Billy Corgan Reveals Reason Behind Drummer’s Firing

It appears that there was a lot more to the firing of Mike Byrne from the Smashing Pumpkins, at least according to Billy Corgan.

Five months after drummer Byrne was fired from the band, Corgan has revealed, in a lengthy post that might be able to rival some of Morrissey, about the reasoning behind the removal.

In the post, Corgan claims that Byrne required too much “hand-holding” and decided it was in the best interest of the group to get rid of him and bring in seasoned drummer, Tommy Lee for the recording of the Smashing Pumpkins’ next studio album.

We should also point out that Byrne was only 19 years old when he joined SP in 2010. Kind of intimidating for anyone to join a band like the Smashing Pumpkins who have been around longer than you have.

Corgan describes Byrne as a “twitch” and claims his “ADD” stifled the band’s recording process for their second of two new albums. Corgan implies that the drummer found his ideas boring and that it had to do with his generations mindset.

We’re not going to lie Billy, were a little offended by that considering we do own most of your discography.

You can read the full, long-winded post here. Don’t be confused if you see the cover of a Flash comic book on the page because that’s where it all begins.

But apparently things weren’t that bad because Corgan managed to finish recording the first of the two new albums, Monuments to an Elgery which has a release date of Dec. 9. Check out second song to be released from that record, “One and All.”

Former VersaEmerge Bassist Posts About Former Record Label

We should have known that thing between VersaEmerge (now going by VERSA) and their former record label, Fueled By Ramen would eventually end up in a “they said, they said,” mudslinging event after they announced they were no longer with the label, and the label in return took them off their current roster and put them under “alumni.”

In a recent blog post, former bassist Devin Ingelido took to the web to finally reveal what reasons led to his departure from the band, as well as his time spent in the group under the umbrella of Fueled by Ramen.

He also claims that after being with the label, they were put on the backburner so that they could focus more on their other female fronted band and not have a competitor against them. There’s also a point int he post in which Ingelido said that there were times he was begging the label to just give him some kind of money to keep a float rather than continue sinking, like he was.

Read the very length post below and weigh in on the matter.

“Better late than never I would like to start this blog with, I am blessed for the good things that happened to me and the bad. I want to touch first on the fact of the delay for my post. The last thing I am trying to create with this blog is “drama”. Drama is usually caused by over zealous people, people that have no lives, or people that are literally just sick in the head. I’m very happy with the point I am in life. It’s crazy to think it’s been 3 years since performing last with VersaEmerge.

Yes, the emerge still existed at the duration of me being in the band. So as you can see its taken me a long time to compose this. This isn’t a bash fest. For anyone that has known me or met me longer than 5 minutes, you know that from the first second I’m just real, Im me and that’s it. I’m more a timid person at heart, but with things I am confident in I hold my own. So that’s all I am going to be here. I’ve seen some of the other posts from past members in past years and I can’t quite say they were wrong in certain things that were said but posting in frustration is never a way to clarify validity of a point. But everyone has their way of communicating and that’s fine.

I started with Versa towards the beginning of 2008. I joined right as the original bassist was leaving because he decided to pursue school. Right In the midst of joining the group we already had some labels contacting us like Rise, Victory. Your “dream label” per say when you’re an inspiring hard core band or what not back In the day seeing as they were leading that scene with their plethora of bands. Of course, regardless of the deals , it was never something we personally wanted as the band as we saw the longevity of those bands were very futile and not promising nor could they ever get us to the status we wanted to be in the music scene.

While negotiations were being processed and the band just released the cities built on sand album (which I was not on) keep in mind, the band started facing some tribulation. Our original (guy) singer failed to say he could not be in the band anymore because of “parent” hinderence , which was a load of shit but whatever, the band pursued on. As you also know, our guitarist left the band. This had our heads in a pretzel and dealt with some drama but didn’t take long to get back on our feet. After many auditions for a vocalist.

We finally came across Sierra. To be honest, the majority of the band did not see this as a great option. The audition was honestly not solid enough in opinion to solidify a yes for me but honestly, it was more unique and saw the true potential of her voice which was more convicting than the others and we needed to act soon before the idea of the band became irrelevant. So we grabbed up 16 year old Sierra into the band. In this time we also picked up a new guitarist and went to the studio to unveil the new track which at the time revealed a little screaming.

