Pumpkins’ Corgan Starts Record Label

Germs, YaHoWha 13, Electric Prunes, Strawberry Alarm Clock and others among the first proposed signings.

By Fred Mills

The music industry wreckage of the past decade is still smoldering but that isn't stopping some budding entrepreneurs from starting up new record labels. Barely 5 minutes after we posted news of My Morning Jacket's Jim James launching an imprint we learned of Smashing Pumpkins majordomo Billy Corgan going into startup mode as well.

This may seem surprising, but Corgan has been on a tear the past several months in terms of his ability to get into the news - not the least of which was that deal about him and Jessica Simpson  canoodling (news here - potentially NSFW image, though), plus working on a new Pumpkins album and trying to convince folks not to get their flu shots.

At any rate, according to the LA Weekly (thanks for the tip, Pitchfork), Corgan and producer Kerry "Studio Dog" Brown will soon announce the name of their label and have plans to release records "rom the psychedelic garage rock of the 60's and the punk rock insanity of the 70's and 80's to the post-punk Pleiadian power-pop that is now." This will include, the report continues, The Germs, the Electric Prunes, YaHoWa 13, and the Strawberry Alarm Clock.

Brown elaborated in a posting on his blog, which we are reprinting below. Say what you will about Corgan, the young man has some excellent taste in rock ‘n' roll, and we'll be looking forward to hearing the label's output.

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From Kerry Brown:

Happy New Year.... A quick update on the Pumpkins recordings for Teargarden By Kaleidyscope: We have 5 songs mixed and another song is tracked and ready to be mixed. Song number 2 should be ready for download within the next 2 weeks. I will let you know when we have a solid date.

Billy and I are happy to announce the birth of our record label! The name of the label will be made public soon. (We need to make sure that we have the name rights before we can announce it.)

We are very excited to be collaborating with amazing artists that have made a huge impact on the underground music world... From the psychedelic garage rock of the 60's and the punk rock insanity of the 70's and 80's to the post-punk Pleiadian power-pop that is now.

This year we plan on releasing new songs from the following bands:

Fancy Space People- We are currently in the studio recording 3 songs... These songs are slated to be our first release, also keep an eye open for the upcoming Fancy Space People film.

The Germs - In the very near future we plan on recording two songs that Darby Crash wrote with Pat Smear. "Out of Time" and "Beyond Hurt - Beyond Help" Darby committed suicide and the songs were never recorded. The original line up will be recording these "new" songs: Pat Smear (guitar), Lorna Doom (bass), Don Bolles (drums) and Shane West will be singing.

The Electric Prunes- Get the Visine ready for your third eye! Two new songs are in works with an E.P. to follow.

The Strawberry Alarm Clock- We are in the writing/demo stage right now and hope to be in the studio soon.

YaHoWha 13- Music channeled from the Divine...Looking forward to getting the family back in the studio.

Starchildren- Get ready for something new?

I will be getting back to you soon with more updates on all the sonic goodness. Hope the new year is treating you well.
KB