Corgan Looks Beyond Zwan

After putting two bands on ice in the past four years, Billy Corgan will go it alone for his next album. The former Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan frontman has begun work on what will be his debut solo recording, though in a Web post he joked, "some would argue that it's not my first, and I wouldn't argue with you there."

"I am excited to work on this music," Corgan continued, "because for the first time in my life it will be my tunes with no compromises to anyone or anything. It's gonna be loud and beautiful and poetic and dumb. Just the way I like it."

Corgan disbanded Smashing Pumpkins in late 2000, taking drummer Jimmy Chamberlin along with him in Zwan, which he formed a year later. The group released one album, Mary Star of the Sea, before Corgan announced their breakup last fall, complaining that "band members viewed it as something they could decide to do or not to do."

Zwan guitarist David Pajo had been working with his project Papa M for several years before joining Zwan, and didn't seem inclined to dissolve it. Zwan bassist/vocalist Paz Lenchantin joined Pajo's troupe, which has an active 2004 planned including a February tour with Super Furry Animals, the next in its numerical singles series ("Six") due in March, and Hole of Burning Alms, a collection of singles from 1995 to 2000 due in February.

In addition to Corgan's solo debut, he's a week away from turning in a book of poetry for future publication.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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