Now who remembers That shit haha.

I guess that’s especially funny to me because if you were able to play a track from our first album than a current track, it sounds nothing alike. I understand bands maturing through the years but the differentiation of the albums is caused for many reasons which we will get to. At this moment of the release of the song, we had a booking agent and finally acquired a manager from New York. He was really shopping the song along for us and was getting much good feedback. So much good that labels were coming in left and right.  This… is where the plagues started to form.

As crazy as it sounds, the band ultimately received from 15 to 20 label offers, between labels like hopeless, science and tooth and nail, to combinations of labels like Sony/virgin so and so forth. Oh how life changes. What a cock sucking game the industry is.

I find myself at these expensive ass restaurants I didn’t even know what half the menu was smozzing with all of these labels execs and what not talking about our music, songs, gear , hopes and aspirations. No matter how much I explain, it will never give you the full image of the world. As time goes on and we started narrowing down who we wanted to sign with. Roles were starting to shift. I tell you flat out that the band did not function as a band. The writing was solely done by Blake and Sierra on occasion other than vocals. It was never something I was okay with seeing as I always had a huge part in writing yet there is just a sense of ownership when writing your own parts. I understood that Blake is an amazing musician and can write and play many instruments and style but as a band, writing at some point should be shared. It’s understood that not everyone has pro recording gear at their houses nor have money for it but still. Who would’ve know that this was going to cause more problems in the future..

Finally, we met with the owner of Fueled by Ramen, had dinner with him and was convinced that label was the right fit. This is where there is much speculation. I can tell you that I feel signing with fueled by was such a mistake. A 360 deal doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing if the band is going to be pushed. The more money the label makes, the more the band makes. Except the label has a hand in every pot.

I feel the band was signed to not create competition for Paramore. We were thrown on the back burner. Many opportunities that were given to Hayley were not given to Sierra. The band never really even acknowledged our band. Tour ideas were all being thought of by the band. Was finding more success over in the UK, just seemed like no moves were being made. We had great success with the touring at first.

Went out with We the Kings, Boys like Girls, Cobra Starship, headlined in the UK. Did warped tour 2 years in a row. Was filmed for an MTV episode of the world of jenks. Yet the focus started to shift. As I stated before we weren’t a band. members started to leave. Anthony was kicked out of the band but I can still say to this day. His temper was big but much of his words were truth. He didn’t like the direction of the band. The band’s focus started to become of the two who remain.

Go figure.

We even gained another guitarist after losing one and then that guitarist left. Was there a specific reoccurring reasoning for the members leaving.. There was Like we spoke before, I’m mostly a timid person. I keep things to myself, give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you can even say I trust to easy. I’m easily content. As all of my friends were leaving the band I always had to re evaluate my choice in staying with the band.

My choice of leaving the band was for more than one reason. Towards right before leaving. I met the girl of my dreams. Which is something I never even thought would happen so early and I’m so thankful. And we made at the time one of 2 baby boys I’m also so grateful for. He needed a dad In his life. And being gone 3 months at a time was not being there. It would’ve been different if I was being paid enough to support my family. So that’s what I was asked a lot. Would you have pursued the band further if I was paid better. The answer is, ” Yes, I would’ve stomached touring with them a bit longer. ” But money and being a father wasn’t the only reasons. And let me state that the money was only there for the first ep that we released with FBR. 13000 dollars. Which when you’re 21 that’s that’s a great lump some of money. After that, I was begging for 1000 dollars a month to keep me a float.

We did get catering most days on the road. But other expenses always come into play. Even to this day I never got paid for royalties on being on any album. Our full length record def surpassed 30 to 50 thousand units. ITunes and so on. Even after leaving, I was sent a quitting agreement. That stated I could never say I was part of the band versaemerge. That I will never receive money from royalties, the merch that they sell with my face on it. This was the band that were supposed to be my best friends I traveled the world with. The band who “understood” that that I had to be with my family.

The two were always being flown out to write, asked to do interviews with just the two. And just having a female vocalist. You already know the show is about her. I was still receiving phone calls up until last year’s taxes saying the band made money last year, so owe in taxes. Made no My two “friends” couldn’t even make it to my wedding because one had a vocal lesson and the other had to go on a family trip.

