fbpx

Siamese Dreaming: Tuesday Night Recording Club channels Smashing Pumpkins in “Who You Are”

Smashing Pumpkins landmark 1993 album Siamese Dream clocks in at more than 60 minutes, but two decades later, fans still seem to want more. To celebrate the record’s 20th anniversary, Vanyaland TV teamed up with Tuesday Night Recording Club to create an original song inspired by Siamese Dream, drawing from the production techniques of Butch Vig to Jimmy Chamberlain’s drumming to all the Bill Corgan-isms we could wrap our head around.

Check out the VTV documentary episode above by MediaBoss, then DL the new track that was birthed just last week, which we dubbed “Who You Are.” The song, written on the fly by vocalist Aaron Perrino (the Sheila Divine, Dear Leader), was first inspired mainly by the Pumpkins’ “Mayonaise,” but you can also hear elements of “Cherub Rock,” “Rocket,” and other Siamese Dream sounds in there as well. It legit sounds like a 1993-era Pumpkins b-side.

For one night last week, ringleader Brian Charles of Zippah Recording turned his Brighton lab into Triclops Sound Studios in Georgia, and Nathaniel Leavitt (Parlour Bells, OldJack) added incredible layers of authenticity to the guitar works of Corgan and James Iha. Drummer Steve Chaggaris, hugely influenced by Chamberlain, used the same model of drums as the his inspiration, and bassist Annie Hoffman (The Field Effect) did more than just play D’Arcy Wretzky. On top of it all, Perrino’s vocals are pretty Corgan-esque. The whole thing is pretty awesome, and the sound is as close to Siamese Dream as anything I’ve heard since.

The Vanyaland TV clip gets deep into the process — which, again, took just one night! — and TNRC also documented the night in a series of photographs at Zippah which also captured the beautiful chaos.

Huge thanks to everyone involved! This is really “Who You Are.”

And from Zippah’s studio:

Tuesday Night Recording Club – “Who You Are”- Inspiration: Smashing Pumpkins – “Siamese Dream” Album from Tuesday Night Recording Club on Vimeo.