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Please join SPFreaks in recognizing and supporting our friend, Sven, for successfully becoming a member of the Smashing Pumpkins Media Militia!
He has gone through a lot of hard work to get there and will represent SPFreaks as a devoted website that follows the band’s every move.
Sven will be routinely posting editorials about the band at http://www.smashingpumpkins.com. Let’s all take part in reading and commenting on the issues being discussed by each of the five chosen writers for the PMM as this year progresses.
We wish you the best Sven. Rawk on!!!!
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June 23, 2008 – SP.com article: From Sven
Hasselt, Belgium, august 1995. It’s a hot summer day. The Melvins have been on, as have Kyuss, Silverchair and Hole. As the sun sets it’s time to make my way to the front. My friends and I manage to get right in front of the stage, several rows from the barrier. Mere minutes later I find myself in a ferocious mosh pit. A thundering metal riff blasts from the PA. \"Welcome to nowhere fast…\". I hear chards of lyrics – \"God is empty, just like me\" – as I struggle to stay upright…
Cut to: Landgraaf, The Netherlands, June 1998, backstage, next to a tourbus. My then-girlfriend and I are talking to Kenny and Mike. \"There comes Elvis,\" so says Kenny and Billy walks up to us. He signs my ‘Adore’ album (\"That doesn’t come out until tomorrow here, officially, does it?\"). It won’t be the last time we meet. Or for Billy to have a reaction of surprise.
Next scene: Kink FM Radio Studios, Hilversum, The Netherlands, 2000. Two fellow fans help me present a six hour radio show on prime time Dutch national radio solely dedicated to The Smashing Pumpkins. We play well-known favorites and obscure or really early songs and premiere the just leaked Machina II on the air.
A sports arena in Hamburg, Germany, 2000. American fan Eric has told the band about our ‘Night of The Smashing Pumpkins’. And Billy wants to meet the \"Dutch radio guys\" after the show. When we show him the playlist more than once he points out songs he can’t believe we played on the air or he wants to know more about. The following tour stop in Rotterdam some of these recordings have been burned to cdr and are given back to Billy – amongst these an alternate version of the Singles soundtrack inclusion ‘Drown’.
On a freezing night in Chicago some months later, the \"Dutch radio guys\" find themselves outside of Metro after a smashing farewell show and a great after party; cradling their yellow Tower Records bags containing the Rose litho and CR-05 cd. Meanwhile – back at the hotel – a tape entitled ‘Gish/Moon’ is stored in the safe. The curtain has dropped, but the very first recorded song by The Smashing Pumpkins has just been added to my collection.
Eight years later The Smashing Pumpkins are back in action. In the meantime I’ve seen the rise and fall of Zwan unfold and followed the solo paths for Billy, Jimmy, Melissa and James. But nothing can beat the anticipation in the air of the small, stunningly beautiful art nouveau theater Le Grand Rex in Paris, France right before the lights go down and screams drown out the opening riffs of ‘United States’.
From 1994 to 2008 I’ve closely followed The Smashing Pumpkins and have attended numerous shows. Early on always with my dear friend Remco who cannot be left unmentioned as he turned me on to the band in the first place. And with Erik who was the first to produce lists of bootlegs and releases found online. And that’s where things went horribly wrong as that was the start of a massive collecting spree. At one of the first Record Fair attended I met Jeroen, a fellow collector, who’d go on to be one of the \"Dutch radio guys\", together with Vincent, the main man of the Dutch Smashing Pumpkins email newsletter group.
Years and years of collecting releases, trading live shows, taping myself and above all researching the early years with the help and co-operation of fellow fans across the world gems were unearthed and made their way into my collection.
Years and years of collecting later, another Dutch guy Arthur was working on http://www.spfreaks.com and asked me if could pitch in with information, advise and more. Sure could, sure would.
It’s this research and collecting knowledge I am going to share with you in my upcoming pieces for this website. Expect a lot on the early years, unreleased songs, demo’s, special live shows from way back when and interesting releases or memorabilia from all over the world. You might be in for a pleasant surprise. As was Billy as he seems to have lost the recording still safely stored here in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Currently playing: The Smashing Pumpkins – I Fall (‘Gish/Moon’)
Sven
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great write-up, Sven.
