Corgan: “I’ve already talked to Flood” about the ‘Machina’ reissue 12:42 pm // Thursday, April 26, 2012
Posted by susan in billy corgan, G.L.O.W., interview, machina, machina 2, news.trackback
David Swan of Australian live music site Faster Louder has released a new interview with Smashing Pumpkins head Billy Corgan. Corgan discusses topics including his in-progress memoir, recording music with his love interests, the legacy of Zeitgeist, and the themes of the Pumpkins’ upcoming album Oceania.
Swan queried Corgan about the status of the upcoming Machina reissues:
Machina II is a brilliant album, have you ever thought about releasing it properly, maybe when you re-issue the others?
Yes. Our sell-out move, for Machina, is we’re going to remix the whole record and put it in its official sequence the way I’d hoped for in the beginning. I wrote it as a rock opera double album type of thing, so we’re going to remix the whole thing. I’ve already talked to Flood, and he’s been indicating he wants to be involved with that part of the process, and then we’ll finally finish the album, the way it was meant to be.
On how to describe different eras of Pumpkins music:
Is the sound [of Oceania] a new direction for you or is it harking back to earlier stuff?
I can describe what people are saying, but I don’t really get into the sonic part because every time I say anything like that it turns into like a ‘oh, we made this kind of album’. How I describe my music never seems to be the way people hear it. I was listening today to a couple of old songs because we’re getting ready for the tour, just to see if I wanted to play them live, and a song I listened to was the song we did called G.L.O.W. And G.L.O.W. to me sounds like it could have easily been Mellon Collie, it sounds like it could’ve been on Machina, and yet because a lot of people didn’t like the Zeitgeist period it just sorta automatically got lumped into something that it wasn’t. And I was surprised, going back and listening to G.L.O.W. today, like ‘Wow, this actually kinda sounds like classic Smashing Pumpkins to me.’ But my opinion doesn’t seem to matter in those things because people seem to need to make periods about something other than what it actually is. So if I play heavy guitar music with certain people in the room it sounds like this, but if I make the same type of music with other people in the room, it sounds like this.
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time for a new publicity photo…
GLOW to me doesnt sound like classic pumpkins at all. Come on, Come on, Come on can you feel it? Just repitative with stupid lyrics in my opinion. I think lyrically there definitely as been some regression since reformation.
i 90% agree that GLOW could have been a strong MCIS era song… the remaining %10 is due to the weak lyrics (as pointed out by !)
with better lyrics i think that song is a real winner
ive said this before but i think it would have been super fucking awesome to have had a sweet 10″ with Superchrist on side1 and GLOW on side2
(and of course a 12″ w/ Gossamer on side1 and spiderweb etching on side2)
Get on get on get on the bomb
Get back get back where you belong
Get on get on get on the bomb
Get back get back where you belong
Get on get on get on the bomb
Get back get back where you belong
Get on
@ stinstrom3 – Where Boys Fear to Tread’s lyrics are head over heels better than GLOW end of story.
GLOW is sounds like MCIS, because it IS a MCIS song. It’s on Pastichio Medley.
^aka “Zoom”
I thought FOL was pretty good too
I enjoyed GLOW alright. I would have liked to have seen a collection of Zeitgeist era “B-Sides” really. GLOW, FOL, with studio versions of As Rome Burns and Gossamer, but ‘that ship has sailed’.
I am however extremely excited for the ‘Machina’ Double Album. I think together both halves would play off each other to make something much more fantastic than either of them standing alone.
Awesome news about Machina. Combine that with the final Metro show and I’m there all the way.
Please play G.L.O.W. live! I think it’s super cool and fun in the live setting.
As for all of you who have problems with G.L.O.W’s lyrics..
“Panda show”
“She knows, she knows, she knows….open your eyes to these mustard lies”
“Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage”
of course…”C’mon…..c’mon!” (C’mon, the Song)
“Through the eyes of a jackle I say kaboom!”
“get on get on get on the bomb”
“Hey, yeah”
Billy writes all sorts. Glorious Ladies Of Wrestling is a fun song. Take it for what it is.
Very excited about all of the coming re-issues and having Machina I and II in it’s intended, complete order will be great. Flood on board and vinyl to boot. Defiantly not “a sell-out move” I’ve always been jealous of the chosen few who received the Machina II issue.
Soltmen
nobody else finds billy’s pissy attitude the least bit conversation worthy?
No.
Soltmen
Ok, while everyone is talking about G.L.O.W, (which to me does not sound like a Mellon Collie era song) some pretty interesting tidbits of news in this interview. Machine ll redone with Flood wanting to help mix is a huge deal. Its something the fans have been wanting for years. I mean proper versions of Home, If there is a God, Lucky 13, and Slow Dawn is something to get very excited over.
Also, he sounded a little passive aggressive with the whole Oceania question. I would say in recent-past interviews he sounded more confident and continued saying that people would tell him the album sounded like classic Pumpkins with a new twist. His answer this time (maybe because the album is almost here?) seemed to be on the fence a little bit? Maybe I am looking to far into it but that’s what it seemed like to me.
