Listen live to WLS here.

2:09pm CT: Hosts and callers are making so-hilarious jokes about a proposal for a gays-only high school in Chicago. (The Pumpkins have yet to appear or be mentioned.)

2:30pm: The hosts are now bantering about an upcoming Chicago performance to be given by…Richard Marx. Somehow this leads into the first mention that the Smashing Pumpkins will be joining them a little later in the show. (Probably around 3:30pm CT.)

3:13pm: So far, fans of “Soul Train” host Don Cornelius have been given more to chew on than we have been.

3:27pm: TV newsman Ron Magers is exiting, with the rockers about to claim their seats in the studio. If you’ve been waiting to tune in, do so now!

3:40pm: An unspecified “mistake” has been made, and as a result the band members are in the “green room” and are “refusing” to enter? The hosts are making light of whatever the situation is…

3:43pm: Roe Conn says, “I’m going to go talk to the Smashing Pumpkins and see if I can convince them…” and then trails off and returns to filling time with a discussion of some unrelated t-shirt deal and, then, the stock market.

3:47pm: “We’ll come right back with your Pumpkins after this.” Cue commercials.

3:52pm: “The Smashing Pumpkins are hiding. They stormed out of the green room…and are refusing to go on before [other guest] Ben Vereen. There was an argument that broke out between the Pumpkins and Ben Vereen. I don’t know what to do about this.” Haha… (Conn is saying this all in good humor, so it’s hard to know what parts or how much of it to take seriously.)

4:01pm: “Billy Corgan in the building! Jimmy Chamberlin also…” but first the news.

4:08pm: They at last kick off the interview with the classic clip of Corgan talking to Homer Simpson, and then the sounds of “Tarantula”. The hosts joke with Jimmy about his playing air-drums to the song.

4:10pm: Billy says his first concert was Asia at the Auditorium Theatre, at age 14, in the “crazy top tier” of seats.

4:13pm: Billy recounts a recent stunt in Tampa, where the band pretended to end the show before an “unwelcome” Billy Sr. came on stage to plug in and blues-rock out.

4:17pm: The hosts lurch from grilling Jimmy about women to asking Billy about his appearance on “Bozo: 40 Years of Fun!”. That’s some local flavor. Billy recounts a story about seeing his favorite Bozo (Bob Bell) on his 11th birthday. Apparently, during the Grand March exit, his tender pre-pubescent ears heard curse words out of the famous clown’s mouth. Jimmy cackles.

4:22pm: Roe Conn pimps the new DVD, asking if it’s available on the website (uh, yes) and promoting the shows this week in Chicago. Presumably, it’s time for the Pumpkins to head to soundcheck for their show tonight.

4:24pm: The clip of Homer Simpson plays: “I’llll miss you Pumpkins.” Show’s over, folks.

4:29pm: …though the hosts did come back after the commercial still talking about the band, spinning “Tribute to Johnny” (!) as transition music and with Conn saying that those who miss James and D’Arcy should “get over it”. Now I will close the streaming-audio player. Blog’s over, folks!

Though it’s been making the rumor mill rounds, HU can now confirm that the Smashing Pumpkins (or rather, Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin) are scheduled to make an appearance on the Roe Conn Show tomorrow, likely around 3:30pm. You can listen to the live show on the web here.

A reminder: Q101 is also slotted for Friday.

Thanks to a tip from loyal HU reader Cara, we found this announcement on Local 101, a radio show on Chicago’s Q101 rock station (and longtime Smashing Pumpkins ally - check out their website masthead!).  The MySpace speaketh:

Local 101 On Q101 says Chris Payne will be co-hosting an hour of music with Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin from 2-3pm Friday November 21, 2008 on Q101.1 Chicago.

Cara reported that Chris Payne (pictured below in the studio) mentioned you can email him questions to the band, but answering is at their discretion.  My crystal ball also says we’ll be able to hear live streaming audio at www.q101.com.

The show should be interesting as the Pumpkins set up camp all week in Chicago; will this prove to be an emotional homecoming?  Cara also said the radio station is ramping up their coverage of the event; they were rocking Geek U.S.A. on the airwaves last night.

Less than a week after doing a radio interview with Matt Pinfield on WXRP in New York, Billy and Jimmy entered another radio studio for another extended interview. This time, they paid an “hour plus” visit to Elliot in the Morning show in between the Black Sunshine and White Crosses shows in Washington. No doubt proud of the efforts of their booking staff, the EITM website boasts that their interview is “rare”. Even though I’m not hipstersunited.com’s resident economist, I don’t believe the Pumpkins’ media availability meets the generally accepted definition of a scarce good.

The interview can be heard here in three parts.