I wanted to be in a band. I wanted to be edgy, new, original. That was not the agenda they had in mind. Yea, I could’ve continued to sit in the background, played my bass, and went back to the van and do it all over again. I could’ve continued to play bitch and drive the van home from New Hampshire back to south florida while the two got flown around to cali. I could’ve continued to gave my opinions and visions ignored. Instead, I wanted to be a father and a role model for my kids. To teach them the true beauties and poisons of the world. To take care of my wife who works so hard raising our kids and dealing with a man who is working is way up from ground zero again. Worked two jobs just to keep my family afloat after our apartment flooded in a freak accident not caused by us. A man who never asked from a dime from anyone unlike other pitiful people who couldn’t succeed in a band.

And yet I stand firm, with aspirations to manage a band to success knowing how the industry really works now. At the end of the day, I have love for everyone that has been mentioned in this blog. We learn to live and live to learn. It has all made me the person I am today. I’ll probably never know the true intentions of certain people or situations. I’ll never understand why I was taken so advantage of and manipulated. I will never be given the money I deserved. But I will be given the satisfaction of knowing I made the right choice to leave when I did. Because at the end of the day, one day. These bands will not be in style or what’s in for the future.

Music is becoming more and more fabricated. And the money will be given to someone else. But you will have to start at the bottom again and join real life. But I…. I came back to reality and paved a way for my family. Thank you for reading. I’m sorry for any type of grammatical mistakes made or slang. I wrote from my heart on a spontaneous whim. I did not go through all the logistics of events that happened through out the band. This was just a general overview and to finally get off my chest so I can continue on with my life. And if anyone asks the story I can point them here. Thank you and thanks for the ones who always kept in touch and stood by my side and just an open ear.”

Since Ingelido’s departure in 2011, the now pair put out NEON, a three-song EP in January of this year after bowing out of the 2012 Vans Warped Tour to focus on releasing a new album which never happened because of the drama.

Jack Antonoff NOT Leaving fun.

Fans of fun. have nothing to worry about because Jack Antonoff is not leaving the band. Ever since it was revealed that Antonoff had started another side band named Bleachers, speculations have begun online that the drummer/vocalist would be leaving the band to pursue Bleachers full-time.

After sensing the confusion among fans, Antonoff has taken to his blog to explain that he is not leaving the band even though he does explain that neither fun. nor Bleachers are a side project, because he frankly hates using the term. Antonoff’s full post can be read below and don’t forget, he’s been in this position before; remember his other group Steel Train?

“hi everyone!

it’s jack. i’ve been getting a lot of questions about Bleachers and felt like all of you deserves to hear about it directly from me. first off, i can’t thank you all enough for the amazing support. you’re my fucking favorite.

there is no world in which I’ve ever thought about leaving fun. my new project is not about one thing taking over another, its about adding something new to the equation. sometimes you go months without any good ideas, and then sometimes you are flooded with things you need to create. i’m sure a lot of you can relate to that in the work that you do. while on tour the past 2 years with fun. i started recording an album. i didn’t know what it was at the beginning. it was just happening. i’d go to the studio on off days, work all night in my hotel room, create time where there wasn’t any etc etc etc. i felt compelled to make bleachers exist during a time when it wasn’t necessarily ideal to do so. that’s something that’s special about the work you love – you don’t always get to chose when you need to do it.

neither bleachers or fun. are side projects. to be honest, i truly dislike the term ‘side project’ and I’ve been hearing it a lot lately. its a simple way of categorizing something that maybe isn’t simple or maybe shouldn’t be categorized at all. i’ve never been able to categorize or fully wrap my head around my love for fun., and now i feel the same way about bleachers as well. i don’t have kids, but it feels similar to the way people react when you ask them what its like to have a second kid. bleacher + fun. == my children. i’m so cheesy i hate myself!

i’ll put it this way – i plan on making the work i feel compelled to make for as long as I’m alive. i don’t think you would want it any other way even if it’s occasionally non traditional. but i do think you all deserve to know where my head is at for as long you as you all are being so supportive of me and my bands.

can’t wait for the months to come. gonna make a new fun. album, tour with bleachers and release the full album —- AND just new things all around. talk soon!

love,
jack”

Conor Oberst Files Libel Lawsuit in Rape Defamation Case

It has now been over a month since we have heard anything about the alleged rape case involving Bright Eyes’ frontman, Conor Oberst. The last piece of information that had been given, came through Oberst’s publicist who said the claims were false and that a libel suit would be on the horizon and today, it seems that Oberst had already spoken to a libel attorney and is now filing a lawsuit.

