New Pumpkins album details

The Smashing Pumpkins' long-awaited new album finally has a firm release date.

The 15-song "Adore" will be in stores in Canada and the U.S. on Tuesday, June 2.

The album's lead single, "Ava Adore", will premiere on radio stations one week from today (Tuesday, May 5) at 3 p.m. (ET).

Smashing sounds for Summer

Long and varied list of bands ready to release CDs

The next wave of music releases is looking good with new albums from Dave Matthews Band, Tori Amos, Lenny Kravitz, Garbage, Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum, Sean Lennon, Natalie Merchant, Smashing Pumpkins, Tricky, Billy Bragg & Wilco, TLC and Beastie Boys.

Fans of Courtney Love's band Hole, meanwhile, will have to wait for their new album, which was due June 2, but has now been taken off the schedule.

On the upside, there will be new Tragically Hip and Barenaked Ladies' albums in July, and releases from other high-profile Canadians, including Sloan, The Rankins, Hayden, Rufus Wainwright, 54-40 and Cowboy Junkies before that.

The big summer soundtracks look to be Godzilla -- featuring the Wallflowers doing David Bowie's Heroes -- and X Files: The Movie, with the Dust Brothers lending their funky take on the theme song.

As for veteran artists, there's a Stevie Nicks box set, a double disc of previously unreleased Van Morrison tracks, a cover album by Rod Stewart doing songs by Oasis and Toronto's Ron Sexsmith, Ringo Starr's new album with special guest Alanis Morissette, and a solo album from Brian Wilson.

Here's a look at the upcoming releases (all dates are tentative).

April 28: Sloan, Navy Blues; Dave Matthews Band, Before These Crowded Streets; Public Enemy, He Got Game (soundtrack); Stevie Nicks, Enchanted; Various Artists, Lilith Fair: A Celebration Of Women In Music.

May 5: Tori Amos, From The Choirgirl Hotel; Sonic Youth, A Thousand Leaves; Gordon Lightfoot, A Painter Passing Through; LeAnn Rimes, On Top Of The World, Money Mark, Push The Button.

May 12: Hayden, The Closer I Get; Garbage, Version 2.0; Lenny Kravitz, 5; Massive Attack, Mezzanine; Soul Asylum, Candy From A Stranger; Hanson, Three Car Garage; Olivia Newton John, Back With A Heart.

May 19: Sean Lennon, Photosynthesis; Natalie Merchant, Ophelia; Various Artists, Godzilla: The Album; Terri Clark, How I Feel; Various Artists and Sir George Martin, In My Life; Rufus Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright.

May 26: The Corrs, Talk On Corners; Jeff Buckley, Sketches (For My Sweetheart The Drunk).

June 2: Smashing Pumpkins, Adore; Various artists, X-Files: The Movie (soundtrack); Tricky, Angels With Dirty Faces; Reba McEntire, If You See Him; Gloria Estefan, Gloria!; Tuatara, Swing Shift; Brooks & Dunn, If You See Her.

June 9: Rod Stewart, When We Were The New Boys; Brandy, Never Say Never; John Fogerty, Premonition; K's Choice, Cocoon Crash; Dwight Yoakam, Long Way Home.

June 16: Brian Wilson, Imagination; Van Morrison, The Philosopher's Stone; Neil Finn, Try Whistling This; Queen Latifah, Order In The Court; Ringo Starr, Vertical Man; The Pixies, Rarities - Peel Sessions.

June 23: Billy Bragg & Wilco, Mermaid Avenue; Lionel Richie, Time; Linda Ronstadt, We Ran.

June 30: 54-40, Since When; Cowboy Junkies, Miles From Our Home; Maxwell, Embroya; The Tony Rich Project, Untitled.

July 7: Barenaked Ladies, Untitled.

July 14: Beastie Boys, Untitled; TLC, Untitled; Vanessa Mae, Storm; Trisha Yearwood, Untitled; Counting Crows, Across A Wire: Live From New York; Faith Evans, Keep The Faith.

July 21: The The, Untitled; Pluto, Shake Hands With The Future.