• Part 1 Download
• Part 2 Download
• Part 3 Download

Blabbermouth.net, citing United Stations Radio Networks’ “The Pulse of Radio” entertainment news service, has uncritically repeated this claim:

[A] SMASHING PUMPKINS concert in New York City on Thursday night (November 6), the band’s first in the metropolitan area in nine years, was met with a less than enthusiastic reception by the crowd after Billy Corgan led the band through a show that left many hits off the set list and contained a droning, 40-minute jam session in the middle.

To what could this refer? A scan of the track times on the freely available concert recording reveals only three plausible candidates, none of which approach the reported duration:

• “Superchrist” and “United States”, lasting a combined 22 1/2 minutes
• “Heavy Metal Machine” and “Glass’ Theme”, a combined 14 minutes
• “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”, 21 minutes

ALSO:  David Lowe-Bianco of Ultimate-Guitar.com (celebrating 10 years online!) is claiming this morning that the Friday night New York gig “eventually ended in a half-hour long jam session”.  According to that pesky actual recording of the concert, final cut “I Am One pt. 2″ did not last even 15 minutes.

As previously reported, Billy and Jimmy appeared on WXRP with Matt Pinfield for an extended interview. WXRP’s website has posted the interview in three parts (mp3, mp3, mp3), so you too can hear their thoughts on…

…young vs. old fans…

Jimmy: Our fans…they like to claim ownership, and everybody has their own version of ownership especially in these days when you are living in the YouTube world and everybody wants their YouTube moment, so I think what used to be an endearing rabid(?) fan has now turned into the entitled “I want what I want and I want it now and I’ve already seen the highlight reel so only play the hits at the concert”. You know it’s a difficult time right now to be a rabid fan.
Billy: The thing that shocked us was that we found from the younger fan a lot more of the curiosity about where we were going and the older fan was the one who was like “can you just play the hits?” So we had this crazy divide where we would go into one city and a very young fanbase for whatever reason would go insane for the concerts and then we would go to the next city and play for an older group of fans and they’d be disappointed because we didn’t play enough hit songs.

…Jimmy’s explanation on why Asheville’s residency was better than San Francisco…

Jimmy: I think it’s kind of interesting to, looking back at both those experiences, I think what’s interesting to me is to see the difference between being in a real kind of geological energy center that really has a consistent resonance, planetary resonance, and being in a place that kind of has a fake manufactured resonance where you have rich hippies with expense accounts.

…the 20th anniverary setlist…

Jimmy: We don’t really look at it in any kind of mathematical way, we just kind of - as far as old songs go - we just kind of pick the ones that are fun to play and the ones that are still resonating with us. But we kind of look at the whole set as a complete painting.
Billy: I think what we’ve figured out in the year and a half since we came back is that what the fans want more than hit songs is excitement. And if the hit song provides that level of excitement then that’s fine but not every hit song provides that level of excitement so we’ve tried to crank up that level of excitement at our concerts and it’s the most excitement we’ve seen come out of the crowds since probably since ‘96.

…plans for future releases…

Billy: We’re trying to figure out a way to release music in a new way, and I don’t mean just like on the internet. Maybe there’s a different way to release music in terms of a pattern in which you release it, more multimedia-related. So maybe an album would come out more over time, and it would come out in pieces and then at some point you assemble it with some other stuff and put it out in a different configuration. Not ask a fan to put all their marbles in one place and then love it or hate it and go away. I think that model is dead.

…plans for future live events…

Billy: We were talking the other day…this is a live thing…thinking about maybe going into a town and going a four day event, so maybe it would be something like the first night would be like a dinner and like a Q&A and then the next day we would play in essence a conventional concert. Maybe the third day it would be more of like a Storytellers thing, and then the fourth day we would play another concert. So a fan could basically buy a four-day experience with us, very intense experience with us, and maybe we could even do multiple ones in the same city so that we could write some new songs while we’re doing this. And if you’re the fan who just wants to go to one show you could buy the one-show ticket, but you also give people the option to go and do the entire experience and by doing so get the level of intimacy. I think there’s lots of new opportunities out there now that we’re getting the major labels and their sort of dogmatic system of how they control things and why they control things out of the way.

…politics…

Matt Pinfield: Did you guys vote?
Billy: I’m not a voter. That’s my controversial position. But I’m very happy.
Jimmy: I’m a voter but I didn’t vote because I’m in the process of moving and have a new address.
Billy: Is it better to be a nonvoter or a voter who didn’t vote?

There’s a lot of interesting stuff there about the band’s relationship with the fans, which Billy likens to a romantic relationship, so you’ll want to listen to the whole thing.

