Fan Fare

(Writing and reporting by Dean Goodman)

Minor rock ‘n’ roll stardom could be less than two weeks away for one lucky drummer.    

The Smashing Pumpkins are holding auditions in Los Angeles on April 10, seeking a replacement for founding member Jimmy Chamberlin, who quit the resurrected grunge-era mainstays earlier this month.    

Potential Pumpkins have been asked to email their background information, photos and Web links showing their performances to pumpkinsdrummer@gmail.com.

Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan, 42, the group’s sole original member, plans to head into the studio this spring with his hired hands to record a follow-up to the band’s 2007 reunion album “Zeitgeist.”    

Whoever wins the audition has some big shoes to fill, as Chamberlin, 44, played a key role in shaping the sound of one of the biggest groups of the 1990s. The one album he did not play on, 1998′s “Adore,” was considered a commercial and critical disappointment. Chamberlin was banished from the group for two years because of drug problems, but was reinstated in time to appear on the 2000 pre-breakup album “Machina.”    

In a statement announcing his latest departure, Chamberlin said he could “no longer commit all of my energy into something that I don’t fully possess. I won’t pretend I’m into something I’m not. I won’t do it to myself, you the fan, or my former partner. I can’t just, ‘Cash the check’ so to speak.”