[/quote:coxritjp]
I very much agree. I love his style, his writing abilities, his titles (especially his titles are awesome!) and his astonishing knowledge. I also loves it that he puts a few SPfreaks.com links in his article again, and see… we hit the 100+ visitors again today. Even 130+ as we speak. But I’m being critical also. Sentences like these are too long and should be avoided!"Old childhood videos popping up, a lawsuit filed over horrendous video (yes, I’ve seen the full tape and in my personal collection resides a promotional 2 track video cassette of two The Marked video clips culled from said video) from way back when, a drummer claiming to have been in The Smashing Pumpkins proper and even a band no-one has ever truly seemed to have mentioned or heard of before appearing on stage as a deus ex machina as if it were the long lost missing link between Hexen and the gloom, doom, goth pop/rock stylings of The Marked (like The Marked is supposed to have morphed into The Smashing Pumpkins – that is: well at least two songs (if you don’t count ‘Hope’, released on the ‘Still Becoming Apart EP’ but already a Billy Corgan solo demo from somewhere around 1986/1987, as has been found out by a trustworthy and reliable collector’s source who has heard the cassette) were transferred into the repertoire of The Smashing Pumpkins)."
Sven, please!
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Constructive criticism’s always a good thing, sure. I’m guessing Sven would appreciate it, whereas on some sites people don’t wish to "keep things open."[/quote:1w21j3hi]
I have learned how to make "politically correct packages". Give 5 compliments first, then 1 punch. It works.
And besides, Sven knows me for quite a few years… He can handle this, no worries!
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thnx guys—
and well – the reference to SPfreaks is kinda logic isn’t it?
you get the full deal witht the images and all and if it helps to point people towards this smashing site, all the better still!well – i can take it Arthur – thnx for the props, thnx for the critique.
alas – that line was long – still: it’s also about having to put in a lot of caveats when writing for the band’s site…
will try to avoid those.
will do my best to keep coming up with great titles
next week – a little bit on The Marked…
already working on stuff on Siamese Dream > expect a lot of linking to SPfreaks in that article!
also working on a true collector’s piece – something like a top ten of collectables…
feel free to chip in with hints for that one!!!! -
will do my best to keep coming up with great titles
next week – a little bit on The Marked…
already working on stuff on Siamese Dream > expect a lot of linking to SPfreaks in that article!
also working on a true collector’s piece – something like a top ten of collectables…
feel free to chip in with hints for that one!!!![/quote:3kvbmdwj]
Man oh man, sounds awesome Sven! Keep ’em coming!For the top 10, can I bring in my MCIS early acetate CD set, that belonged to Billy Corgan originally? Truely 1 of a kind thingy! And what about that Metro 1991/12/31 poster? Only 3 known to exist…
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whaaaaat? are you sven arthur? huh?[/quote:1sh7wqxn]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQeeAcJ0aHk
Wanna know why and how bullet? Because:
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arthur, those vids don’t work, no i will never know.
[/quote:3txyrpro]
Hmm, weird. I’m not sure if this is a YouTube problem or a SPfreaks.com problem. I guess YouTube. Anyway, removed the [YouTube] tags and now they work again. You can try them if you like.Regards,
Sven & Arthur
Sven or Arthur
Sven in Arthur -
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its a YouTube thing. its been happening elsewhere too.[/quote:16s8e3cf]
I found out it has to do with this text: "Embedding disabled by request". When it’s there on YouTube, it means that it won’t show on other places like our forum. So we need to check that first before we put the video here between the [YouTube] tags. -
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Am i the only one who have problems reading stuff in the pumpkins page?
The letters are too small and then the contrast between the black and white… it kills my eyes.
Everytime i try to read something i have to give up in the midle, even with my glasses on…It’s a shame…
However, i try to read all your posts sven, and i like them a lot. keep up the good work.
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Sven attracted the attention of the Dutch media, when he got the PMM job. Warning: Dutch language.
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Quick translation.
Maybe the dream of every fan: get a job at your favourite band. It happened to Sven from Utrecht, he managed to get a job at Smashing Pumpkins. \"I’m getting a good salary. It helped that I met the band a number of times.\" Together with people from AU, US and CA he writes 1 time a week for the band. He doesn’t have the mobile number of Corgan, but \"we got a hotline\" via Billy’s PA.