This Thursday, Billy and Jimmy the Smashing Pumpkins will be in the studios of 101.9 FM WRXP in New York to hang out for an hour with DJ Matt Pinfield at 8:00 AM EST (be patient when clicking on the link, the site takes a long time to load).  There are no details on whether the band will be performing, but according to the internet’s bastion of truth: “Talk is limited, for the most part, to interviews with artists, with play of their music emphasized in the interview.”

(Thanks to HU reader JZ for the tip.)

Update: The website does not specify which band members will be appearing, only that “The Smashing Pumpkins” will be hanging out.

The Spike “Scream” awards, while seeking to honor “everything that is great about COMICS, FANTASY, SCI-FI, and HORROR”, dispense with suspense:

The third annual televised event tapes Saturday, October 18 at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, CA and premieres Tuesday, October 21 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on Spike TV. …

The Grammy Award-winning rock band Smashing Pumpkins will perform their new hit “G.L.O.W..”

You hear that? “G.L.O.W.” = hit. How do we know?

Currently the #1 most added song at Modern Rock Radio, “G.L.O.W.,” has already received ninety-four adds since its release two weeks ago and has logged over 850 spins in its first week alone.

All true enough, but I bet the band would like to see the song get unstuck from the #25 spot it’s held for a few days now.

Activision put out a press release today to announce “a rich and diverse lineup of launch week downloadable content for the highly-anticipated Guitar Hero(R) World Tour”, but absent from the release was any mention of the 3-song Smashing Pumpkins bundle that will include the band’s current radio single “G.L.O.W.” Thus the bundle remains without a confirmed release date.

In other “G.L.O.W.” news, it was, yes, the most-added track at modern rock radio last week according to Mediabase.

After six days of availability to radio, “G.L.O.W.” is among the forty most-played songs at stations classified as “Alternative” by Mediabase. Presumably the song will move upward this week as it starts Going for Adds(tm).

Here are the tags that accompany the “G.L.O.W.” sound file being distributed (via Play MPE) to radio stations:

Version Final
Label CO5 Music
Total Time 00:03:20, Intro 00:00
Ending Type Cold
Available Date 29-Sep-2008
Going For Adds 7-Oct-2008
Year of Release 2008
Format(s) Hot AC, Alternative, Active Rock, Triple A, College, Mainstream Rock, CHR Pop

Here’s how CO5 Music describes itself:

If you are looking to promote music or a corporate brand to the 200 million radio listeners in America (streaming worldwide) then CO5 is your answer!

CO5 is a trusted brand with radio and has a proven track record since 2003 of consistently charting independent releases. Our competitive edge comes from the limited number of artists we work and our ability to travel on behalf of our clients. We constantly visit programmers in person, cover tour dates and walk artists or branding ideas directly into radio stations.

This week the website of Guitar World magazine dug up and electronified a print article from 2005 in which rock-and-rollers were asked to tell the tale of their “Most Spinal Tap Moment”. The one we care about:

BILLY CORGAN of Smashing Pumpkins

When Mellon Collie came out [1995], we played a concert in Chicago that was broadcast directly across the world. We had 10,000 people at the show, including the world press, and millions were listening in. During the third song, a generator blew out. Some of the lights still worked, but there was no sound. I thought, No problem, I’ll play an improvised acoustic set until the problem is cleared up. Of course, nobody could hear anything past the second row. Meanwhile, the sound of a hum was the only thing being broadcast—from Chile to Tokyo! Worldwide, our fans were beginning to question our new musical direction. It took only a quarter of an hour for them to fix things, but it seemed an age. A rock star without amplification is dickless: for 15 minutes, I had no dick.

A nice tale, and understandable that over the years it gets a coat of memory varnish. And if FactCheck.org were on the case, they would surely give Billy props for remembering that it was exactly during the third song that the power went out. But…10,000 people at Chicago’s Riviera Theatre? Just, no. An “improvised acoustic set”? Didn’t happen. And in lieu of a “hum”, the band members spoke directly to the radio audience for several minutes (mp3) while power was being restored to the stacks.

It would be interesting to know how many people listened to that radio broadcast, but I imagine we will never have the hard data there…and I’m very happy just to take Billy’s word on what was happening in his pants.

(Thanks to HU reader Neil for the link.)

I’m sure they’ve been saying on it on the air, but none of us listen to the radio so we asked them for confirmation via text:

Thanks for listening and texting! World Premiere music from Smashing Pumpkins 9am Monday..only on Q101.1 :: Chicago’s Alternative..:: ::..

We sent another text to thank them, and this came in response:

Thanks for listening and texting! World Premiere music from Smashing Pumpkins 9am Monday..only on Q101.1 :: Chicago’s Alternative..:: ::..

