About Me
D'arcy Wretzky was born May 1, 1970 in Michigan. Not much is known about her childhood, other than she had at least two sisters, who is on the cover of the Today single, the other on the cover of Siamese Dream.
She dropped out of high school around 1987, and became intergrated in the music community of Chicago, Illinois. In '88, she saw a show by the Dan Reed Network, and after the show she was on the street arguing about if the band was fake or not. A native Chicago guitarist, Billy Corgan, inturupped her conversation with the charming words of "You're full of shit!" The two remember the conversation continuing like this:
D'arcy: "because....?"
Billy: "that band was put together by a record company, it's obvious. They jump around on stage too much. No normal band jumps around like that. It's.. it's like it's choregraphed."
D'arcy: "yeah well I play guitar and I jump around on stage a little bit.."
Billy: "WELL... I have a band called Smashing Pumpkins and we need a bassist.. so...*writes down number* call me if you want to join the band. *hands over number.* later."
D'arcy: "uh.. okay.."
D'arcy soonafter went to Germany for a month, and when she returned, she called Billy, expecting to be turned down for an audition because they already had a bassist. She was wrong, they still didn't have a bassist and she got an audition. it was horrible, but the guys liked her attitude (and probably the pretty girl that she is too :-P ) and kept her anyway. Billy and James trained her a bit more, and she became quite good.
The threesome played in bars and clubs in Chicago. Their well-writen songs caught the eye of Joe Shannhan, the owner of a large alternitive venue in Chicago, the Metro. They were very excited, because Billy remembered clearly going to the Metro around the age of 15 to see bands play, and was amazed by the place.
Of course, there was a catch. For the whole existence of the band, they had been playing with merely a drum machine. Joe told the Pumpkins that they needed a live drummer, and then they'd have their shows. One of billy's friends said that he knew this jazz drummer that was really good, his name was Jimmy Chamberlin, the Pumpkins should check him out. They invited him to a show, and Jimmy watched closely. he said they were horrible, but good. Jimmy was then brought into the band.
around 1990, James and D'arcy began to have an active relationship. They were a happy couple, but during the recording of the Pumpkins debut, Gish, they had problems, and then went thru a messy breakup. It's very surprising that both remained in the band, but the music was more important and the former lovers became friends again.
In 1996, Jimmy Chamberlin was forced out of the band for herion possesion. the Pumpkins keyboardist was killed in an overdose. the pumpkins were crushed with the loss of a friend and great musician. D'arcy said this about Jimmy in an interview soon thereafter:
"jimmy is a sweet man, a sweet sweet man. He's had problems thruout the band's lifespan, but he's a sweet man. I wish the best for him, but I didn't want this to happen."
In 1998, D'arcy and her fianse Kerry Brown got married. Billy and James also came. It was very happy. They were a great couple (sadly they divorced a bit over a year later)
In 1999, D'arcy unfortunetely started to experiment with crack cocaine. She left very soon after the recording of the last Pumpkins CD album, Machina/The Machines of God. She was replaced by Melissa Auf Der Maur, former bassist of Hole. Melissa played on the tour supporting Machina, and the Pumpkins offical last album, Machina II/The Friends and Enimies of Modern Music. both albums were finally released in early and mid-2000.
Later in 2000, D'arcy was riding with a man in a small red car. They were pulled over for speeding, and the cops found a large amount of crack in the trunk of the car. Both were arrested and D'arcy went to rehab.
On December 2, 2000, The Smashing Pumpkins performed their last show. D'arcy was not involved unfortunatly.
In February 2004, Billy Corgan claimed that Iha was in fact the one who broke up the Pumpkins, not himself, and that D'arcy was "a mean-spirited drug addict".
That probably didn't help much for Billy's plan that has been forming in his head for almost two years now, to bring back the Pumpkins. He announced June 21st, 2005, and on June 24th Jimmy Chamberlin reported he was in. Sometime in April 2006 it was announced an album was being written, and in july, that it was being recorded. The recording is still going on, but the we do not know quite yet who the backup guitarist will be and who the bassist will be. on the Smashing Pumpkins' MySpace, Jimmy C. has been posting blogs every few weeks, showing how the recording is going. The URL for that is still 'http://www.myspace.com/smashingpumpkins' and you can go check that out. Other than that, the reunion of the pumpkins is still a surprise.
If you're wondering where you can see D'arcy... then honestly, I'm not sure. the common rumor is that after rehab she went to live on her apple farm in Michigan with her horses for a "peaceful life, away from the craziness of being a rockstar".
*This biography is completely written by Innosense (aka Saucy or Tristessa) at myspace.com/billycorganrocks. She has gotten the info from sources everywhere, and she tried not to put opionions and only facts here.
