On the occasion of the revitalization of his band’s website, the head Pumpkin (picture above from G4TV, more here) holds forth on an array of topics. You’ll likely want to read the whole thing, but here are some particular points of note:

Last evening we were able to play for the first time as a 9 piece version of the band, which is very exciting. The more we let go of how the band is supposed to appear numbers-wise and more of what it is supposed to sound like heart-wise, the closer we get to a present kind of truth. …

The night before we played the new Guitar Hero release party, which was great fun. I swore I kept hearing someone from the crowd yelling over and over, ‘where are the Smashing Pumpkins?’. I think I imagined it but either way it made me chuckle to myself.

So two very different shows over 2 days, and we were able to play 4 new songs: Owata, A Song for a Son, As Rome Burns, and a 2012 version of Simon and Garfunkels ‘The Sounds of Silence’. We’ve rehearsed now for 3 weeks for the 20th Anniversary tour, so I trust we have a few more suprises in store. That is, if you dare come to watch us piss on our own grave. …

If anyone comes to this tour expecting a hand-holding, teary-eyed tribute to a dead band, forget it. That is long gone. Outside of 9 shows in 1999, that band hasn’t existed whole since 1996.

Let me take this pause then to say a few things about our former bandmates…

We absolutely, without reservation, honor James and D’arcy. There is no qualification to that statement. We honor them IN FULL. They were there, then. And together we did some incredible things. But let me go one step further. When Jimmy and I decided to move forward and begin again with SP we very openly addressed the question of James and D’arcy returning. We spoke honestly with each other about our feelings and personal reservations, and decided together that the door was open to them to return. Because it was the right thing to do. Honestly though it wasn’t suprising to us that they didn’t want to return, because that was consistent with their general position to date (and continues to be I might add), which is they see the band as something that they got away from for their own reasons. There were no conditions ever put on a return. They simply didn’t even want the conversation with us.

I can now say definitively that they aren’t ever coming back. Period. There is no maybe. If the door was once open to at least have the conversation and consider the possibility, it is now closed. For good. We have moved on. We love them, and we wish them well.

The Smashing Pumpkins are now whoever is standing on that stage, on any given day, with a willingness to play those songs. Not just any songs, those songs. Because its not just what we play, its how we play them. The music MUST come first. And that’s just the way it is.

What follows is part two (part one here) of the Smashing Pumpkins’ radio interview with Mancow Muller last Monday. There is some irreverence in this section, so more than usual it is a good idea to listen to the audio for inflection, tone, et cetera.

Mancow Muller: Where are you at now spiritually, Billy?

Billy Corgan: I’m in a really good place, I’m really happy. I know that’s shocking.

MM: Can you write when you’re happy?

BC: Oh yeah! Oh, I write more.

MM: And fame does weird things, doesn’t it? It did weird things to…I know you guys didn’t change, but boy, everybody around you just turned to *bleep*, huh?

BC: Yeah, it’s been shocking. [laughs] It’s been shocking. You know, it changed me to the extent I had to figure out who I was and go back to who I used to be, for sure.

MM: The suicide talk you gave, about…do you want to talk about that? It got a lot of attention.

BC: Sure!

MM: It’s hard for people to relate to. You’re on the top of the world, you’re writing some of the great songs, timeless songs, and yet you were suicidal. How is that possible, Billy?

BC: Well, I think there’s… Like everybody, I’m a human being. I didn’t face certain things. I think fame gave me a free pass on dealing with my problems. Like anybody else, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, you’re thinking, “You know what, I got all this money, I got all these cars, I got a hot woman, and I’m ready to throw myself off a roof because it just doesn’t matter.” And you know, of course, one of the great artists of our generation, Kurt, you know, took himself out. And I think, there’s this weird thing in America where fame is the new immortality. And look how many of those people are completely miserable. Like the kid who was in the Indiana Jones movie, he [Shia LaBeouf] flipped his car.

MM: Yeah, he’s miserable.

BC: How old is he, 22 years old? You just want to grab the kid and say, “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.” But, I’m sure he’s surrounded with a bunch of people who are making excuses for him already. I just know how that works. Trust me, Mancow: when we were flying, they couldn’t take us out to enough dinners, they couldn’t pat us on the back, they couldn’t tell us how great we were — and the minute it stopped selling like it did, they were gone. And that’s a weird feeling too, because you start thinking, like, “Well, is everybody a liar in my world?” Including bandmates. I’ll give you a perfect example: Our old bandmates, James and D’arcy, constantly complained to the press that I was this crazy dictator and I wouldn’t let them record their music. And they’ve been out of the band for seven, eight years and they haven’t released one song. So am I still suppressing them from a distance? I mean…

Jimmy Chamberlin: [laughs]

MM: Well, you know, the little Asian girl was nice. She was always nice to me. And D’arcy was always asleep, so…

BC: [laughs]

MM: So I can’t really say anything, but I did see you guys in the studio numerous times, and I really wasn’t sure what they did. In fact, early on, I thought they were maybe with the caterers.

