So the rumours that Billy Corgan was going to hire a 19 year old drummer to replace Jimmy Chamberlain in the Smashing Pumpkins turned out to be true, and the young Mike Byrne made his debut with the band at a tribute to The Seeds late frontman Sky Saxon, on Friday of last week.
According to reports, Corgan was a huge fan of The Seeds, as well as being a friend of Saxon's, and the pair wrote and recorded a duet together before Saxon's death late in June.
Together with his new drummer and members of another 60s psychedelic band, Electric Prunes, Corgan formed a one off band especially for the performance. The band presented a brand new Billy Corgan song, entitled 'Freak', and Corgan dedicated it to his late friend and said "This song has lyrics I never would've written before I met Sky".
There is no news yet as to when the Smashing Pumpkins will release new material with their new line up.
