Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan: “In five minutes I could write you something that would sound like a song that would’ve been on ‘Siamese Dream'”
“I can dial in any era of the band or my writing at will"
by Elizabeth Aubrey · NMESmashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan has said that he can write songs that sound like any era of the band, explaining: “in five minutes I could write you something that would sound like a song that would’ve been on ‘Siamese Dream.'”
Speaking about his creative process to Premier Guitar, Corgan said he could create another song like from one of the band’s most acclaimed albums, ‘Siamese Dream’ if he wanted to.
Corgan told the outlet: “I think it’s more trying to find something that seems to signify whatever’s happening at the moment. It’s a truthfulness. You could say to me, ‘Hey, play me some ‘Siamese’-type thing that you would’ve done in ‘92,’ and in five minutes, I could write you something that would sound like a song that would’ve been a ‘Siamese’ song in ‘92.”
He continued: “I can dial in any era of the band or my writing at will, because they’re all based on methodologies and certain emotional templates. So, I’m trying to do that for today. What is the 2024 version of that that makes me feel something — anything at all?
“If I pick up a guitar, I’m looking to play something that surprises me. It’s whatever comes out. And sometimes you hit the wrong chord and go, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ Or you find a new inversion or something that you never thought of before. You try to play a different scale run than you’ve played 10,000 times, always landing on the same note. It’s just looking for something just a little bit new.”
He concluded: “I find oftentimes, in that quiet solitude of just you and the guitar, this communication can happen that sort of expresses something about yourself that is surprising – an emotional feeling or a way of approach.”
Corgan is set to embark on a solo Australian tour next month. Backed by The Delta Riggs, Corgan will visit the continent in winter, kicking off in Adelaide on December 1. Check out a full list of dates below and visit here to purchase tickets.
Billy Corgan’s Australia 2024 tour dates are:
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DECEMBER
01 – Adelaide – Hindley St Music Hall
03 – Melbourne – Palais Theatre
04 – Sydney – Enmore Theatre
06 – Melbourne – Good Things Festival
07 – Sydney – Good Things Festival
08 – Brisbane – Good Things Festival
Corgan opened up about how “most people don’t even recognise my contributions as a guitar player” in a new interview with Guitar World. The frontman specifically referenced ‘greatest guitar player’ lists and how he is often overlooked during those rankings.
“I usually don’t even make those lists,” he told the outlet. “Or they’ll put me behind somebody who I could play circles around. I don’t mean to denigrate the people in front of me… but come on, you know?”
He continued: “I’m writing the song, lyrics, melodies, arrangements and playing most of the complicated guitar. And I’m capable of doing a solo on top of that. I think that’s hard for people to process… They don’t want to believe one person can do all those things.”
Corgan reflected on the past and how when people previously discovered how much he actually played on a Smashing Pumpkins track, he found that they had not reacted well, saying that if he had admitted to playing to the majority of the instrumentals on a song, he’d be viewed as “the evil guy who wasn’t letting my band play on the records”.
The musician shared: “I’ve played on stage with George Lynch and Uli Jon Roth, two of the greatest guitar players in history. I sat for hours across from Eddie Van Halen at 5150 with my jaw open, watching Eddie play, okay? My father was a great guitar player. I’ve got no problem acknowledging some of the greatest guitar players ever.”
He continued: “I would never even put myself in their company, [but] there’s a lot of people who pretend to play guitar. I certainly have no problem believing I’m better than a lot of them.”
The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest release was ‘Aghori Mhori Mei‘, their 13th studio album and the follow-up to 2023’s ‘ATUM’. It came out exclusively as a digital release, with a physical release to follow on November 22.