Smashing Pumpkins release new single "Black Stars" – Watch the video

Smashing Pumpkins are back with “Black Stars”, a new single written for “The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping (The Album)”, the soundtrack to the next chapter of the film saga, due in theaters on November 20th. The track also marks a return to the studio alongside Butch Vig: the producer of “Siamese Dream”, released in 1993, has reunited with Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin for their first studio collaboration since then. According to the official press release, the song took shape while Corgan was working on a solo record. The offer from the “Hunger Games” production turned the idea into a Smashing Pumpkins project, which also led to the decision to bring Vig on board. Recording took place at Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles, with further sessions in Chicago, the band's hometown.
The accompanying music video can be watched below.

In the meantime, however, Billy Corgan has returned to talking about the catalog of his side project Zwan, teasing a rich series of releases dedicated to his short-lived but celebrated supergroup. The Smashing Pumpkins frontman revealed that, alongside a reissue of “Mary Star Of The Sea”, as many as two albums of entirely unreleased material could also be on the way.
Zwan was formed in 2001 with an all-star lineup: alongside Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the band featured Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle), David Pajo (Slint) and Matt Sweeney (Chavez). The band released just one album, “Mary Star Of The Sea”, in 2003, before splitting up the following year. In 2006 Corgan returned for good to lead Smashing Pumpkins.

The idea of digging through the Zwan archives isn't new. Back in 2023, to mark the album's twentieth anniversary, Corgan had already announced he was working on a box set containing dozens of previously unreleased recordings. Now, in an interview with Stereogum, the musician explained that he has expanded the project.
“All the Zwan songs on the original ‘Mary Star Of The Sea’ album will be remixed and remastered, and there will probably be another two LPs of unreleased tracks. Since there's so much Zwan material, I'll put it out across several collections. Otherwise the box set would end up with something like 20 discs… and that's simply too much to ask of the fans.” The singer went on to stress just how prolific the band was during its brief existence: “There are over 60 unreleased Zwan tracks that have never come out. Not just alternate versions, but completely new songs. That band really wrote a ton of material.”

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