ALL SHINY AND NEW
Smashing Pumpkins’ co-founder Corgan makes peace with the past on reunion album
Billy Corgan thought he was done with the Smashing Pumpkins. Sure he’d continued on as the mainstay as the ’90s Chicagorooted grunge rockers went through a revolving lineup, but after 2014’s Monuments to an Elegy, the frontman says he’d grown weary using the Pumpkins moniker.
“I think I had worn the idea out in my own mind,” Corgan says.
The 51-year-old released 2017’s Ogilala under the name William Patrick Corgan, but he found himself reunited with guitarist James Iha, with whom he had co-founded the Pumpkins 30 years ago.
Iha, along with bassist D’arcy Wretzky, left the Pumpkins after 2000’s Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. The band dissolved shortly afterward before Corgan revived the Pumpkins in 2007.
“There was so much acrimony over the years, but when James and I were able to mend that bridge and get to a place where we could sit down and have a meal and talk, the idea of playing together again grew out of reconnecting as friends.”
Iha and Corgan, joined by original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and guitarist Jeff Schroeder, got together to record one song with legendary producer Rick Rubin, and before they knew it they had enough songs for a full-length album that reflects the band’s classic sound — Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1, newly released.
A followup LP will be released next year, and Corgan says this second coming of the Pumpkins is one that is built to last.
“We’re already making plans,” Corgan says with a laugh.
Q This is only a partial reunion. Why did D’arcy opt not to come back?
A We tried to include her, and it just didn’t work out. As far as I’m concerned, we gave her the option to be involved, and she chose not to be and that’s that. That part of the story is done.
Q What was it that made you not want to continue as Smashing Pumpkins the way you had been for the past decade or so?
A I always felt good about the music. But I think I grew weary over time of shouldering the burden of the band on my own. That led to me releasing music as a solo musician. But James and I mending our relationship opened to the door to something that I thought was closed.
Q Was it easy to recapture that magic between you and James?
A So much about the way I think about music was influenced by James and his thoughts and his ideas.
Being back in his good graces was easy, and it was fun.
Q Did you worry that there might not have been musical sparks between you all again after so many years apart?
A We never lacked confidence in what we do musically. This was as easy a situation as it gets. We had a great producer, Rick Rubin, and we had three of the original four progenitors of the band in the room.
You learn over time that the bean counters are wrong. The greats that I idolize refused to let anybody ... tell them how they should do their thing.
Q The Pumpkins achieved tremendous success in the early ’90s with Gish and then Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Did you have people in the music business trying to change you as you gained fame?
A There’s no shortage of advice in the music business. You learn over time that the bean counters are wrong. The greats that I idolize refused to let anybody from their friends to their bandmates to their wife tell them how they should do their thing. That’s the one thing I’ve learned. We’re here because we still truly represent something that’s pretty rare, and that’s why I don’t have a problem if people don’t like what we do because to me that’s like saying, “I don’t like that restaurant.” That’s cool. Just go to another restaurant.
Q Is this the best incarnation of the Pumpkins we’re seeing live?
A I think what this version represents is every period of the band’s music with great articulation and grace. We’re able to play everything from the smouldering ballads to the ferocious rockers. I think that’s pretty cool, and I don’t think the old band could do that.
Q You formed the band 30 years ago with James. How did your rock star dreams live up to the reality of where you ended up?
A When we started out, our aspirations were to be working musicians that put out albums. Then we got swept up in this MTV phenomenon where we were selling records and getting recognized in airports. That maybe took us on a journey that we weren’t necessarily prepared for.
Looking back over 30 years, I’m proud we were able to produce so much music in the time we were together in that first decade or so. And I’m proud that the music still matters, and we can still play and we still have something to say. I think if you could go back in a time machine and tell us, “Look, it’s not going to work out quite how you wanted, but at the end of the day there will be peace between three of you, and you’ll still get together and play music and celebrate your accomplishments and still make new music,” we’d be OK with that.