Category Archives: Billy Corgan
“May be the hardest thing I’ve ever done” – Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan is still working hard on his spiritual memoir titled God is Everywhere From Here to There. A fan asked him how the book was going, to which he replied, “writing this book may be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
As previously reported, Billy hired research assistant Lea Clyburn to help on the book. Apparently, he hired her back in September 2011 and she spoke to her university about it in a video interview in November.
Act IV & ThePumpkins.net “SP: The Early Years” cover contest adds new category and new judge
The submission date for the Act IV & ThePumpkins.net cover contest has come and gone. You can now listen to all the entries here and you, the fan, will soon be able to vote on a single favorite cover. A committee made up of representatives from across the SP Fan Online Community will vote for the ‘Best Cover Song’.
A new category has been added called “Best New Interpretation of a Song” and will be judged by none other than Billy Corgan himself. The winner will receive a special prize that will be announced later on.
The Smashing Pumpkins release Webisode #2 – Rhinoceros
The Smashing Pumpkins posted their 2nd webisode today on their official YouTube page. Last week, the band released a webisode about Daydream, and today the band released one about Rhinoceros – a song that Billy says he doesn’t really remember writing. He explains how a lot of the Pumpkins’ older songs started as just a riff and figuring out how to take that one riff and one vocal idea and turn it into a whole song. This description is then followed by an incredible performance of Rhinoceros. This is the first known live performance of the song since December 2nd 2000, and its 85th known full performance.
Billy Corgan pokes fun at eager fans waiting for Oceania
A fan eagerly awaiting the release of Oceania asked Billy on twitter “how many hours away from Oceania??” to which Billy replied “Oceania is here with you right now…just cup your hand over your ear and you can hear the call of the Ocean…eannaaaa…”
For anyone who doesn’t know, Billy is quite the comedian.
The Smashing Pumpkins release a Webisode about the song Daydream
The Smashing Pumpkins earlier this week posted that fans should keep an eye on the Pumpkins official YouTube page. Today the day after Valentine’s Day the Pumpkins posted a video that was part of a different video that was released in conjunction of the upcoming Gish & Siamese Dream re-issue. This new video titled Smashing Pumpkins Webisode #1 – Daydream is footage of Billy talking about the song and then followed by a full performance of the song.
In it almost 5 minute long video Billy says that the sound for Daydream was a “complete rip off of the My Bloody Valentine style”. He tells a great little story about how he picked up the My Bloody Valentine album Isn’t Anything and how he shared it with James.
We also noticed that this video was uploaded on December 1st 2011 and that Daydream was only 1 of a number of songs heard in the originally video that was posted on Nov 29th 2011. We can only hope that maybe more might be on the way soon!
Pisces Iscariot b-disc sequence completed
With The release of the re-issued Pisces Iscariot WAS expected to hit stores on Record Store day this year (see update). Billy Corgan informed fans via twitter that he had “Just finished sequencing Pisces Iscariot b-disc,” and said that it was ”Looking good” and he was “feeling good about it.”
UPDATE: We have just been informed that the re-issue date for Pisces Iscariot will not be record store day. A new release date has yet to be revealed.
Billy Corgan tweets Pisces Iscariot re-issue & Oceania details
Today, Billy Corgan told fans on twitter about some exciting news regarding the Pisces Iscariot re-issue saying “(Pisces) will have a recreation of band original demo tape (1988) + a NEW Glynis remix from master tapes and also on the DVD a full UN-EDITED performance (1988) on local cable access w/ false starts, dialogue (shot at Roselle Music!)”
On Oceania, Billy said ”I think we’ll have a release date to announce in the next few weeks. Signing record deal now…”
The DVD that Billy mentioned is from the Nov 19th, 1988 show at Roselle Music which part of it is known to be on “Psycho Tape”.
UPDATE: Crestfallen.com has heard from Billy Corgan that the “recreation of band original demo tape” will actually be a cassette that will come with the deluxe version and will be a replica of the band’s early demo tape like this one, with the original art.
Mike Byrne turns 22 & Billy Corgan goes to Indy
Welcome to today’s Crestfallen.com tidbit edition!
Today, Smashing Pumpkins’ drummer Mike Byrne turns 22. We wish him a very happy birthday!
Yesterday, Billy Corgan was out and about on the scene in Indianapolis where Super Bowl XLVI was held. He was spotted twice, and spent time with longtime friend Dave Navarro who was part of Billy’s Spirits in the Sky back in 2009.
Also, NBC played a clip of I Am One during the Super Bowl right before a commercial break!
Billy Corgan talks with Classic Rock Magazine
Billy Corgan talked with Classic Rock magazine about the Smashing Pumpkins’ past.
The article focused on the band’s internal environment from the rise of the Pumpkins to being “king of the castle” of grunge during the Mellon Collie era. On the difficulty of the band’s chemistry at times, Billy said that “It was not fun being in a band with two drug addicts and one major pain in the ass…That wasn’t me, by the way. I was the other pain in the ass.” Billy also mentions that Sharon Osbourne and him are “cool” now and “have made up and… hung out.”
When writer Dave Everley brought up Corgan’s past proclamation that “Rock is Dead”, Billy responded by saying “Ha! I just said it to be a pain in the ass. But I was being honest, I did see where it was ending. What surprises me is that 15 years later, it hasn’t really come back…”
When asked about the theme for Oceania, Billy said that “Isolation seems to be the theme. Oceania – there’s something about the idea of being an island, or being an astronaut. A sense of displacement.”
A big thanks to Ashley for sharing this interview with us.
Billy Corgan talks with Mojo Magazine
In the February issue of Mojo magazine, Billy Corgan talks about a number of topics. He mentions his father’s reaction to the release of Siamese Dream and how “he understood something was happening and became more supportive, but then he became bitter. He went on to say that his father is “very talented and [that] it was very hard for him. He almost treated it like it was a gimmick, like I’d gotten lucky. Now he is like my number one fan so we have had this whole journey with him.”
Billy talked about how Jimmy’s first days with the band saying “Right away I could tell it was almost like he was playing dumb. We had one heavyish song and he was playing it without breaking sweat when any other drummer would have been huffing and puffing, so it wasn’t too long before we sold our Jazz Chorus amps – which were the alternative amp of choice – and we got Marshall half-stacks. The louder we played, the louder he played. He was always one step ahead of us. There was nothing Jimmy couldn’t do. Jimmy is an incredible emotional interpreter of the song, He would bring these emotional swells, almost like an orchestral swish, to what we were doing.”
