Bass Player Week: A tale of two Smashing Pumpkins

Ex-Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky, who left the band in 1999 and now lives in rural Michigan, spent some time in jail last week because some of her horses have been running around free and she skipped several court appearances to deal with the problem. Long-time readers may remember D'Arcy phoning into a Chicago radio station to free-associate about all sorts of random things about two years ago. If you'd like to see D'Arcy's (extremely-unflattering) mugshot, go here. You know, if I wasn't nervous about the laws on libel, I would speculate about certain aspects of D'Arcy's personal life, given these two incidents and that picture.

Meanwhile, the current (and fourth, if you're counting) Smashing Pumpkins bassist, Nicole Fiorentino, has revealed that she's one of the children on the cover of the band's 1993 album, Siamese Dream. Which means yes, she was in elementary school when the album came out. Fun fact: Fiorentino is experienced at being a replacement member of a once-beloved band; she was in a latter-day version of Veruca Salt before joining up with the Billy Corgan Experience.

This week in reunions... Cold! Unwritten Law!

* Cold are back for the first time since 2005. You might remember them as the Limp Bizkit associates whose label paid a fortune to let them open up for Weezer, whereupon they got regularly booed off the stage. Rivers Cuomo later wrote their biggest hit, "Stupid Girl." Anyway, they're touring beginning March 15, and here's the first single off their new album.


* Soundgarden are going to record a new album. In the meantime, a live album recorded in 1996 comes out next month. Here's an interview with Kim Thayil, where he mentions the band may be doing some more live dates, depending on Matt Cameron's Pearl Jam commitments.

* Unwritten Law are getting ready to release their first album since 2005, and they're doing some dates on this summer's Warped Tour.

* Blur are getting together to record every now and again, Graham Coxon says. But he also says to expect new material around 2017.

We're back!

Hello all. Back from hiatus, and invigorated to talk about the sounds of two decades ago. You know what got my creative juices flowing again? The big top-40 station here has done three "Big '90s weekends" in a row, full of Sugar Ray, Ace of Base, Digable Planets, Gin Blossoms, and more. And it made me realize that yes, I am the same age as those slightly unhip people grooving to "Big '80s weekends" were around the turn of the century. sigh.

If you've missed having regular posts on this site, I hope you've filled the '90s-shaped hole in your Internet life with the absolutely outstanding series Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation? on the AV club. I can't recommend it enough, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the final installment, on 1999 (will they mention Stroke 9 and Vertical Horizon? Fingers crossed!).

Hole covers Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails

Back from hibernation, with news that Hole (which, recall, is Courtney Love and some people you've never heard of) has been covering Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" and Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" at some of its European tour dates.
Here's "Jeremy"


And here's "Closer,"


And with that, I'm pretty sure the '90s just collapsed upon themselves.

Video of the Day - Sponge, "Molly"

RIP Mark Linkous

Mark Linkous, the driving force behind Sparklehorse, has died, reportedly by suicide. Sparklehorse didn't have a ton of mainstream success, but were well-regarded by critics. Here's their one modern-rock hit, "Someday I will Treat You Good," which hit #35 in 1996.



While catchy, that song isn't that representative of Linkous' entire output, which often seemed to split the difference between Mercury Rev and the Eels.

This week in break-ups: Live! Red Hot Chili Peppers! Fuel!

* Apparently John Frusciante quit the Red Hot Chili Peppers a year ago, and forgot to tell anybody. The Chilis reformed with some other guitarist for a tribute concert honoring Neil Young. Meanwhile, Flea turned up over the holidays playing the Simpsons theme on Fox and backing up Josh Groban for a performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the BCS Championship Game and is now part of Atoms for Peace, Thom Yorke's backing band, which is touring the US in April.

* That Live hiatus may be a lot longer than anybody realized. Guitarist Chad Taylor has taken to his blog and accused lead singer Ed Kowalczyk of stealing from the rest of the band. The non-Kowalczyk members of Live are in a new band called the Gracious Few, with Kevin Martin of Candlebox on lead vocals. Kowalczyk is doing a solo acoustic tour with Art Alexakis and the chick from Sixpence None the Richer.

* Fuel haven't been heard from since 2007 or so, and now ex-lead singer Brett Scallions and bassist Jeff Abercrombie have started a band called Refueled, which tours around and plays Fuel's songs off the first three (successful) albums. Meanwhile, Scallions' replacement, Tornyn Green, has joined a new band. Which would make one think that Fuel are no more.