Last night, Oberst’s camp set the story straight after the lawsuit made headlines. The full post on the singer’s behalf can be read here.

“February 19, 2014

Today Conor Oberst filed a libel lawsuit in a New York federal court against Joanie Faircloth, a resident of North Carolina, who falsely accused him of rape in the comments section of the xoJane website in December of 2013 and again, some days later, on her Tumblr page. The suit counters Faircloth’s baseless allegations and states that Oberst never had any physical contact with her, either at the concert in Durham, NC at which she claims the attack took place, or at any other time. The only connection between Oberst and Faircloth was one of artist and fan – a fan who has posted laudatory comments about Oberst elsewhere online, including describing attending his band’s concert as the “Best memory ever!” 

The lawsuit filed today outlines Faircloth’s history of inventing stories and personalities online in order to gain attention. Although her false statements about Oberst have since been deleted from the locations where they were initially posted online, Oberst’s suit alleges that her malicious lies spread across the Internet and are archived by multiple blogs. Through his attorneys, Oberst requested that Faircloth recant her false accusations, but she ignored the requests. Oberst has thus been forced to proceed with this libel suit in order to set the record straight and to clear his name. 

Oberst is seeking to promote the truth and repair the distress this has brought upon him and his family. Oberst intends to donate the proceeds of this suit to charities benefiting the victims of violence against women.”

Coincidentally, Oberst’s new album, his first in six years, is set to be released on May 20. Curiouser, and curiouser indeed.

Hot Chelle Rae Bassist Leave Band

In what might be shocking news to fans of Hot Chelle Rae, it seems that the band’s bassist, Ian Keaggy has decided to leave the band. In a statement that he posted on his personal blog, he explains his decision to leave the band. In the length post that can be read here, he writes that he felt that is was his time to move on and since his last performance with the group in mid-September, he had been trying to figure out just how to move on solo.

Hot Chelle Rae took to their Facebook page to break the news to fans who did not see Keaggy’s post earlier in the morning on Twitter. In that statement they said:

Dear Hot Chelle Rae Fans,

Today is very bittersweet for Hot Chelle Rae. After spending the last six years working like crazy, and putting in more work than you can ever know, our friend and bass player Ian Keaggy has decided to leave the band in order to pursue some of his other passions. We’ve taken HCR from a barn, to traveling the world, to where we are today … and couldn’t have done it without him. Being in this band is more than a full-time job, and knowing how talented Ian is in MANY fields, we wish nothing but the best for him as he spends time on some of the things he’s sacrificed in order to be part of HCR. 

So today begins a new chapter for Hot Chelle Rae and we want to be clear in saying that we are in NO way slowing down. Quite the opposite. We are working day and night to finish our new album which we will launch with it’s first official single in early 2014 to be followed by the full album shortly thereafter.

In the meantime, we have an exclusive gift for our fans. Later today, we’ll be releasing a new video for a song from the upcoming album. The song is called “Recklessly” and the video features a collection of footage from our travels around the world including our tour last summer with Justin Bieber and our Japanese tour in August. We’ve received an incredible response from our fans for this song and felt like this video was the perfect way to look back, reflect and say thank you to all of you for always sticking by us as we move forward.

We hope you enjoy the video … and please join us in wishing our friend and bass player the best of luck. We love you Ian. 

Sincerely,
Ryan, Nash and Jamie 
Hot Chelle Rae

Hot Chelle Rae returned back to the studio to work on their third album, the follow-up to 2011’s Whatever which reached number 48 on Billboard’s 200 thanks in part to that summer’s anthem, “Tonight, Tonight.” They released their first new single, “Hung Up” back in January and revealed their new album was due in late Spring/early Summer. So far,t he album has not been released.

The Go Radio Break Up Chronicles Continue

Apparently the break up of Go Radio was a lot more deep than what fans had been led to believe.

When news broke this past Sunday that Florida-based band, Go Radio, had decided to break up, fans were more than heartbroken and couldn’t understand where it had come from. Members of the band took to Facebook to release a long statement which said that it had to do with frontman, Jason Lancaster’s desire to spend more time with his family; completely understandable.