July 28: Elliott Smith, Untitled, Verve Pipe, Untitled.

Pumpkins lay down 20 songs for next album

Never let it be said that James Iha is one to coast between Smashing Pumpkins albums.

While the guitarist is deep into recording sessions for the next Pumpkins album, he's also prepping for the Feb. 10 release of his solo debut, "Let It Come Down", and a possible string of acoustic dates, all while continuing to check out possible signings for his own label, Scratchie Records.

As for the Pumpkins, "We're in the middle of recording now," a relaxed-sounding Iha is saying Monday from Los Angeles. "It's going good, just really slow.

"It's a lot (of songs), it's just that some are kind of sketchy and some are more formed. There's about 20, maybe more." However, unlike the Pumpkins' last opus, the double-CD "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness", the new album will definitely be a single album.

Iha characterizes the new material as "less rock, but it's not really an acoustic record, and there are some electronic elements on it." Pause. "It's kind of hard to say what it's going to be."

The Pumpkins album, which doesn't yet have a release date, could also conceivably consist entirely of Billy Corgan songs, though the band is working on one Iha composition, titled "Summer".

"I used most of my best songs on my record," Iha says with a good-natured laugh. "I've been writing some new ones lately, but I kind of went from my record right into the Pumpkins record, so I haven't really had time to write much."

.Was it hard to shift from a situation in which he was the boss to one in which he's basically the guitarist to frontman Corgan?

"Working on good songs is not hard," he says. "Some songs I just play guitar, some songs I contribute a little more as far as the overall production. We've been playing together for 10 years, so it's not really hard for the three of us to just start playing."

And who's filling the Pumpkins' vacant drum seat these days?

"There's a lot of looping and drum machine, actually," says Iha.

We've had different people playing on it: Matt Walker (who officially split from the Pumpkins last fall), Matt Cameron (ex of Soundgarden). And we want to have some other people come by. But there's no permanent drummer."

Meanwhile, Iha says he'll probably be hitting the road in February and March to do interviews about "Let It Come Down" and, possibly, some playing.

"(The Pumpkins) should be going into mix mode by the time my album comes out, so I think it'll actually work out, timing-wise.

"Right now, I'll probably go out with Neal Casale, who sang most of the harmonies on the record and played some guitar. We'll probably do an acoustic duo thing," though that could take the form of simply playing a few songs at radio stations, rather than full shows.

The first single and video from "Let It Come Down" is the charming "Be Strong Now". In addition, that song will be released in the U.K. as part of an EP, along with three non-album B-sides: "My Advice", "Take Care" and "Falling", which Iha characterizes as "a really old song".

Here's the full track listing for "Let It Come Down":
1. Be Strong Now (first single and video)
2. Sound Of Love
3. Beauty (with Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon)
4. See The Sun
5. Country Girl
6. Jealousy
7. Lover, Lover
8. Silver String
9. Winter
10. One And Two (with Darcy on vocals)
11. No One's Gonna Hurt You

Smashing Pumpkins once again drummer free

It's been rather a difficult month for two big-name American bands.

First, Bill Berry, drummer for Athens, Georgia rockers R.E.M. quit after 17 years. Now, the latest victim of the 'quitting drummer' is the Smashing Pumpkins who have lost their interim drummer Matt Walker (also ex of Filter).

Below is the full text of Virgin Records Canada statement regarding this event:

"The Smashing Pumpkins have announced that former Filter drummer Matt Walker will no longer be playing with the band.

Matt had been in the studio with The Smashing Pumpkins, who are working on the follow-up the 8 times platinum selling album "Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness", and will be leaving to concentrate on his band Cupcakes, which has recently signed a deal with Dreamworks Records.

Says The Smashing Pumpkins, "Matt is a tremendous talent and we wish him all the best and much success with his band. We are very grateful that he has helped us out so much."

Walker was originally hired in August of 1996 as a touring member to complete the Mellon Collie and the infinite Sadness tour. In addition to completing the tour, Walker played with the band at the Grammy Awards, as well as their recent European festival tour and a special slot with the Rolling Stones. Walker's drums can be heard on The Smashing Pumpkins contributions to the "Batman and Robin" soundtrack.

