Corgan Confirms Teenager Is New Pumpkins Drummer

08/18/09 3:42pm

The rumours are true: Nineteen-year-old Mike Byrne is the Smashing Pumpkins' new drummer.

Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan made the announcement on the band's website on Monday.

In the same post, Byrne described his new job as a "dream come true, man" and said he'd been listening to the Pumpkins since he was 13 years old... which means his first exposure to the Pumpkins was 2000's Machina II/The Friends & Enemies Of Modern Music.

"It just connected with me and it was sort of a window into something really different and eclectic," he says. "The band was a little bit more willing to take risks than a lot of the stuff I had been listening to. That was exciting and fresh to me. And then delving into a lot of it just definitely resonated on a creative level with me."

Corgan says he received over 1,000 submissions from wannabe Pumpkins drummers after longtime tubthumper Jimmy Chamberlin left the band earlier this year, but Byrne's combination of "power, speed, and grace" made him stand out. Byrne's audition consisted of a 15-minute jam session and a 15-minute conversation about Fugazi, according to Rollingstone.com.

"I believe in my heart he will push me to be a better musician," Corgan says in the post.

Byrne will appear with Corgan at several California shows with Sky Saxon tribute band Spirits In The Sky at the end of this month and will also appear on the Pumpkins' follow-up to 2007's Zeitgeist.

Corgan said late last year the band would not record any more albums and would be a singles-only band from now on.

You can see the Corgan, Byrne and Spirits In The Sky here:

Aug. 26 Visalia, CA @ Tazzaria Coffee & Tea
Aug. 27 Santa Barbara, CA @ Muddy Waters Coffee House
Aug. 28 Long Beach, CA @ Open
Aug. 29 Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace
Aug. 30 San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe
Aug. 31 Los Angeles, CA @ The Hotel Cafe