Billy Corgan talks tour, criticism, songwriting approach 7:42 pm // Monday, July 19, 2010
Posted by Jill in billy corgan, interview, tour, video.trackback
Tonight, Billy Corgan took a break from his antique shopping (totes jealous) to sit down with Kristin Burns for a live USTREAM audience and do a pre-show interview in Orlando. He took some interesting questions from the fans in the peanut gallery, so if you missed the broadcast, you should check out the recorded video here. Check out my notes below for some of the highlights:
The Pumpkins have already written 10 or 11 new songs, but have only played 5 or 6 of them in soundcheck. Corgan states that the rest are more appropriate for album-style tracks, not so much for the live setting. He’s looking at October as the next time they’ll be in the studio, and seems excited that all members will participate in the recording.
As far as what’s been worked up for the current tour: they tried out approximately 50 (!) vintage Pumpkins songs for this show, but aggressively curated down to the current setlists. More specifically, he stated that they worked up an alt-rock-y version of Raindrops + Sunshowers, but had doubts about the audience reception. Tristessa and GLOW were considered (and Tristessa was played), but ultimately didn’t make the current rotation.
Regarding audience feedback from soundcheck, Corgan talks at length about how he is rarely under the illusion that a song is better than it is. He has a very critical stance on his own songs, and oftentimes doesn’t disagree with the critics, but disagrees with their methods of evaluation (e.g. comparing new songs to old work, balance and diversity on a given record). He cites the critical reaction to Zeitgeist as an example, and elaborates.
Corgan also explains how every era has its own songs that were left off the album, or didn’t feel like they fit into the era in which they were created. He discusses “Drown” as an example of a Gish-era song that was more like Siamese Dream, but serendipitously saw release on the Singles soundtrack. This leads to a discussion of his approach to songwriting in general, as a journey, creating songs along the path that may not be ‘great’ songs, but may be side trips to explore new ideas. He explains the idea that “effort does not always equal excellence” via the example of “Starla” — it was essentially written on a napkin and recorded in a day, and he considers it a payoff of this ‘journey’ approach to the Smashing Pumpkins’ body of work.
For more of Corgan’s thoughts about songwriting and his legacy and reputation as an artist, you’ll have to watch the full interview here!
I hope the full-band recordings are good, I listened to Song for a Son this weekend, and it was hard to listen to, because, other thanMike, it was a one-man show.
Can’t wait to hear Owata and Tom Tom
lol he’s pretty short and impatient with kristen
@Jonk, sorta late to the game, but I’ve been getting the same feeling. Maybe it’s knowing that it’s just Billy and Mike primarily, and I also get this feeling with Zeitgeist but it feels like Billy is alone/lonely in this recording process and he has no one (which is not true). hopefully the fact that I know he will have the full band in will feel more natural.
Wonderful monologue at the end. Billy’s perspective, how he approaches making art (more so even than the style of what he writes) is why I admire him more than anyone else making music. I agree with his “snapshot album” vs. “definitive statement album” approach. That’s why my band and I put out “opuses” instead of albums. I’ve put out a 15-song opus and a 2-song opus, and they both tell a satisfying story, even if one is a “smaller” and “less notable” release.
Figures i miss the camera show that turns out to be good :-/ but i cant wait to check out the recap
Tom Tom hasn’t been recorded yet? I think that’s a load of crap.
Kerry tweeting about mixing it, and the “solstice bare” EP title certainly seem to indicate otherwise… but who knows.
i love when he’s talking about how he doesn’t have illusions of his songs being better than they are and then proceeds to talk about one song (i forget which), saying, “it’s an A- at best.” LMAO. as if it hasn’t long been obvious…the guy has a massive ego. but somehow, i love him all the more for it. unlike most people, i feel he DESERVES to have that ago. and i agree with him when he talks about putting his entire body of work up against anybody else over a similar time period.
This was really great, especially the last 20 minutes or so. It’s interesting to hear his take on how things turned out after the fact, especially something like American Gothic which didn’t get much attention when it was released and thus never made its way into many interviews like Teargarden has.
Kristin filtering the questions seemed to work better than Billy reading them himself (as he admitted, ha!), but she still wasn’t quite on the same wavelength as he was as far as what he wanted to talk about. It seems like he holds the fans to a higher standard in terms of questions, since he has no qualms about answering the same dumb questions from journalists but when the fans are asking he gets mad when people ask something he feels he’s covered before. I don’t blame him, I’m hoping that from seeing the types of questions that he spends a lot of time on that it will kind of guide people into asking more thought-provoking questions.
As much as I enjoyed listening to Billy’s comments (and I truly did enjoy them), I think I enjoyed Kristin’s on-camera time more. Such a pretty face!