\"The band has a fanbase full of hatred. Everything they do will be treated with negativity. We translate the ideas of the band to the fans, so hopefully they get less critics.\" Sven will write news- & background articles, focusing on the early history of the band. \"I’m allowed to write also about the less positive periods.\"
Sven knows the examples of how fansites of Kane and Prince get a troublesome relationship with the artists. He’s not afraid that it will happen now, though the singer of the band already has his doubts on an article he wrote about an unknown track of the band. \"If it will be blocked, and it happens more, then I won’t feel that free anymore, and I might ultimately stop writing then\".
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Yup. That’s what you get with independant writers. Sven is a really good friend of mine, and I’m sure he means it. He doesn’t mind to be corrected a little on details or on the style of an article, but when he knows a fact is true, and sees no reason to hide it from the fans, then he wants it published. I’m not blaming him, actually I support that with all my heart. For example, see my newest article on the homepage about the Eye (Demo) tape that doesn’t exist. Nobody dares to write it down for some reason, but we SPfreaks do. We are not afraid to be \"politically incorrect\", when we know the facts are more important as the rumours. In those matters, Sven and me are very much alike.
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Yup. That’s what you get with independant writers. Sven is a really good friend of mine, and I’m sure he means it. He doesn’t mind to be corrected a little on details or on the style of an article, but when he knows a fact is true, and sees no reason to hide it from the fans, then he wants it published. I’m not blaming him, actually I support that with all my heart. For example, see my newest article on the homepage about the Eye (Demo) tape that doesn’t exist. Nobody dares to write it down for some reason, but we SPfreaks do. We are not afraid to be "politically incorrect", when we know the facts are more important as the rumours. In those matters, Sven and me are very much alike.
[/quote:8lk7sbf3]a band that i love (a portuguese one) says something like
"i prefer to be politically incorrect then morally false" i don’t know if you get the message with this basic translation, but the point is that i don’t understand why they want to hide these kind of things…
censorchip times are gone, right? -
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wait a minute. was that article blocked? billy has his doubts? what does this mean? i already saw "i fall" was available for download on the pumpkins myspace page. what the hell?[/quote:3buv9of4]
Not anymore, must have been available for a short period then? Did you download it? If yes, can we have a copy here on the boards? Thanks! -
wait a minute. was that article blocked? billy has his doubts? what does this mean? i already saw "i fall" was available for download on the pumpkins myspace page. what the hell?[/quote:14autcro]
Not anymore, must have been available for a short period then? Did you download it? If yes, can we have a copy here on the boards? Thanks![/quote:14autcro]well, i listened to it, and recognized it’s rarity and all, and even considered downloading it, just for the sake of having it.
BUT
i thought it was a horrible track and couldn’t imagine myself listening to it ever again.
not the end of the world, i’m sure it’s available somewhere. rspaa may have gotten ahold of it.
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rspaa may have gotten ahold of it.[/quote:lj6legg9]
Yup, they do have it, but that one I already got of course. Was hoping that the MySpace version would be a bit better quality. Well, never mind. Thanks for your help anyway.[/quote:lj6legg9]A swish and live version that might be new to someone (I didn’t hear the Myspace player’s):
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bvywfl
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Sven… is back.
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Another one from Sven that attracts quite a few visitors to the Collection.
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good article… but i have a little correction for the tristessa (7 inch):
And The Smashing Pumpkins released their second single as part of the infamous Singles Club series.
[/quote:2fjc5dfz]
the tristessa single wasn’t part of the singles club. at the foldover sleeve there was a singles club order form attached, but the single wasn’t part of the singles club. see:
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–and the grey pressing is most probably not a mix between the pink and black wax. here is a quote from :
(…) Rumors circulated saying that the grey ones were the result of the plates not being cleaned between the pink and black pressings. Nope. There is no pink in those grey copies. They just simply pressed some grey ones. If this were from overlap, then you’d end up with far fewer than 200, and they would look purple, like the Rollins Band example above (see SP 72).
[/quote:2fjc5dfz]Mr.Benway
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