Well, we can’t say we’re surprised. Billy Corgan has reportedly broken up his new alt.rock supergroup Zwan after releasing only one album.
Corgan appeared on Chicago’s WGN-Channel 9 news program this morning (September 15) to chat with the talking heads and announce that he’s closed the door on Zwan. He claimed that he just wasn’t feeling the Zwan passion in the same way he did with his old band The Smashing Pumpkins.
“My heart was in Smashing Pumpkins,” a surprisingly jovial looking Corgan said. “I really enjoyed my experience with Zwan, but at the end of the day, without that sense of deeper family loyalty, it just becomes like anything else.”
A link to video footage of the interview is available through the Djali Zwan website.
The split shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been following Zwan closely. In June of this year, Corgan called off the band’s European tour, citing undisclosed “family reasons.” In August bass player Paz Lenchantin abruptly left the band, choosing instead to focus on her work with Zwan guitarist David Pajo’s solo project Papa M (Pajo, strangely, did not feel compelled to quit Zwan in order to play with Papa M).
Zwan only managed to release one album – Mary, Star Of The Sea – which was released early this year.
Corgan will participate in a multimedia poetry performance Wednesday in his Chicago hometown, opening the Poetry Center of Chicago’s 31st Annual Reading Series at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Rubloff Auditorium. The performance, expected to incorporate elements of singing, reading and playing music, will also serve as a promotional preview of Corgan’s forthcoming poetry book.
