Siamese nightmare: how sour grapes scuppered the Pumpkins' reunion

When the late Mark E Smith declared: “If it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s the Fall,” he spoke for the vast majority of indie rock’s commanders-in-chief. Does it really matter who’s doling out disco basslines for the Killers or pressing the “sparkly cavern” button somewhere at the back of the Cure? In many cases, the frontman rules, so it’s frontman’s rules. When you are re-forming a classic act in the hope of rekindling your initial hype and magic, though, it matters a hell-ton. Would it be the Smiths without Mike Joyce? Oasis without Bonehead? Rock scientists call this the Kimless Pixies Conundrum.

Case in point: Billy Corgan has announced that he will be re-forming the Smashing Pumpkins this summer to tour arenas with an early-albums-only set – but without original bassist D’arcy Wretzky. Will this be the Smashing Pumpkins? Barely. D’arcy wasn’t just the archetypal example of the iconic female bassist that all the best proto-grunge bands had to have in 1989 (see also: Kims Deal and Gordon), but also represents every cult band’s enigmatic lurker; the mysterious fringe presence whom the singer might well see as a dispensable waste of catering, but fans consider the personification of the band’s allure.

Virtually mute in interviews during her tenure in the Pumpkins and a reclusive enigma holed up in rural Michigan for the 18 years since she left (discounting five years in Austin and six days in jail), Wretzky has become grunge’s most intriguing blank page: its Lord Lucan or Syd Barrett, a vacant depository for all of the Pumpkins’ vampiric mystique. We knew there was unspoken trauma and turbulence in the Pumpkins’ past, and D’arcy seemed its silent, absent reminder.

Our fascination was justified. Last month she gave Alternative Nation her first interview for 20 years, spewing forth about the stress-induced miscarriage, screaming rows with Corgan and 30 panic attacks a day she endured in the Pumpkins, not to mention the OD attempts, rehab and life-threatening illnesses she’s suffered since. Her reason for not joining the tour? Corgan, she alleges, was unable to agree an equal financial split or invite Wretzky to key reunion events, so she refused to “hang from the ceiling in a carrot suit”.

Source: theguardian