Is Act IV a band/musicians?
No Act IV is not a band or set of musicians itself. Exploring both the Act IV site and our Myspace page will help demonstrate this.
Think of it this way. The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, and Hooverphonic were a few of the several bands that appeared on the For The Masses Depeche Mode tribute compilation. We all know they are distinctly different bands from across the globe. The bands involved in all the Act IV projects are similarly distinct and from across the globe, and the 2 Ghost Children compilations would be akin to For the Masses, but for SP and for charity. If Act IV is NOT a band, then what is it?
Act IV is the name of a project started back in December 2000 after the original break up of the Pumpkins. The original aim of this project was to have a 'for the fans, by the fans' tribute charity concert at Metro in Chicago. To achieve this, the organizers invited fans to submit demos, and 7 bands/artists were ultimately selected for the concert on July 7th, 2001. The Chicago mayor's office declared it Pumpkins day in honor of SP's achievements (just like they did in 1998 for SP's hometown stop on their charity tour). A follow-up concert was also organized, which took place on July 5th, 2002 at Metro. So, are these bands/artists cover bands?
With very few exceptions, most of the bands/artists aren't cover bands. The aim of the Act IV organizers was to not only to pay tribute
to SP, but to promote new music. To this end, they encouraged artists to perform their own original songs, in addition to cover songs. This is why this Myspace page and the Act IV site don't just have SP covers on them
The Act IV concerts are on the same kind of wavelength as the First Waltz or Bridge School Benefit shows. Many different bands coming together for a good cause to play cover songs and/or original music. Has Act IV done anything other than concerts?
Yes, there have been a few CD projects in Act IV history. In 2001, a UK fan, Neil Main got Act IV's blessing to produce a tribute charity compilation called Ghost Children, which was sold originally at the first Act IV concert. In 2002, Act IV released a best of live CD, Still Coming Together, which included the best tracks from the original Act IV show in 2001.
More recently, Act IV self-released a DVD set of the Act IV 2002 show in 2005. And finally, they released Ghost Children 2/friends and enemies, another charity tribute compilation on November 17th, 2006. The last two releases are currently on sale at the Act IV site, while the first two are sold out but available for free download.
Also, way back in 2002, we released a compilation entitled, "There is More to Life". This was only available through mp3.com, and was short-lived. It included originals songs by a variety of artists, including artists who appeared at Act IV, on other CD projects, + some who simply had submitted demos to us previously. Every so often, we will be offering tracks from that CD as free downloads at our myspace. Ok, so can I buy Ghost Children 2 and the Act IV 2002 DVD on Ebay, iTunes, Amazon, or at my local CD shop?
Unfortunately you cannot buy either item at any of those places. For example, in order to sell the Ghost Children 2 CD at most of those places, we would have to pay additional royalties for each country we sold the CD in. Also, each country has different royalty guidelines, so it is much too complicated for a limited edition release made by a small group of SP fans. Meanwhile, each copy of the Act IV 2002 DVD set is made by special order, making releases through other shops impossible.
The only place you can get either item is at the Act IV site. We have set up Paypal buttons to purchase each item but if you don't have Paypal, you can also arrange with us to pay for either item with a money order/bank draft (usually you can get these at banks/post offices). Of course, all profits will be donated to charity Will their be another Act IV concert or CD project in the future?
During 2003 and 2004 attempts were made to put together a third and final show, but without a major headliner, the show was unable to go forward. The chances of any sort of Act IV concert are slim due to the official return of The Smashing Pumpkins. As for another Ghost Children CD, the chances of that happening anytime soon is unlikely. Are you accepting demos currently?
We are not currently accepting demos for any official releases or concerts, as we have outlined above that will not be happening any time soon. In late 2007/early 2008, we collaborated with ThePumpkins.net to do a Zeitgeist Cover Song Contest. Fans submitted
their covers of Zeitgeist songs and b-sides. Two winners were selected: one through a random drawing, and another through a 'best
cover song' portion of the contest as voted by fans. We will let people know if we intend to have any similar contests eventually.
Do you or have you ever toured?
Well since it is so difficult to put together one show, never mind a touring festival, we have never 'toured'. Also since Act IV is not a band, we can never tour ourselves technically.
