The Smashing Pumpkins Unveil Album Cover For ‘Oceania’

 

UNVEIL ALBUM COVER FOR ‘OCEANIA’

Album Released 19 June 2012 (30 April 2012 - Toronto, ON) – The Smashing Pumpkins have unveiled the cover artwork for their new album OCEANIA, due June 19 via Martha’s Music/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music Company. The hauntingly beautiful image was photographed by Richard Shay, son of Chicago legend Art Shay. OCEANIA was recorded at singer/guitarist Billy Corgan’s private studio in Chicago with his bandmates: guitarist Jeff Schroeder, drummer Mike Byrne and bassist/vocalist Nicole Fiorentino. The powerful 13-song collection was produced by Corgan and Bjorn Thorsrud and mixed by David Bottrill. Marking The Smashing Pumpkin’s 7th studio record, it is “an album within an album,” part of their 44-song work-in-progress, Teargarden By Kaleidyscope. OCEANIA track listing: Quasar Panopticon The Celestials Violet Rays My Love is Winter One Diamond, One Heart Pinwheels Oceania Pale Horse The Chimera Glissandra Inkless Wildflower Q&A with Corgan about the making of OCEANIA attached here: Can you talk about how the recording of 'Oceania' may have differed in any way from previous Smashing Pumpkins albums? “We worked for a time in an empty movie theatre in Sedona during the winter months of early 2011, sketching out some primary versions of the songs while trying to dial in the emotional terrain we were seeking. In that kind of process it wasn't that unusual from past records where I'd worked with a band as a unit to help me define a set of templates to work towards. We'd just come off the road, and had a good sense of what was no longer working in our eyes from a dynamic point of view. We worked hard to create space in the music, but not lose any of the emotive power that I like to have behind my songs.” What you feel your band-mates have added to the album? “I've been adamant in stressing that as a group, first and foremost, we are here to make new music together. I'm proud to say that on Oceania I feel we've cut our own path forward. Jeff, Mike, and Nicole have all made significant contributions to the tone and texture of Oceania, which is an album that is unlike any I've ever made. Yet at the same time I believe it upholds the same musical values I've always pushed for with The Pumpkins, be they progressive, emotional, epic, or restless. Do you feel the recording of the album benefitted by the band having played some of these songs on the road first? If we've learned anything from playing as an intact unit now for over two years, it's that unless we create our own sound and our own legacy, it's a given that people will default to what they know; whether it's my past or someone else's. We know we have much more in us to share than being an alluring, virtual jukebox. Being in The Pumpkins will always be defined by what we can create from our hands and hearts right now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.” smashingpumpkins.com facebook.com/smashingpumpkins twitter.com/smashingpumpkin twitter.com/Billy youtube.com/user/PumpkinsMediaMilitia For further media correspondence contact: TYSON A. PARKER Vice President, National Media & Artist Relations Vice President, Corporate Communications UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA tyson.parker@umusic.com universalmusic.ca umusicbiz.ca

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