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 Zwan
April 9th Pompano
Beach Amphitheater
By: Erin Keene
The
new millennium has triggered big changes in the world. First there
was 9/11, now the war against terrorists, and Smashing Pumpkins, everyone's
favorite band, broke up! But it's not all bad news. As a result of
the breakup a new harmony, Zwan, has formed. In the extended version
of their CD Mary Star of the Sea, Corgan describes Zwan as
"a collective of 5 individual artists creating harmonious music in
an unharmonious world."
Devoting
13 years of hard work and dedication to the music business, the Smashing
Pumpkins had accomplished every band's dream; they sold millions of
records! But too much of a good thing is never good. After a fatal
overdose of touring band member Jon Melvoin, a temporary firing of
drummer Jimmy Chamberline, and the mysterious absence of bassist D'Arcy
Wretzky, trying to make Smashing Pumpkins a harmonious unison again
was nearly impossible.
"I didn't know what to do," said Corgan
"I'd been in the Smashing Pumpkins basically from the end of my teenage
years or so… I thought I should really take a pause and really feel
what I wanted to do." (NJ Musine, 3/03). And that is exactly what
he did! In an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, former Pumkins
drummer Chamberline says, "We promised each other we'd take a year
off that lasted (Pumpkins Show) and about 3 1/2 months later we were
in Salt Lake City recording with Zwan."
 Determined
Corgan was excited to start over. With Chamberline and long time friend
guitarist Matt Sweeny (of bands Skunk & Chavez) Corgan began concentrating
on developing a healthy, friendly sound. All the members of Zwan seem
to be carefully selected, as they all are very talented musicians
with impressive resumes. New addition Paz Lenchantin, was the beautiful
bassist from Perfect Circle and David Pajo, Zwan's 3rd guitarist,
was formerly with Slint and toured with many bands, such as Stereolab.
The harmony of the new collaboration
was evident at their Pompano Beach Show on April 9th. Zwan seemed
at ease on stage as if they were just hanging with each other and
the crowd. At one point Lenchantin and Corgan faced each other as
if they were having a playoff. Rumors of an offstage romance were
whispered around the crowd, while Sweeney made faces behind their
back. Being so comfortable with each other, they made their perfection
of sound look easy to accomplish. But the hard work was definitely
there. Pajo was switched from guitar to keyboard, Chamberline still
proved that he is one of the best drummers in the world, and of course
Corgan's distinctive voice captured the crowd.
 After
an encore of Of a Broken Heart, the stage lights went dark
and everyone thought it was time to go home. Just then a solid blues
riff echoed across the amphitheater. The lights became bright again
and Corgan's father, Billy Senior, appeared on stage with a guitar
in hand and a smile on his face, wearing a Zwan t-shirt. As bald as
Billy, the two closed the night together. Even if you knew nothing
about Billy Corgan and his relationship to his father, it was obvious
that he has the utmost respect for him musically. He was definitely
a big influence on his son, and it is interesting that Billy used
his talent on a totally different kind of genre.
For
your down low info, next fall the members of Zwan plan to release
an acoustic DVD of different types of music adapted from old folk
and gospel songbooks. In this suit they will call themselves Djali
Zwan. In the meantime, pick up a copy of Mary Star of the Sea
or log on to Zwan.com to hear the sound of Zwan. Enjoy!
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