A new sun is rising in the universe of A Perfect Circle. Filling in for bassist Paz Lenchantin, who quit to join Zwan, will be former Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez.
In a post on the A Perfect Circle Web Site, the band explained
Lenchantin's departure: "After a festival show featuring APC and the Smashing Pumpkins, Paz, in a state of 'meat deprivation,' followed a 'bald man named Billy' onto the wrong bus and we haven't seen her since. Milk carton photos have, so far, been ineffective."
Twiggy (a.k.a. Jeordie White), who left Marilyn Manson in May (see "Marilyn Manson Splits With Bassist Twiggy Ramirez"), discovered that A Perfect Circle were in need of a bassist after bumping into drummer Josh Freese at a New Year's Eve party.
"We started talking about A Perfect Circle and their situation, so I contacted them a few weeks later and then we started playing together," Twiggy said Tuesday (February 11).
While he was jamming with A Perfect Circle, Twiggy auditioned for Metallica, but he said he never heard back from them and was asked to join A Perfect Circle full-time.
"I got hired because I have a van to help move their equipment around and I have long hair, which is a plus," he joked. "Actually, I've known [guitarist and songwriter] Billy [Howerdel] for about 10 years. I just think they're a really cool band. The music is dark and it's more of what I'm used to, and Maynard [James Keenan] is a great vocalist. They're all great musicians and they have a good respect for each other. It's something that's cool to be a part of."
Twiggy said the other bandmembers recorded a pile of material before he joined and they'll continue writing and recording through the year. Though it's too early to tell what the disc will sound like, he said he considers it an improvement over the band's acclaimed Mer de Noms (2000).
"As an outsider coming in," he said, "I can say a lot of material really sounds like a big step forward."
Before he returns to the studio with A Perfect Circle, Twiggy will finish a new Desert Sessions record with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, PJ Harvey, Ween's Gene Ween and Eleven's Alain Johannes (see "Queens Of The Stone Age 'Go With The Flow,' Work Side Projects"). They've been in a California desert studio for two days and have already finished six songs.
"So far the music is very all over the place," Twiggy said. "From country blues to heavy metal. Doing the desert sessions kind of makes you realize why you got into playing music in the first place. We came in with no material and we pretty much went into the studio and wrote everything."
This report is from MTV News.
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