Billy Corgan has promised that there are “two LPs” of unreleased songs from his short-lived band Zwan on the way – as the band have 60 unheard tracks in the vault.
The frontman formed the supergroup in 2001 during a Smashing Pumpkins hiatus, and formed the band alongside Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin as well as A Perfect Circle’s Paz Lenchantin, Slint’s David Pajo and Chavez’s Matt Sweeney.
They only released one album, 2003’s ‘Mary Star Of The Sea’, and broke up shortly after. Corgan got back together with Smashing Pumpkins in 2006 and they have been routinely active since then.
In 2023 – around the 20th anniversary of ‘Mary Star Of The Sea’ – Corgan told Rolling Stone that there could be some Zwan announcements on the way, revealing that he was “working on a box set” and had “65 unreleased songs” to toy with.
At the time, he added that he was “not sure” when it would be released, but did say that he was considering releasing the music in segments – similar to how Smashing Pumpkins released the three-part rock opera, ‘ATUM’.
Now, in a new interview with Stereogum, Corgan has provided an update and said that he has decided to revisit all of the ‘Mary Star Of The Sea’ album, and also potentially drop “two more LPs” of the unreleased music.
“All the Zwan songs are gonna be remixed and remastered, that were on the original album ‘Mary Star of the Sea’, and there will be maybe two more LPs of unreleased tracks,” he said.
“Because there’s so much Zwan stuff, I’m gonna put it out in different sets. Otherwise the boxset would be, like, 20 records long… and it’s just too much to ask fans to take on,” he added. “60-plus unreleased Zwan songs that have never been released. Not just versions, like other songs. There was a lot of writing in that band.”
‘Mary Star Of The Sea’ was given a four-star review from NME when it was first released, which described it as “a euphoric and consistent hour of genetically-tweaked stadium rock that re-establishes Billy Corgan as a great, rather than ridiculous, frontman.”
As for Smashing Pumpkins, Corgan has revealed that the 90s alt icons are wanting to be asked to bring their ‘A Night Of Mellon Collie And Infinite Sadness’ live show to the Las Vegas Sphere, and are also set to co-headline a July 4 concert hosted by bipartisan initiative America250 in Los Angeles, alongside Chris Stapleton.
Last month, Corgan held a “requiem” show for his character ‘Zero’ – the persona he took on during the time of ‘Mellon Collie’’s release – and also confirmed he would be bringing his operatic reimagining of the hit 1995 record with a 60-piece orchestra to the UK later in 2026.
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