven’t been hanging feverishly on the fortunes of one
Billy Corgan since he disbanded the Smashing
Pumpkins, well this is what he did next.
Only, as the word ‘supergroup’ suggests, it is more
than that. Add into the treat his partner in crime and
co-founder Sweeny, estranged-and-then-reinstated Pumpkins
power-house drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, A Perfect
Circle’s Baz Lenchantin on bass and guitarist
David Pajo of Slint and Papa M.
By rights they should sound something like Hades falling
over, but rather surprisingly they sound like a banshee
running amok on Woolies’ sweet counter. No longer a
rat in a cage then. It’s really rather beautiful chaos,
pop with its hair on fire.
If you’ve been longing for another ‘Siamese Dream’ for
the past decade, this could very well be your ticket
to joy. There is little denying that the head Pumpkin
is at the heart of this band, the songs we’ve heard
are awash with his distinctive yearning vocals, cascading
guitar and honest one-to-ones with tune. We can safely
say he’s not lost it. Time will tell if this band can
grow, convulse and convalesce like his last, but for
the time being we’re happy.
Get a preview taste of the album ‘Mary Star Of The
Sea’, out February 10, by clicking the link
below. That should open up a colourful box of delights,
including album tracks (we particularly recommend ‘Settle
Down’), the video for the single ‘Honestly’ (out Feb
24 incidentally) and a few DVD extra thingies.
ZWAN
- MARY STAR OF THE SEA ALBUM SAMPLER
Zwan play Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Feb 12.
Naturally it’s long long sold out. And if you have a
spare ticket we’ll sell you our granny in return for
it.
 INSTORE
PLAYBACKS
Thursday Feb 6th
1pm:
Surrey - Rockbox (all afternoon)
Bristol - Replay
4pm:
Norfolk - Revolution
York - Tracks
Herts - David
Nottingham - Selectadisc
5pm:
Edinburgh - Avalanche
Glasgow - Avalanche
Essex - Fives
Devon - Different Class
Manchester - Piccadilly Records
Leeds - Crash
Sheffield - Record Collector
6-8pm:
Kent - Longplayer
Aberdeen - One Up
Durham City - Concepts
Newcastle Upon Tyne - Steel Wheels (all day)
CLUB NIGHT PLAYBACKS
Feb 7th
Edinburgh - Evol @ The Liquid Rooms
Birmingham - Ramshackle @ The Birmingham Academy
Bristol - Ramshackle @ The Bristol Academy
Feb 8th
Sheffield - Sonic Boom @ The Leadmill
Liverpool - Krazyhouse
Manchester - Big Night Out @ Jilly's Rock World
Nottingham - Distortion @ Rock City
Norwich - Meltdown @ The Waterfront
Feb 10th
Sheffield - Shag @ The Leadmill
Feb 11th
Newcastle - Get Your Skates On @ Northumbria Uni
London - Feet First @ The Camden Palace
Links:
www.zwan.com
|