It’s odd that they did a reworked version of Raindrops + Sunshowers because that song popped into my head the other day as something they’d probably never play again (I think maybe because of something someone mentioned on here about it being a poor followup track to The Everlasting Gaze?). Now I really want to hear it.
@11, when he said they didn’t think fans would respond or want to hear this…I’m talking to myself out loud saying, I would! I would! lol I love the heavy impact of a pumpkins show…but can be just as high energy and into the moment listening to the softer side of the music.
His response to the process of how he makes music is a pretty damn good way to describe it. I’m coming from the idea of the visual arts, which is more more background. You have to do a lot of studies and sketches to get to what you want, and those studies/sketches ultimately lead you to the piece you want to create. I guess in my head I’ve always seen the pumpkins as this. Maybe he says it’s not a great moment for a career to do the weird, awkward, funny and or stupid songs, but that is what makes the music great. I love those quirky random bits.
I’m getting so pumped to see them again this Saturday. Saw them twice earlier this month. It’s a really small venue, 650 people, so it should be freaking amazing!
What is it about Bleeding the Orchid that makes the cut? I saw them tonight in Orlando, and they were excellent. The only moment I thought they briefly lost their momentum was during that song’s performance. For me personally, a Gish-era Tristessa would have been welcome alternative.
Maybe because it fits with Eye in terms of style/feel…
Awesome interview! I find it weird that I rarely disagree on what Billy Corgan says. And I too like to live in the now and feel something for what it is at the time. Then in the future when you look back and people say shit about what was done. You can just just easily shrug it off because for whatever good or bad that happened that was the decision that was made and you live with it. But you don’t think about it much cos your tied up with thinking about the present! Time moves on so should we and never look back with regret. What will be will be! That’s the way it has always worked for Billy and I wish some people could understand that… especially non fans or casual fans. A lot of people just don’t get Billy and probably never will. Just imagine if Billy had an IQ say 20 less than it is…Firstly the music would be mediocre and secondly imagine average people being on the same level and actually understanding him. That would be freaky! But thank god he is very wise and that’s what makes him the fuckin’ man he is today. Yes he deserves his big ego. It’s his ego that makes ignorant people look stupid and the same ego that brings out the ROCK! Woooh!
Great video! I love hearing Billys insight to his creative process. The mans a true Legend
dick danger? really? i mean, damn.
oh yeah, the whole billy interview was nice too.
and yeah david, billy is the only one that can pull off wearing that massive ego. he does deserve it :)
Do you think he is the only songwriter who looks at songwriting as a ‘journey’? It’s not that novel of an idea.
man, it’s the little things like this, you know. it’s the whole “two steps forward” with it being easy to admire Billy. when you get him talking about music and his approach to it, he’s golden and fascinating. get him talking about most other things, the sass-level is tsk-tsk-inducing.
i thought that was totally great, that part at the end. i like the idea that a song can just be “cool,” you know? i’m a big proponent of the idea of “harmless without being pointless,” the way a song can just sound really, really nice, and not have to pretend to be really important.
also, who, like, reaaally wants to hear all those zeitgeist demos? (i do.)
Redmond: no, I know f.i Leonard Cohen has a similar view.
Redmond, I’m sure there are other musicians who feel and think this way, but I would venture to say if you took the majority of ‘music’ that is around right now, or has been around say the last 10 years, you won’t find many who can pump out the volume that billy’s song writing does, most of which we never get to hear until it leaks out somewhere. He has what feels like a never ending creative run, that can be daunting at times on the creative mind.
Ian, I would like to hear them too! lol I’d also like to see an album or more of random acoustic versions of things. hmm…….But I will take anything they feel should be given! I’m not a greedy fan. lol
Re: comparing new songs to old work, check out this gem from Netphoria today:
Shorter version: It took me 10 years to like Sacred and Profane; why aren’t the Teargarden songs like that one?!
Sacred and Profane is the best song on Machina. That’s why they named the tour after it! (And then hardly ever played it :P)
That is a precious post though. Anonadieu has something to look forward to in 10 years when Teargarden finally comes into focus for him! :)
i think that post was about discovering how something he thought of as essentially a throw away track 5 years ago now looks like a song of superior pedigree to him when compared to the output of teargarden more so than it being a “LOL NOW I LIKE MACHINA AND THINK IT’S GOOD WHY ISN’T THIS MACHINA ERA LOL HARDCORE FAN ALERT” message.
i guess what i’m trying to say here is \m/@!@!LoL nEt4iA rOoLz!@!@\m/
“the sass-level is tsk-tsk-inducing.”
lol.
for the love of god, someone please ask about the status of the archive project.
Is Kristen Myke’s mom? She’s kind-of ditsy.
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