Since the letter made its way online, Lancaster has taken to the web several times to speak about the break up. Yesterday, he was a guest on The Gunz Show where he discussed the break up (audio can be heard here). Today, Lancaster has taken to his blog to tell his side of the story and it’s starting to look like the break up was less than civil.

Some of the post can be read below, but read the full statement, check it out on Lancaster’s blog.

I’ll jump to the chase and tell you that I am deeply offended but the idea going around that my love Dee had anything to do with my departure from the band. She, in fact, was the only one to ask me to stay. We had so many talks where I would tell her how I was feeling, we would pray together, and I would leave again to let her fend for herself and smile while she did it. She was nothing but absolutely supportive of my career and never ONCE asked me to leave. 

There are people out there who are spreading vicious rumors about my life with her, and calling us both names. To those people, I ask you to stop before it gets out of hand. You will not face only me, but God with the words you say and spread. Rumors are harsh and counter productive and will only lead to pain and hurt for the both of us. Even if you don’t believe, you should respect the decision I’ve made and keep your worst words to yourselves. 

Things with Go Radio were not good for me. You may call me selfish or whatnot and that is your right, but you must respect my right to see what is best for my life,  and make my own decisions as to where that leads me. I’m not stranding anyone. I’m making music and I’m loving life. If you now, or have ever, loved or appreciated me in any way I ask you to respect that.

Patrick Stump Write Blog About Tenth Anniversary of ‘Take This to Your Grave’

In what may seem like yesterday to the kids that grew up in the early 2000’s, Fall Out Boy’s hit album, Take This to Your Grave, celebrated its tenth years anniversary. In honor of the anniversary, Fall Out Boy frontman, Patrick Stump released a blog where he reflects on the past ten years which includes inspirations for songs that made it on the album and just reflecting on their journey to become a band.

“Ten years ago today, my band released our debut album Take This To Your Grave. We were just four unsuspecting Midwestern nerds named after a moderately obscure Simpsons character, living life like the background characters in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We were totally unprepared for everything that followed.

Up to that point in the band’s history, we were merely something to do before we were forced to give in to the pressures of real life. We saw ourselves as a pretty cool excuse for a semester off of college. My accountant mother was also the ex-wife of a musician (my dad in point of fact). She knew empirically the odds weren’t in our favor and wisely advised me to consider planning on getting a real job. Instead of taking her advice, I went ahead and recorded an album.

Take This To Your Grave began as a demo…a supremely lucky long shot lightning strike of a demo. The band was a fractured and seemingly futureless mess at the time; No drummer, having also freshly lost our most recent of many revolving door rhythm guitarists. We had all entertained the thought that our collective candle for our little pop-punk odyssey was about to flicker out when the great Sean O’keefe offered to record us. We discussed a three song demo to be recorded at the legendary Smart Studios in Madison Wisconsin. We thought “What the hell? Why not?” We didn’t even have three new songs to record, but who doesn’t love a hearty bluff?

I remember writing “Homesick at Spacecamp,” on the plane home from visiting family only days before the session.

We’d asked our friend Andy Hurley to play drums on it. He said yes…granted he could make it to Madison in time after tracking an entire album earlier that day for another band in Chicago. I actually checked drums with Sean, under the assumption that I’d have to play them. We were literally about to start my first take of “Dead On Arrival,” when in walked Andy.

I guess in a lot of ways, in walked the actual beginning of Fall Out Boy as well; From that point onward, Joe, Andy, Pete, and I were a proper band. The three songs we recorded in what felt like two days (“Dead on Arrival,” “Homesick at Spacecamp,” and “Saturday,”) would go on to become three of our most enduring, and certainly the first time any of us heard ourselves in speakers and went “Huh! We definitely don’t suck!”

It laid the groundwork for many “Huh! We don’t suck!” Moments to follow on our four subsequent albums.

So here we are, ten years, two gold and two platinum albums, three MTV VMAs, a couple Kerrang awards, and a Grammy nomination later. Hell, we just had our second Billboard number one album a couple weeks ago! I guess I can say this now: Mom, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m getting a real job.

Thanks to everybody who’s supported us over the years. It continues to be a crazy ride.

Love, Patrick”