Billy Corgan Revamps Smashing Pumpkins Lineup Again

Billy Corgan has been sending some mixed messages as of late, which, you know, isn’t totally out of the ordinary for the Smashing Pumpkins leader.

After describing the future of his alt-rock outfit as being “murky,” Corgan later clarified by saying that the band would die with him (“and maybe not even then”). Considering the Pumpkins are alive and well, it may come as less of a surprise that the frontman has revamped its lineup once again.

Ahead of an acoustic tour and a string of dates with Marilyn Manson, drummer Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine) and bassist Mark Stoermer (the Killers) have been replaced by Robin Diaz and Katie Cole. Wilk and Stoermer joined the Pumpkins last fall, shortly before the release of Monuments to an Elegy.

Diaz’s résumé includes work with Chris Cornell and Courtney Love. Cole is already slated to open for the Pumpkins during their upcoming In Plainsong tour, which kicks off on June 15 in Buffalo, N.Y., and concludes on June 25 in Minneapolis. The band’s tour with Manson then picks up on July 7 in Concord, Calif., and runs through Aug. 8 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Corgan recently put to rest reports that he’s uncertain about the longevity of his band.

“Never said that,” he said. “I have been asked about it maybe 40 times since, and I have said the same thing every time. Never said it. All I was saying was that if these albums that I am doing -- I’m now on the second of the two -- don’t go where I need them to go, then I would take the Smashing Pumpkins in a different direction, i.e., I would maybe make four-hour albums, or I would make one song at a time again.”

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