Former
JANE'S ADDICTION bassist
Eric Avery has been tapped to join the reunited
SMASHING PUMPKINS, according to a posting on a
fan site dedicated to
Avery's long-defunct
POLARBEAR project.
SMASHING PUMPKINS recently announced via their official
web site that they have officially reformed and are currently writing songs for their upcoming album, their first since 2000. No release date has yet been set, but the group plans to begin recording this summer.
In early February, onetime
SMASHING PUMPKINS bassist
Melissa Auf Der Maur as well as an undisclosed source "close to the situation" confirmed to
MTV News that
PUMPKINS bandleader
Billy Corgan has been working on material that will, at some point, surface in the form of a new
SMASHING PUMPKINS album. "Everyone knows
Billy doesn't need too many people to make a
PUMPKINS record, other than
Jimmy [
Chamberlin, longtime
PUMPKINS drummer] — who he has [on board],"
Auf Der Maur said at the time. A spokesperson for
Azoff Management also confirmed that
Corgan and
Chamberlin had signed on with the firm as
SMASHING PUMPKINS, and that the two have been writing new music.
Auf Der Maur said she wasn't not sure whether
Corgan had reached out to guitarist
James Iha or bassist
D'Arcy Wretzky to complete the band's original lineup, but she said she'd told
Corgan that she'd be happy to pitch in if he needed her;
Auf Der Maur replaced
Wretzky in 1999 and worked with the group until it disbanded in 2000.
