Bill Corgan announced Friday (March 20) that he was heading into the studio to record a new Smashing Pumpkins album without any of his original bandmates. Jimmy Chamberlin, the group's original drummer and the only Pumpkin to play with the band on its recent 20th anniversary "reunion" tour, "has left the group" according to a terse statement released on the band's website.The statement said, "The SMASHING PUMPKINS' guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member Billy Corgan has announced that drummer Jimmy Chamberlin has left the group. Chamberlin joined the band Corgan founded in Chicago in 1988 and played on all their albums except Adore (1998). Corgan will continue to write and record as SMASHING PUMPKINS with plans to head into the studio this spring."
The band showed signs of tension at its most recent shows, with Corgan brutally berating the audience and individual fans from the stage. "Yes, the circus is back on the road," Corgan told a crowd in New York in November. "Just when you thought drama was so '90s."