Either way, good interview. Some good honest questions and honest answers. “That was a dumb question.” Hahaha, classic Billy.
@saturnineage
yeah… we all know…
@joe
um, no. what pissy attitude? dude asked a dumb question and got told so. fine by me. i like my rockstars to act like rockstars. not daytime talkshow hosts.
Now if he could just get Flood to produce some of the Pumpkins’ new stuff…
the book is gonna have fake names in it? that is soooo billy.
^^^ “..and when the other guitarist in my band, Oscar left our final show without saying a word, I knew it really created a rift that would never be repaired and that we would never share a stage again…”
“Our drummer Stacy, besides me the only original member of the band, and I parted ways. She and I disagreed on the direction of our band, The Crazy Daisies.”
didn’t think it was a dumb question imo, he could’ve easily defended himself but chose not to. didn’t mean i think he’s a sellout, am super psyched for the machina re-release, but someone’s gotta play devil’s advocate, no?
also i didn’t think he had a pissy attitude for most of the interview, it was more… preachy
“And then when all hope was lost, a Sorcerer by the name of Derek came and told me to fire our drummer, Stacy. I believed him because he could recall my dog as a child.
@Just_Erick: That’s sorta depressing because I can honestly see him saying something like that. Oh Billy….
I guess he’s just the type that likes to believe in crazy shit, including some of the most whacked out conspiracy theories I’ve ever heard. Good thing he’s got that whole musical genius thing going for him or else i’d just feel bad for him.
Totally agree with Billy. GLOW has that Mellon Collie vibe to it. It’s probably the best song he’s written since Ruby. He could have easily sandwiched it in between Zero and Here Is No Why. GLOW is way better than, really, about 20 of the songs on MCIS. It makes An Ode to No One sound like wimpy hippy music. It’s 10 times better than Bodies and Where Boys Fear to Tread. I mean, GLOW is just a glorious rocker. And the lyrics? Genius. He should have built an entire EP around this song, as he did with Zero, 1979, Thirty Three, etc. As for the “coulda been on Machina” quote… I’m not so sure. GLOW would’ve dwarfed Stand Inside Your Love and This Time, etc. I’m glad those songs got a chance to stand on their own merits instead of being overshadowed by incomparable rock power of GLOW. That would have been a travesty — people saying, “Yeah, Machina was such a great album. Wound! Such a great song” and others responding “Wound? Was that on there? I just remember GLOW.”
^someone finally gets it^
Good job with all the lulz, gais.
glow is meh to me. most of zeitgeist is better in my opinion. BRING THE LIGHT baby
@ Afrobutterfly
Hahaha, nice post. :D
@lala
Bring the Light was one of my favorites on Zeitgeist. The short little solo in that song is awesome.
I dont like the studio GLOW but I quite like the live version they played on record store day event couple years ago.
On that performance, intro was guitar driven which was really energetic, instead of studio’s bass only which is dull, That changed the song’s flow and overall impression completely. Why studio version couldnt be like that?
Lyrics is still meh tho.
Afrobutterfly
are you 14 or just retarded?
Afrobutterfly is just awesome.
in all honesty, G.L.O.W. could have been on that Zero EP and I get what billy is saying.
one time i saw a butterfly with an afro. true story.
the cover art for Oceania! – http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/smashing-pumpkins-reveal-oceania-cover-and-track-listing-20120427
i got beat to the hipster by a melvin???? thats kinda cool :)
…..oops, cept the link to rolling stone is broke
works for me…
hmmmm, i really love that photograph, but am not crazy about the overly basic photoshop blue/green method used. didnt we hear something about strawberry doing art, or was that concerning something else?
according to linda’s fb (a post on mar 27) she did the art
“18. me – 8:04 pm // Thursday, April 26, 2012
the book is gonna have fake names in it? that is soooo billy.” !!!!!! xoxo
i feel the energy of his music has a lot to do with the woman/girlfriend in his life…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqXhlwCDbLk
im sorry, that was rude. i love you.
Strawberry did not do the art. She worded a post confusingly and she meant that she had done some art on, I believe, a publicity photo of the band. She said she had not seen any Oceania artwork at the time.
I liked the Record Store Day live version of GLOW better also
Zoom:
E1 E1 B2 B2b A2 – E1 D2 – D2 A2 A2b G1 G1 G1b F1 :|| E1 E1 E2 E2b D2
0 0 7 6 5 – 0 10 – 10 5 4 3 3 2 1 :|| 0 0 12 11 10
GLOW:
E1 – B2 B2b A2 E1 G1 – D2 – A2 A2b G1 E1 B2b B2 :||
0 – 7 6 5 0 3 – 10 – 5 4 3 0 6 7
(“tabbed” in E & on 1 string for simplicity/comparison)
Similar, yes. Based on, maybe. But I can’t call them the same song when less than half the notes are a match, and the rhythms are completely different.