Walker's last appearance with The Smashing Pumpkins will be for their special guest appearance with the Rolling Stones in Miami on December 5th."

-- Jam! Music

Pumpkins want $10M in suit

The Smashing Pumpkins are suing their publishing company for $10 million.

Entertainment website, The Hollywood Reporter, said the Pumpkins filed a breach of contract suit against Chrysalis Music Group where they had a four album contract.

The band, whose members are Billy Corgan, James Iha and D'Arcy Wretzy, claim Chrysalis has already earned publishing income from five albums and is still demanding two more.

The Hollywood Reporter said, Pumpkins attorney Bert Fields wants $10 million in compensatory damages plus a declaration that the contract is void.

Smashing Pumpkins drummer pleads guilty to disorderly conduct

NEW YORK (AP) -- James "Jimmy" Chamberlin, fired as drummer for the rock band Smashing Pumpkins after the group's keyboardist died from a drug overdose, pleaded guilty Tuesday to disorderly conduct.

Chamberlin, tieless in a dark blue suit, his jet-black hair spiked, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge before Criminal Court Judge Donna Recant as part of a deal in which he will undergo drug treatment.

If Chamberlin successfully completes a rehabilitation program by December, his court records will be sealed. If he fails, he will serve 15 days in jail.

Chamberlin, 32, of Chicago, was arrested July 12 and charged with misdemeanor drug possession after Jonathan Melvoin, 34, of Croan Ridge, Vt., died of a heroin overdose at the Regency Hotel. He faced up to a year in jail if convicted on that charge.

Police said Chamberlin and Melvoin injected heroin shortly after arriving at the hotel late July 11. Melvoin collapsed around 3:30 a.m., and Chamberlin tried in vain to revive him before calling police.

Smashing Pumpkins' other three members -- lead singer Billy Corgan, bass player D'Arcy Wretzky, and lead guitarist James Iha -- were staying at another hotel four blocks away. They were in town for a concert on July 14.

Eight days after Melvoin's death, the band released a statement saying they had "decided to sever our relationship with our friend and drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin." The group had been together six years.

Canada to be short-changed on Pumpkins singles box set

If you're a Smashing Pumpkins fan living in Canada, you won't have long to decide whether to pick up the band's next release.

"The Aeroplane Flies High" -- a five-CD box set of singles containing a whopping 28 songs not available on any Pumpkins album -- hits the stores here on Nov. 12. However, Canada will get only 8,000 copies of the special package.

The set will be bundled in a box that resembles one of those old-fashioned 7'' singles carrying cases popular in the '50s and '60s. The inside lid even bears a cute sticker that reads "This belongs to ...", presumably in case you take the thing to a slumber party.

Among the previously unreleased tracks are covers of tunes by Blondie ("Dreaming"), Alice Cooper ("Clones"), and The Cure ("A Night Like This").

"Aeroplane" will be out in Canada on Nov. 12. Look for it to sell for between $45 and $50.

Here is the complete track listing:

Disc 1: Bullet With Butterfly Wings
1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
2. ... Said Sadly (written by James Iha; features Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon)
3. You're All I've Got Tonight (originally by The Cars)
4. Clones (We're All) (Alice Cooper)
5. A Night Like This (The Cure)
6. Destination Unknown (Missing Persons)
7. Dreaming (Blondie)

Disc 2: 1979
1. 1979
2. Ugly
3. The Boy
4. Cherry
5. Believe
6. Set The Ray To Jerry

Disc 3: Tonight, Tonight
1. Tonight, Tonight
2. Meladori Magpie
3. Rotten Apples
4. Jupiter's Lament
5. Medellia Of The Grey Skies
6. Blank
7. Tonight Reprise

Disc 4: Zero
1. Zero
2. God
3. Mouth Of Babes
4. Tribute To Johnny
5. Marquis In Spades
6. Pennies
7. Pastichio Medley

Disc 5: Thirty-Three
1. Thirty-Three
2. Transformer
3. The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)
4. The Last Song
5. The Bells
6. My Blue Heaven

Smashing sequel

Pumpkins rock local nightclub

"Now I know what it feels like to play a Shriners Convention."