BC: Well, they looked good.

MM: They did look good in the videos!

BC: No, I have to say, they did make serious contributions, and it’s not fair to try to go out and denigrate their contributions.

MM: Yeah, but do you enjoy when I do it?

BC: Uhh… [laughs] I can’t argue against you, you know? It’s hard, though, but put it this way: we were all together there for a while and it worked. And God knows why it worked, because behind the scenes it was really impossible. But it did work, and you find yourself thinking there was something to it. But they’ve turned into such thorns in our sides, you know…

MM: Well, they were in the paper yesterday complaining that you haven’t given them money for your ringtones.

BC: Yeah, but see, that’s nice to say in the press, but that’s not really what’s happened. If you notice, they’re not suing me, you know what I mean? And there’s a reason they’re not suing me, because I haven’t done anything wrong.

There was so much news yesterday that I didn’t want to muddy the waters with this week’s podcast, so here we are on a Wednesday with our 15th auditory offering.

I anticipate having a podcast next week, but once the tour starts we may miss a week or two as we follow the Pumpkins through small town America on the August tour.

If you make it to one of the shows or head to Davenport early and spot Billy on the streets, let me know if you’d like to answer a few questions via email or Skype.

Listen to the whole show (1:12:09)

(download)(iTunes)

This week’s topics:

Panelists
-Chris, Jason, Jill, and Andrew

News
-Samsung and AT&T present: this segment of the podcast, in which we discuss the recently-announced Summer Krush traveling corporate roadshow concert addition to the August tour. Plus, Jill joins the Cult of Mac and Jason picks up where we left off last week. (7:21)

-James and D’Arcy sue Virgin for royalties. Will Billy end up becoming involved? (12:56)

-The Beginning is the End is the Beginning has some staying power on the online charts, and a members of Pumpkins management gives some ill-advised comments to Rolling Stone magazine. Jill comes out swinging at his perceived ineptitude. (11:06)

Speculation
-The band heads to the Quad Cities next week to prepare for their Davenport, Iowa concert, and we address rumors of a secret show. Jason plans on growing a scruffy beard just in case. (12:19)

This Week in Pumpkins History
-Siamese Dream is released, making the Smashing Pumpkins a household name. Jason does his best to distract Andrew, but we all end up reminiscing about how we got introduced to the album. Plus, I reveal the unlikely Pumpkins song that started it all for me, and we discuss whether Siamese Dream is the best Smashing Pumpkins album. (22:08)

Song of the Week
-Rocket, July 28th, 1993

Thanks for all the feedback and comments last week.

Time Warner’s TMZ.com has the filing (quite readable 9-page .pdf), and they summarize the suit thusly:

James Yoshinobu Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky-Brown claims [sic] in 2005, five years after the band broke up, Virgin negotiated a deal solely with frontman Billy Corgan for electronic transmissions (ringtones, download computer files, etc), without ever getting the consent of Iha or Wretzky-Brown.

The filing argues that the 2005 negotiation violated the terms of a May 11, 1998 contract between Virgin Records and the Smashing Pumpkins.

In reaction to a blurb on smashingpumpkins.com reiterating the band’s plans to release early studio material and mount a Gish-centered tour, Stereogum employee “amrit” writes:

Of course this begs of Billy (again) the D’arcy and James question, but more importantly, whether he decides to bring ‘em out or not…

Wow. So this guy thinks James Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky are just like dolls in Billy Corgan’s closet, with Billy able to choose when and whether to “bring ‘em out” and turn their lives upside-down against their will. Because, you know, James and D’Arcy don’t have other projects and the rest of their lives or anything — they’re just sitting around waiting for Billy to grab them and hang tiny instruments on their movable appendages! See, that’s why their renewed presence would be so important to the band…

The Hole leader is looking for an “excellent” bassist who can “play brilliantly”. But by what standard?

GO LISTEN to ZEPPELIN 2 and 3 and Verve “Urban Hymms” and Blood On The Tracks and dare i say it Nevermind, and the Sp early early Gish nineties song “Rhinocerus” wich has the most pinpointed perfect dynamics EVER and if you can compete with THAT bunch get back to us asap!

I have a tip for you, Love — follow the bouncing ball: