"Just finished round 1 of tracking drums with Tommy Lee for the new the Smashing Pumpkins album. Shockla-locka-boom. Yes, that T Lee for all 9 songs of 'Monument To An Elegy.'"

This means current Smashing Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne won't be featured on the record.

After powerhouse Jimmy Chamberlin left the Smashing Pumpkins in 2009, the band recruted Mike Byrne, who was only 19 at the time. Mike recorded the drums on 'Oceania', which was released in 2012. But for the upcoming release 'Monuments to an Elegy', Mike has been replaced by Tommy Lee in the studio.

The collaboration between the glam rock drummer and alternative rock band is not as odd as some might assume: Tommy Lee first met Billy Corgan back in 1991 when he came to one of the Smashing Pumpkins shows. They ran into each other on several other locations, and both have pushed into embracing new technologies where it pertains to making new sounds.

The notion to reach out to Tommy Lee came from Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff "The Shredder" Schroeder, who in hearing Billy say 'We really need to get someone like Tommy to play on this song' said, 'Well, why don’t we reach out to him?'. Continues Billy:

"So on flying out a few weeks ago I presented T Lee with the idea, played him all the songs that I'd worked hard to finish, and discussed the way we'd be most comfortable finding common ground in the studio. Which explains the rush to prepare the arrangements for him to drum on, and also our keeping the work under wraps; so that nothing and nobody could influence the process."

Smashing Pumpkins frontman and bandleader Billy Corgan says 'Monuments to an Elegy' and its companion, 'Day for Night', will be guitar-heavy and sound "epic in a way that is indescribable".