With these words, Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan perfectly summed up his feelings about the group's "surprise" gig last night at the Back Alley nightclub.

The Chicago-based alterna-rock supergroup played to a quiet (read: largely uninterested) audience of 600 contest winners, media types and VIPs. The invitation-only show was just the latest in Molson's Blind Date promotion, in which contest winners are whisked to a small venue somewhere in Canada to see a popular "mystery" band. Def Leppard, The Sex Pistols, Lenny Kravitz, Soundgarden and Metallica are among the act who've played Blind Date concerts this summer.

So, before the mystery band hit the stage, I asked people who they hoped would take the Back Alley stage.

The overwhelming majority said The Tragically Hip.

Better luck next time, folks. They got the Smashing Pumpkins, who played to a enraptured capacity crowd at the Saddledome on Saturday night but could only draw mild interest from the Back Alley audience.

In fact, many patrons mulled around the free pizza table during the group's generous 90-minute set. (Most Blind Date performances have been about 45 minutes long.)

But don't feel too bad for Billy and his bandmates D'Arcy Wretzgy, James Iha and Matt Walker: A band associate said the Pumpkins made $100,000 for the gig and were chartered home immediately after.

"We're a bunch of whores, thank you," Corgan cracked at one point.

Well, at least they didn't pander to their onlookers.

The quartet, playing on a small stage with minimal lighting, played the part of scrappy bar band, turning their amps full-blast and letting 'er rip. At times, the music sounded like an ear-splitting marriage of acid rock and death metal.

The Pumpkins kicked off with a recent single, Tonight Tonight, and threw in one other radio hit, Disarm, but otherwise stayed away from their recognizable tunes.

No 1979. No Today. No Bullet With Butterfly Wings.

Instead, Corgan and fellow guitarist Iha spent most of the evening sculpting layers of droning guitar noise around the insistent rhythms of Wretzgy and Walker.

The result was at times hypnotic and, at other times tedious and self-indulgent.

Still, at least one Smashing Pumpkins fan -- who attended the Saddledome performance -- was blown away by the fact he got so close to his idols.
"At the Saddledome show, the Smashing Pumpkins were playing to the first 20 rows and didn't give a s--- about the rest."

Tough times amid Smashing success

Pumpkins cope with heroin death, drummer firing

Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy says her band is trying to enjoy life after a tragic year.

The band has endured the July heroin death of backup keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin and the subsequent firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin for drug abuse. These recent tragedies came even after a 17-year-old girl was crushed to death at a Pumpkins show in Dublin.

"I don't even think it has to be an effort," D'Arcy says over the phone yesterday as she recovers from a band night out in Quebec City. They play Maple Leaf Gardens Saturday.

"The whole thing was like a slap in the face. A big reality check. We had this incredible realization that we shouldn't be taking things for granted."

D'Arcy - who no longer uses her last name, Wretzgy - says the Pumpkins sensed last fall that something would go wrong in the band, even though they knew their current double-album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness would be successful. It just reached diamond status (1 million copies sold) in Canada. The band won an MTV Best Video award last week for Tonight, Tonight.

"We knew this was going to be our year," D'Arcy says.

"But we just felt like we'd never felt before. We were so afraid - paranoid - that something was going to mess it up.

"Usually we sail right through everything, but we were so scared that we cancelled our fall tour."

Still, D'Arcy says that she, singer and band leader Billy Corgan and guitarist James Iha could not forsee Jonathan Melvoin's drug-induced downfall.

"(The heroin use) went on in secret behind our backs," she says. "We had already fired Jonathan. He came back crying, and begged for a second chance to prove himself. As far as we knew, he was clean. We liked him a lot, he was a very sweet guy, and we hired him back."

Drummer Chamberlin's substance abuse dated back to The Pumpkins' formation in 1989. The band even looked for a replacement drummer early on, but were unable to find one before things got rolling.

"I knew it would screw us up somewhere along the way," says D'Arcy. "For me, it's like, `If you have a death wish, I don't want you to be part of my life. I don't need that kind of trauma. I have enough to deal with.' "

This summer's dilemma changed Corgan's long-held belief that The Smashing Pumpkins could not continue without the original four members.

"We knew there was no way to move forward with Jimmy in the band," D'Arcy says. "We owed it to ourselves to try without him. We'd worked so long and so hard to get to where we are now. We were very angry. We deserved a chance to try and felt we shouldn't be punished for his stupidity."

D'Arcy says it was the band's anger that enabled them to continue. They'll press on until February with new drummer Matt Walker (also of the band Filter), and The Frogs' Dennis Flemion on keyboards.

"They're helping us keep things light-hearted," says D'Arcy.

And does it feel as if The Pumpkins will continue?

"It feels like it can continue now, like it actually has a chance," she says.

"We talk about it a lot now. I don't think we've spent so much time together on days off, ever. It's a completely different thing."

Pumpkins ready to move on after tragic summer

TORONTO (CP) -- Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky says she fought to persuade her bandmates to fire drummer Jimmy Chamberlin after his nightmarish drug addiction almost destroyed the band.

"He was going behind our back and all this stuff and lying to us and there was just no way we could ever trust him again," she says.

The decision came to a head in July after backup keyboardist Johnathan Melvoin died of a heroin overdose and Chamberlin's subsequent arrest for possession of the drug. The two had been shooting up together in a New York hotel.

Still it took longer for Pumpkin singer Billy Corgan and guitarist James Iha to agree on what had to be done.

Corgan always said if one person left the critically acclaimed Pumpkins, that would be the end of the band. "I'm not going to carry on with a faux Jimmy or faux D'Arcy," he told New Musical Express a year ago.

But D'Arcy, who goes by her first name, argued if Chamberlin wasn't let go the Pumpkins were toast.

"We've given him so many 'this is your last chance,' I don't even know how many times. With me, I've dealt with people like that in the past. I know it's just a cycle. It just never stops. They either destroy themselves and destroy you along with that, whereas Billy and James had never dealt with anything like that before," she says.

"I was like, look, especially in this situation, there's no way he's going to get better himself being in the situation. In a way, it was like: 'OK, I'm a rock star, this is what rock stars do.'"

So Chamberlin bought into that "rock star" stuff?

"Totally," she says without hesitation.

"You have to take that away and ... try and maybe shame him into getting cleaned up."

Two months after the tragedy rocked the band and forced them to postpone their world tour, the disbelief, anger and sadness are still acute, she says.

"It's stupid and senseless and in my mind I can't even accept the fact that Johnathan is dead."

D'Arcy says she was particularly stunned because Melvoin, who was 34, had convinced her he would stop using drugs after he and Chamberlin "screwed up" in Europe. The first incident was in Thailand last February. In May, both overdosed in Portugal and Melvoin was told he was through.

"We fired him but then he came to me with tears and promises and basically sounding almost to the point of being suicidal, like 'my family and friends think I'm such a failure, such a loser, and how am I going to go home and tell them that I've screwed this up,'" she says over the phone from Kansas City.

Which explains why Melvoin was still in the lineup when the band returned to North America.

"We really loved him. He was a sweet, sweet person."

After a six-week break, the Pumpkins resumed their world tour Aug. 27 in Las Vegas with a new touring drummer, Matt Walker from Filter, and Frogs keyboardist Dennis Flemion. An eight-city Canadian tour starts Tuesday in Quebec City. A Vancouver date follows in January.

The band, whose latest double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness has gone diamond in Canada, wants to clear the air about the last few months so "we can move forward and get on with our lives," D'Arcy says.

Another tragedy preceded the events in New York. A 17-year-old girl died at a Pumpkins show in Dublin after being crushed in an out-of-control mosh pit in front of the stage.

"So many of things have happened in this year, just horrible, horrible things. We almost feel like there's just a dark cloud over us," she says.

However, there has been a bright spot, says D'Arcy, who is married to a musician and lives on a farm in Michigan. It's learning not to take for things for granted.

"It could of all just ended and I think we really realize and we're all very grateful to still be here."

Some facts about Smashing Pumpkins:

"We haven't had the easiest year," is how Billy Corgan summed up the recent tragedies that have befallen the Smashing Pumpkins during the debut of the band's new lineup, Tuesday night in (of all places) Las Vegas.

And, according to the L.A. Times, the Pumpkins' return was an unqualified triumph.

"The music was mostly compact and focused, with (new drummer Matt) Walker and (keyboardist Dennis) Flemion fitting in quite well," the paper reports.

"They played with the intensity of musicians exorcising their own sadness and tension."

Backstage after the two-hour performance, Corgan told Times' critic Robert Hillburn the band members were "surprised at how unweird it felt out there. We worried it might feel creepy or weird or some kind of deflated state, but it doesn't feel like that at all."

Corgan added that, after the death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin and the firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin -- who has since checked himself into a rehab centre -- "we were totally open to the possibility that there may be no audience for us anymore ... We went from having to beg our families to come to the gig to make sure there was someone there to playing before thousands of people around the world ... In your weird kind of fear, you start thinking that if you take one person out of that magic combo, it just might destroy the whole thing."

Here are the Smashing Pumpkins' Canadian tour dates, courtesy of their web site:

Tue Sept 10	Quebec City, QUE	Colisee de Quebec
Wed Sept 11	Montreal, QUE	Molson Centre
Fri Sept 13	Ottawa, ONT	Palladium
Sat Sept 14	Toronto, ONT	Maple Leaf Gardens
Tue Sept 24	Winnipeg, MAN	Winnipeg Arena
Wed Sept 25	Saskatoon, SASK	Saskatchewan Place
Fri Sept 27	Edmonton, ALB	Coliseum
Sat Sept 28	Calgary, ALB	Saddledome
Wed Jan 8	Vancouver, BC	GM Palace

Ex-Pumpkins drummer pleads innocent

NEW YORK (AP) -- Former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin pleaded innocent to charges he shot up heroin with the band's backup keyboardist, who died of an overdose.

Chamberlin, 32, took a break from a drug rehab program to plead innocent Tuesday to the misdemeanor possession charge. He was released on his own recognizance.

Chamberlin and keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin were shooting heroin in a Manhattan hotel room on July 12 when they both passed out, police said. When Chamberlin awoke, the 34-year-old Melvoin was dead.

The alternative rock band fired Chamberlin and has canceled some summer concerts.

The drummer's lawyer, Richard Schaeffer, said Chamberlin was "trying to get healthy."

Pumpkins cancel more shows

The Smashing Pumpkins have finally chosen a new drummer -- but it took them so long, they've had to postpone another week's worth of shows, including a date in Vancouver this coming Monday.

After several days of private auditions, the band has settled on Matt Walker, the drummer for Filter, the band that opened for the Pumpkins on the European leg of their current tour.

He replaces the fired Jimmy Chamberlin, who is now undergoing rehab for heroin addiction.

In a statement from Virgin Music Canada, released late Thursday afternoon, the Pumpkins also confirmed the addition of keyboardist Dennis Fleming from demented cult band The Frogs. He replaces Jonathan Melvoin, who died July 11 of a heroin overdose.

The North American tour now kicks off Aug. 27 in Las Vegas. A make-up date will be announced shortly for the Vancouver show. The group's other Canadian dates -- Setp. 10 in Quebec City, the 11th in Montreal, the 13th in Ottawa, and the 14th in Toronto -- will go ahead as planned.

The Pumpkins will also appear in New York on the MTV Video Music Awards, carried here by MuchMusic, on Sept. 4.

Heroin, alcohol caused death of Pumpkins keyboardist

NEW YORK (AP) -- Toxicology tests confirmed that a lethal combination of heroin and alcohol killed a backup musician for the Smashing Pumpkins, the medical examiner's office said Tuesday.

