Blog: Buzz Bands

Billy Corgan has been holed up in L.A. in recent months, writing new Smashing Pumpkins material, and at the Sky Saxon Tribute on Friday night at the Echoplex, he sprung one on the audience. Fronting a one-night-only band called Spirits in the Sky, which featured members of Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Electric Prunes (as well as new Smashing Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne), Corgan debuted a pop-leaning number titled "Freak." And it was good, very good, something that recalled the material on "Mellon Collie," only fresher. Radio programmers, start your engines. You can't quite get the full power [...]