While we were disappointed to realize we had not in fact received a personalized reply, we are heartened to know the band is getting automated pub..:: ::..

So, presumably the song will air during the Sherman & Tingle Show. Click the “Listen Live” link in the left sidebar on this page to hear Q101’s stream.

Below is the third and final segment of the Smashing Pumpkins’ interview (part one, part two) last Monday on the syndicated radio program “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse”.

Mancow Muller: Hey, fellas, let me ask you something. I mean, ’80s music, the stuff that we grew up with, is so huge again. And when we were kids, it was ’60s music, right?

Billy Corgan: Mhm, Sha Na Na.

MM: At some point this stuff will go full cycle and the ’90s music will hit again. Do you guys envision yourself, you know, at 50 years old, 60 years old, singing “Today”?

BC: That’s a bridge you cross when you get there.

MM: Billy, when you go see these bands that you like and that I like, do you think, “Ah, it’s just nostalgia?” Should they quit, or do you admire them for keeping it going?

BC: It depends on the artist. I think if the artist is still creative…like, look at Neil Diamond: he’s still releasing new songs, he’s a great songwriter, you know? Somebody like that, then I think it’s about the present and the past. Neil Young, the present and the past. With us, it’s about the present and the past. When it turns into just a past thing, that’s where you lose me.

MM: I saw Neil [Diamond] two Saturdays ago.

BC: Was it good?

MM: Yeah. I mean, sure. He did “Sweet Caroline” three times.

BC: That’s weird.

MM: Three times.

BC: Wow.

MM: And what is it about that song that white people have to sing along?

Jimmy Chamberlin: [laughs]

MM: [singing] So good, so good, so good! …Billy, he did do the song I want played at my funeral.

BC: Which is?

MM: “Hell Yeah”.

BC: I don’t know that one.

MM: Well, buddy, you better have someone download it for you.

BC: Okay.

MM: Because it’s his masterpiece.

BC: All right.

MM: “Hell Yeah”, him and Rick Rubin, you’ve got to hear it.

BC: [laughs]

MM: I mean, you guys could have done it better, I hope I haven’t gone into dangerous territory here. But he does pretty well.

BC: God bless. …Are you out of controversial subjects? There must be another one, right?

MM: No! No, I’m just having a conversation with my buddies. So the Smashing Pumpkins continue. The last CD was a smash.

BC: Yeah, we did good.

MM: The concerts are selling.

BC: Yeah.

MM: You guys are all getting along.

BC: Yeah.

MM: Jimmy, you’re off the drugs.

JC: I’m completely clean and sober now for over four years.

BC: It might have something to do with the drumming.

JC: [laughs] Yeah, right.

MM: What do you mean?

BC: Well, that’s why he’s playing so great, I mean…can you imagine, he played…he was out of his mind all those years, with how good he played, and he plays even better when he’s clean and sober.

MM: Jimmy, is there any aspect of that guy that you miss?

JC: Um, no. No, because I gotta say that all those things were filling up empty holes, and those holes have been subsequently filled by my family and my music. I’ve been completely lucky to have kind of lived by fire and kind of survived. And now I’m living by love and water and surviving even better. So, I’m completely happy where I’m at, I’ve never been happier. I have two beautiful kids, a beautiful wife, you know, a beautiful partner, I mean, things are great.

MM: I have two daughters now. My life has changed. I don’t really want to fight Billy as much as I used to want to fight him.

BC: [laughs]

MM: Billy, I’m sure Jimmy’s told you, I told you in Toronto: Kids? When? When are you gonna do it?

BC: I’m…believe me, I’m waiting. It just hasn’t worked out. I really must be miserable to be around, because…

MM: Do you want to have kids?

BC: I do. I’ve wanted to have kids since my late twenties. It’s really probably one of the great tragedies of my life that I don’t have kids.

MM: Is it possible that, just, you don’t have any swimmers?

BC: Uhm… [laughs]

MM: Billy, I would run into you occasionally, and Chris Farley lived in my building where we broadcast, and we would run into you, you know, with your floppy hat, and you’re a very shy guy and everything, but we would see each other every once in a while. When you’re clicking through cable and you see a Farley movie, does that…I still feel kind of sick to my stomach when I see him.

BC: What a great tragedy. He was so talented, and he was such a sweetheart, such a sweetheart. He really was.

MM: Do you feel anything?

BC: In terms of?

MM: Yeah, if just, if “Tommy Boy” is on TV, do you go, “Ohh, man”, because you ran into him a lot.