Police had said that keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, 34, died July 12 in a Manhattan hotel room after injecting a powerful brand of heroin with drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.

Chamberlin was arrested on a misdemeanor drug charge, and the band had to cancel two sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. The band ultimately fired the drummer, alleging he has a history of drug abuse.

The test results were released on the same day that the Smashing Pumpkins received eight nominations for MTV Music Video Awards, more than any other act. The band also is scheduled to perform at the award ceremony on Sept. 4 in New York City.

Chamberlin's next scheduled appearance is in court on Aug. 13.

Smashing Pumpkins lead list of nominees for MTV video awards

NEW YORK (AP) -- Smashing Pumpkins' animated time travel film and Foo Fighters' parody of a candy commercial will compete with Alanis Morissette and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for best music video of the year.

Nominations were announced Tuesday for the 13th annual MTV Video Music Awards, to be presented Sept. 4 in New York City.

Alternative rockers Smashing Pumpkins, just weeks after a backup keyboard player died of an apparent heroin overdose and the subsequent firing of their drummer for drug abuse, led with eight nominations.

Most were for the band's video for Tonight, Tonight, which was nominated with Morissette's Ironic, Foo Fighters' Big Me and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's Tha Crossroads for best video of the year.

Morissette's Ironic, which depicted the singer on a car ride, and the Foo Fighters' grinning parody of a mint commercial for their song, Big Me, took in five nominations apiece.

The video for Bjork's warped big band single, It's Oh So Quiet, also won five nominations. Rappers Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Coolio had four nominations apiece.

Even the pre-MTV Beatles took home a nomination. The nostalgic video for Free as a Bird was nominated for best special effects in a video.

No host has been announced for the show, which will be broadcast live on MTV from New York's Radio City Music Hall. Bush, Oasis, Metallica and the Smashing Pumpkins are among the scheduled performers.

Nominees for best male video: Bryan Adams, The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You; Beck, Where It's At; Coolio, 1,2,3,4 (Sumpin' New); R. Kelly featuring Ronald Isley, Down Low (Nobody Has to Know); and Seal, Don't Cry.

Nominees for best female video: Bjork, It's Oh So Quiet; Tracy Chapman, Give Me One Reason; Jewel, Who Will Save Your Soul and Alanis Morissette, Ironic.

Nominees for best group video: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Tha Crossroads; Foo Fighters, Big Me; Fugees, Killing Me Softly; and Hootie and the Blowfish, Only Wanna Be With You.

Smashing Pumpkins are coming to Canada

Though they're still officially searching for a drummer, the Smashing Pumpkins are ploughing ahead with the second leg of their tour, including two just-announced dates in Canada.

The band will play Ottawa's brand new Corel Centre, Sept. 13, and Toronto's not-so-brand-new Maple Leaf Gardens, Sept. 14.

Tickets for both shows go on sale this Thursday, Aug. 1 at 9:30 a.m. for the Ottawa show, 10 a.m. for Toronto. Seats are $29.50 and $35 plus service charge.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the band's Canadian record company said Monday that an announcement about the replacement for fired drummer Jimmy Chamberlin is expected any day now. The Pumpkins' first show since the death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin is set for Aug. 12 in Vancouver.

Pumpkins fire drummer Chamberlin

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Smashing Pumpkins have fired drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who is accused of using heroin with a fellow band member who died from an apparent overdose.
Chamberlin, 32, was arrested for misdemeanor heroin possession Friday following the death of keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. The drummer and Melvoin, 34, had injected a powerful brand of heroin together at a Park Avenue hotel, police said.
The other members of the popular alternative rock band -- frontman Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy -- announced the firing Wednesday.
"For nine years, we have battled with Jimmy's struggles with the insidious disease of drug and alcohol addiction," the band said in a statement. "It has destroyed everything we stand for."
Chamberlin is to appear in court on Aug. 13.

Cinci bans Smashing Pumpkins

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Cincinnati officials say they won't let Smashing Pumpkins perform in their city because they're afraid of smashing heads.

