LOS ANGELES (AP) - When Billy Corgan walked on to the stage at the Galaxy Theater in
Santa Ana, Calif., on Sunday (Nov. 18) night, the crowd became deafening. A huge grin covered Corgan's face, and stayed there for the rest of the night.
Billy Corgan, smiling. This is rare.
As he ripped into the first song, it was obvious that he was smiling because he knew he was doing something right. Sunday night marked the second time Corgan's new band, Zwan, had ever played for an audience, and he started the set with an explosive roar of a tune.
Though the former Smashing Pumpkins leader and his band (which features ex-Pumpkin drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, Chavez's old guitarist Matt Sweeney, and Papa M's Skullfisher on bass) didn't play any Pumpkins classics, they played some songs that could join Corgan's previous hits in the modern rock pantheon.
There were rumors circulating before the band's debut of a new, Cure-esque sound that Corgan was experimenting with, but those rumors became mere murmurs by the middle of the evening. There were no Adore electronics, and few Machina metal licks. Instead, there was a song with the refrain, "No matter what you do/I was only searching for you," that was elegant -- a classic Corgan ballad. Another tune highlighted Chamberlain's versatility and musical aptitude, shifting between "1979"'s dance beat and a heavy "Zero"-ish roar of a chorus.
And, then there were covers of the Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down" (soft, triumphant, beautiful) and a crowd sing-along of Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now" (gaudy, tuneless, unnecessary.)
Corgan sat down at the Hammond organ for two of the 16 songs the band played, lending those tunes a warmth not found in most of Corgan's other material. There were less jaw-dropping, dive-bombing guitar solos than in a typical Pumpkins set, but when Corgan did tear into his yellow Stratocaster it was with abandon, a purpose, a goal. His obvious musical chemistry with Chamberlain propelled most of the songs, even those that started by sounding like messy, jumbled art projects.
Not all of the songs Zwan played will be hits; some may never be heard after the band's brief, four-date California tour ends at the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood, Calif., on Wednesday (Nov. 21). But if Corgan's new band is, as his publicist claims, "a work in progress," then it's probably safe to expect a great final product.