If you want to know if a particular artist or band who have performed at an Act IV show or appeared on one of the CDs is having a show near you, that's a different story. Some of these bands are still around, so feel free to check out their myspaces or websites for tour info. If you need help with that, just ask :). Where can I find information about a musician(s) that has appeared at an Act IV show or on one of the CDs?
You can check out the Act IV site for bios, music and/or videos from artists who performed at the two Act IV concerts, as well as artists who made the shortlist for the canceled Act IV 2003 show, or read articles/listen to podcasts about artists on Ghost Children 2. Easy access to many of these features are on the bands page. Many artists involved in Act IV projects, especially the recently released Ghost Children 2 CD are on our Top 32 on 0our myspace page. Click on their profiles, and they usually have original music on there or on their websites. I really like that track on your myspace, who performed/recorded it?
When a particular track is playing on the music player, below the artwork on the left-hand side, you will see 'by [insert band name]'. For example,one week the cover of "Set the Ray To Jerry" up that week would say 'by The iOs', and indicates that it is from the Ghost Children 2 compilation. If you want to check out original music by The iOs, you can click their image on our Top 32. If you want to check out more of Ghost Children 2, you can check out the Act IV site.
You will also note that on occasion we will listed each band/artist currently on our Myspace under the inappropriately labeled heading 'band members'. Among other things, we also list where these bands/artists are from. Eg. The iOs would be listed as
being from Brooklyn, NY. Where can I find videos from the Act IV concerts?
For the first Act IV concert, there are a few short clips taken by a regular digital camera available on here (and a couple mirrored on our myspace). Long story short, the source tapes of the entire concert were evidently lost in the mail on their way to us a few years ago.
As for the 2nd concert, we have mentioned there is an Act IV 2002 DVD. But if you want to watch some of the videos, you can look at them on our Youtube, as well as here on our myspace (different videos of course). For many of the live performances from that show, we have also compiled them from those various sources into a playlist embedded on the Act IV myspace. These include originals and covers by all 7 bands that performed at the show. For example, we have Rob Paterson's (from NY) original "Let Go" (which includes a tease of "Ugly"), and Ketamine's (from South Africa) cover of "Disarm" from the show among many others. So hopefully seeing these videos will lay to rest any rumors or misconceptions that Act IV is some sort of 1000 piece supergroup that spans the globe lol
Has Act IV or any of the musicians involved in the projects made money off this?
No, none of the Act IV organizers, volunteers, or musicians involved in any of Act IV's projects have ever made money directly from any of these projects. Inspired by the Pumpkins 1998 charity tour, the organizers have and continued to donate all profits (if any) from their projects to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois. Currently, Act IV and its sister projects have raised a total of $12,770.11 for
Make-A-Wish. This does not include any profits that will donated from the sale of Ghost Children 2 or from the current SP Fan
Charity Drive that Act IV is encouraging people to get involved with. Are any of The Smashing Pumpkins, past or present, affiliated with Act IV?
No, none of the current or ex-members of The Smashing Pumpkins are directly affiliated with Act IV or helped organize it. The only connection the band has to the concert is Billy's attendance at Act IV 2001; he was also asked to choose the charity for the show by Metro owner, Joe Shanahan, in order to represent the band's interests. Billy Corgan chose Make-A-Wish Foundation, which he supported with the Pumpkins during the Chicago stop of the 1998 Adore Tour. The charity was on our shortlist of options due to the band's prior support of Make-A-Wish.
Are you guys from Chicago?
No, the main organizers of Act IV, Steven and David Pukin are not from Chicago. We originally organized the Act IV concerts long distance from Hamilton, ON, and traveled to Chicago for the shows. Steven is currently in Toronto, and David only recently moved temporarily to Chicago to pursue a Masters degree. Some of the volunteers and musicians that have helped with our projects have been from around the Chicago area though.
Where else can I find Act IV media or information?
You can find Act IV on Myspace as well as Youtube. Act IV was recently also featured in two articles on SmashingPumpkins.com.
These include 'The Ripple Effect Part 1 of 2' and 'Smashing Pumpkins Day'. We also helped create Wikipedia entries for Act IV, as
well as Ghost Children and Ghost Children 2.
Linking to Us:
Link to us and promote us on your site with any of our banners or put save the animate gif as your icon for AOL IM or MSN! Our
link is http://www.act4.net