"We investigated the band and received information that there was a potential for injury there," said Joseph Charlton, acting city safety director.

The band often draws fans who mosh -- frenzied dancing during which participants slam their bodies against each other.

The group, whose albums include Gish and Siamese Dream, did not have a reputation for concert trouble until last month, when a 17-year-old girl died of injuries received in a front-row crush at a concert in Dublin.

The band's record label, Virgin, referred questions to publicist Gail Fine. She was out of her New York office Friday and unavailable for comment.

Canada a fertile patch for Pumpkins

TORONTO (CP) - It wasn't long ago Smashing Pumpkins were being called "the poster band for dysfunctional America," a doom-and-gloom group many picked to implode.

No one's making dire predictions anymore.

The Chicago-based rockers, who kick off a mini-tourin Toronto next week, have emerged as North America's hottest alternative band after releasing the mammoth double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Canada seems a logical starting point for the Pumpkins. It was the first place in the world where Mellon Collie was certified double platinum, selling 200,000 units in just two months.

That's no small feat considering the band faced the stiff challenge of trying to match the super-selling success of earlier discs, Gish (1990) and Siamese Dream (1993), which produced chart-toppers Disarm and Today. (Last year's Pisces Iscariot was a collection of B-sides and rarities).

Scoring with a 28-track, two-hour-long double CD is also an achievement.

There are four Pumpkins, singer-songwriter Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'Arcy (she goes by her first name only) and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.

After playing a series of smaller venues (next week's gigs in Toronto are at the Phoenix nightclub, which holds about 1,000 people) the band is expected to launch a full-blown North American tour by late spring.

As they gear up to hit the road, all seems relatively serene in Pumpkinland. But it wasn't always this way.

Since the band's inception in 1988, internal bickering, threats of breakup, Corgan's fragile mental state and criticism that they were somehow disingenuous ripped at the band's soul.

But while it seems most rock bands these days suffer their share of collective trauma, the Pumpkins got stuck with a downer tag and a reputation for whining largely because Corgan's own demons permeate the music.

Just look at the title of the latest release, an album filled with rich textures, intricate rhythms and ranges from orchestral dense to minimalist punk.

Still, Corgan says the songs on Mellon Collie are different from his earlier writing, which dealt with the residual pain of his childhood and the suicidal impulses that drove him into therapy.

"This album is more about cultural issues: "youth, hate," he said in an interview with US magazine.

Take the churlish refrain from the Pumpkins' current hit single Bullet with Butterfly Wings: "Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage."

Or "Living makes me sick, so sick I wish I'd die," from the song Jellybelly, a line that could have been penned by rock's ultimate misfit, Kurt Cobain.

Such melancholic musings may baffle some, but Corgan, who is 28, connects with today's youth, particularly with kids who roll their eyes when their parents talk wistfully about the Beatles and how wonderful it was to UNDERSTAND what they were singing about.

"Aging rock critics can scorn all they want at Corgan and his lyrics, but he didn't write this album for them," writes Ted McCoy, the 18-year-old music editor of Spank, the on-line electronic magazine out of Calgary.

"Corgan beats the odds by making an unwavering stab at the rage of youth (start counting how many times a certain line is scribbled on classroom desks.)"

Yet few "aging" critics have dissed Mellon Collie, many including it in their Top 10 lists. Some called it bold. Even daring and brave, despite its bulk.

Reviews that began with lines like "Imagine the audacity to release a two-hour-plus album in this day and age," invariably ended off proclaiming the Pumpkins had pulled it off.

FORMED: July 1988 in Chicago.

MEMBERS: Billy Corgan, James Iha, D'Arcy, Jimmy Chamberlin.

ALBUMS: Gish (1990); Siamese Dream (1993); Pisces Iscariot (1994); Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995).

INFLUENCES: Cheap Trick, The Raspberries, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix.

QUOTE: "For someone who has complained about his life as much as I have, you'd think that going to therapy would be seen as a positive attempt to improve one's life. Instead it's turned into some kind of caricature sign of what a f....up I am." Billy Corgan to Rolling Stone magazine.