The Smashing Pumpkins have announced a livestream listening party for the 30th anniversary of their debut studio album, Gish.
Hosted by frontman Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the two-hour event will be broadcast from Corgan's Highland Park cafe, Madame Zuzu's Teashop, on May 29, and will feature a live vinyl listening party, fan Q&A and “a very special world exclusive preview of unreleased music”.
There will be in-person festivities, too: those who attend the event at Madame Zuzu's will be able to try some limited-edition Gish-themed food and drink, including a “psychedelic cake” from Chicago bakery Pie Pie My Darling, and a Smashing Pumpkins/Hop Butcher beer, named Soul Head after Corgan's Gish-era Marshall JCM800.
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In the past week, the band has also been hosting an online scavenger hunt, in which clues have been posted daily across their social media profiles. Those who have collected each clue and submitted answers are in with a chance of winning “the ultimate Gish Anniversary Merch Collection”. The winner is set to be announced today (May 28).
A portion of proceeds from the livestream event will be donated to PAWS, a Chicago-based no-kill animal shelter.
Gish received positive critical reception upon its release in 1991, and has since become regarded as a defining album of the '90s alt-rock scene. Prior to the release of The Offspring's Smash in 1994, Gish was the highest-selling independently released album of all time.
The Smashing Pumpkins are currently working on a 33-track “rock opera” sequel to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Machina/The Machines Of God. “We feel like in many ways this completes the circle on everything we started and weren’t able to finish at that time, so we’re very excited,” Corgan said last year.
Tickets for the livestream event are on sale now for $19.91. For more information, head to The Smashing Pumpkins' website.
