By Tom Lanham photos by Jonathan Weiner
To CYR , with Love
O
h , that irascible old Billy Corgan . Even in a foreboding , energy-sapping , pandemic Plague Year , you just can ’ t take him ANYWHERE .
It was a solid , thought-provoking opening question , intended to kick-start our recent interview with the man about CYR . The remarkably-assured new doublerecord set from Smashing Pumpkins , its 11th , featuring the mostly-original lineup of James Iha on guitar , drummer Jimmy Chamberlin , and longtime Corgan collaborator Jeff Schroeder on bass : What a brilliant stroke of advertising genius it was for Walgreen ’ s pharmacy to co-opt Dire Straits ’ ebullient “ Walk of Life ” for its recent comforting COVID-19 campaign since just hearing the first bouncy notes of said tune can brighten your darkest day . But Corgan — true to contrarian form — hastily blasts the concept out of the sky with skeet-shooting aplomb . Yes , he agrees ; music CAN change your mood in a heartbeat . “ But I NEVER liked that song — that ’ s the problem ,” he snaps . But you ’ ve got to hand it to him — ever since the band ’ s challenging Gish debut in 1981 , he ’ s always been honest and forthright about his opinions and never once shied away from expressing them .
If not Mark Knopfler , what has Corgan been listening to instead in these grim coronavirus times ? “ I ’ ve got this crazy collection of jazz and psych-folk , so I just sit down and listen to a bunch of stuff I ’ ve never heard before ,” he ’ s proud to relate . “ I got so burned out on all the stuff that I love , so I can ’ t listen to it as much as I used to . Now I just listen to a bunch of obscure stuff , just hoping to catch a wave on something .” Then he rhapsodizes at length about his latest unearthed gem , the first eponymous 1972 solo album from Moby Grape bassist and songwriter Bob Mosley ,
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a musician who proved adept at mastering many different styles . Perhaps it reminded the Prime Pumpkin of his own genrejumping approach since Gish , which includes Zwan , a more formal solo career as William Patrick Corgan , several band reunions with varying lineups , plus side pursuits as an author , wrestling promoter , and restaurateur , with his own hometown teahouse , Madame ZuZu ’ s , recently reopening after lockdown lifted .
Now , he ’ s pushing the parameters again with the ambitious CYR , and its slew of inspired anthems , like the handclap-buttressed “ Wrath ,” a propulsive “ The Colour of Love ,” the ethereal tumbler “ Birch Grove ,” and the sinister synth-rocking title track , all complemented by a dystopian animated series called In Ashes . Toss in the fact that the band ’ s last two-disc experiment , Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness , is celebrating its ( gasp !) 25th anniversary this year ( with a truly stunning line of promotional HUF merchandise available ). You ’ ve got a full-blown Corgan Renaissance kicking off — the last things his fans might have expected from him this year . But , at 53 , he is — just by despising the universally-loved “ Walk of Life ” alone — still good at unveiling against-the-grain surprises .
IE : I just watched The Elephant Man on Criterion , and it still holds up . And there are some works of art — like , say Mellon Collie — that really stand the test of time . BILLY CORGAN : Yeah . I find that the stuff that sticks with me personally — or " posthumously ” — captures the time in a holographic way . Like , I recently went through and watched all the Fellini films again , and he really captured that creative zeitgeist of the ‘ 60s , going into Satyricon in the ‘ 70s . And there ’ s a certain — and I ’ m using the Francis Bacon use of the word — there ’ s a certain violence in it . Francis Bacon , the painter , talked a lot about the violence underneath the paint . People would say to him , “ Why can ’ t you just paint a painting of somebody ?” And he would say , “ But I want to paint them the way they feel in real life .” So that ’ s why his paintings have this kind of dissociative violence to them because that ’ s what he perceived — the animalism lurking under the skin . So that ’ s what I get when I view a certain piece of art or hear some specific music — it doesn ’ t just take me into the time ; it takes me holographically into the time until I can literally smell the Coney Island dog . I pick up on the scent in the air and what they believed , even if what they believed was false . There was such a beautiful idealism in The Beatles at their nadir , and they ’ re moments in time , because — not only did they believe it — but you know what came afterward . So you have the full ability to not only experience what they were experiencing , but you also have this sanguine distance to be able to go , “ Now that didn ’ t really work out , did it ?”
IE : I ’ ve been watching A Hard Day ’ s Night a lot , and it just has this ephemeral quality , with these young , whip-smart kids just having fun with the fame that was coming their way . BC : That and ( Bob Dylan ' s ) Don ’ t Look Back really are windows into a particular moment in time that can never be recaptured . I mean , you can have a new version of that joy . But you can never get that one back . And that ’ s what ’ s so beautiful about it .
IE : What have you tried to capture with this record , in particular ?
BC : You know , my thing was pretty simple . I just want to go back to making exciting music , and I don ’ t give a fuck what I ’ ve got to do to get there . That was my thinking . And there are times to navigate your own personal … thing . Like when I did Oceania in 2011 , it was like , “ Okay — I ’ m gonna wrap my hands around this Pumpkin language of the guitar — I ’ m gonna let it happen , I ’ m not gonna fight it , and I ’ m gonna see if there ’ s anything left in it . Because everyone keeps telling me that there ’ s something there , so I ’ m gonna go down that road and see if they ’ re right and I ’ m wrong .” It ’ s a particular folly . Like , “ I ’ m getting back to the 1992 version of me , where I ’ m just gonna make exciting music , and I don ’ t care what anybody thinks .” And I can only line up in that space occasionally — it ’ s not something I can do with every album . But on this one , I felt it — every day .
IE : There ’ s just something about you , Iha , and Chamberlin — with Jeff Schroeder on bass — that has this combustible mix , firing on all six . BC : I don ’ t know what it is in our DNA , but we seem to inspire a certain confidence in one another that I don ’ t think we have otherwise .
IE : You talk about beliefs on the album , too , with even some Wiccan allusions , almost . What do you believe now ? BC : Aw , I ’ m just an old pagan . I ’ m a Christian in the sense that I believe in the saints , and I pray to Jesus , literally , when I lay my head down on my pillow each night . You ’ ve got to believe in somebody , and I do believe in Him , with a capital H . But I ’ m basically a pagan . And I ’ m different in that I don ’ t see the world as being
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