BC: He — and I think Jimmy can vouch for this — when you talk to him behind the scenes, you realize what a sweetheart he was. And he had that great gift like Belushi, where he could just make you laugh just by the way he moved his body, which is such an amazing talent. He was such a great, gifted person.

MM: All right. Well, guys. Thank you very much.

BC: Thank you!

JC: Thank you.

MM: And, uh…you’re going to be in the area. Are you actually going to come in sometime and see my, uh, my new empire?

BC: We will.

JC: Yeah, of course.

MM: Jimmy, anything else you want to say?

JC: No. All good, man. Good to talk to you.

MM: Thanks guys. Billy, thank you.

BC: Thank you, Mancow, nice to talk to you.

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.

Talk Radio Network’s Mancow Muller interviewed Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin of the Smashing Pumpkins last Monday. Audio of the interview can be found here.

Here’s the first portion of a lengthy full transcript:

Mancow Muller: Billy!

Billy Corgan: Yeah! Hey, good morning.

MM: I thought you’d never do my show again.

BC: Oh, stop it.

MM: Are we friends now?

BC: We are friends.

MM: Okay. I told you just a couple times that you hurt my feelings when you said that you didn’t think radio really helped the Pumpkins. Have you changed your mind on that?

BC: [laughs] It’s helping me now.

MM: Jimmy’s on the line too, Jimmy Chamberlin. Billy Corgan, the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins, Jimmy Chamberlin…

Jimmy Chamberlin: What’s up, Mancow?!

MM: Hey guys. I got a chance to catch you in, uh, I don’t know, Toronto, I think, and it was spectacular.

JC: Oh, thank you!

MM: How are things going for you guys?

BC: Good. We’re so busy, it’s crazy.

MM: What are you working on right now, Billy? Aren’t you working on one of the Guitar Heros or something?

BC: Yeah, I’m going to be in the new Guitar Hero, like, actually be in the new game, which was pretty cool. We just recorded a new song, we’re getting ready for our tour, we’re getting ready for our 20th anniversary tour, we’re getting ready to put out a Gish box set.

MM: The new song is called “G.L.O.W.”, right?

BC: Yes sir.

MM: What does it stand for?

BC: Glorious Ladies of Wrestling.

MM: What?!

BC: Don’t you remember the Glorious Ladies of Wrestling?

MM: Yes! Yes, I do.

BC: I bet you had a few private moments with the Glorious Ladies.

MM: I did, I did, actually. Farmer’s Daughter.

BC, JC: [laughter]

MM: Billy, what weird things turned you on?

BC: Uh, I don’t know. I don’t talk about those things.

MM: You don’t have a record company now, do you?

BC: No, no, we’re free. It’s awesome. I mean, it’s amazing to be free in the market…”market” sounds so businesslike. In the world we live in now, the digital market world, whatever, it’s so cool because you can basically do whatever you want.

MM: Did they ever “get” you, Billy? Did they ever get the Pumpkins?

BC: The last record company, no, unfortunately. But some of the people at our old record company did, and they had everything to do with why we were so successful.

MM: And of course, the minute the Smashing Pumpkins had a hit, a lot of your people started hating you. The minute we played you on the radio people hated you.

BC: Well, that’s just the weird “alternative” world.

MM: But isn’t that weird?

BC: You remember that episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk had to fight his…self? His anti-Captain Kirk? That’s what it’s like being in alternative rock. It’s like, if you’re too good, they hate you; if you kind of suck and you smell bad and you have a beard, you’re good. It’s that weird thing. You gotta be good enough to be listened to, but bad enough that the mainstream world doesn’t want to hear you. We’ve been around for twenty years now, and we’re still…still getting it done. So we must be doing something right.

MM: You told me something in Toronto that I want to reveal, and I hope you don’t get mad at me. You said you’re making more money now than ever before.

JC: [laughs]

BC: Uhh…did I say that?

MM: Yes, you did. Selling your CDs online, doing whatever the hell you want, no middlemen, touring when you want, collecting the money and not having to divvy it up with record companies and promoters…you’re doing better than ever before.

BC: That’s basically true, but we also have to spend more money to do that, so maybe it’s a bit of a lie, but yeah. Put it this way: the most important thing with that is the freedom — not sitting in the back of your mind thinking somebody’s going to shut us down here somewhere along the chain. I think that’s what’s really important to get back to just making great music, and if people want it, they’ll find it, believe me, in this world.

MM: You’ve made me mad, you’ve burned bridges. Do you regret any of that?

BC: Oh yeah. Of course I do. I’m 41 years old now. I did a lot of stupid things. But I’ll say this: most of the stupid things I did were at least out of the idea that I didn’t care because I wasn’t gonna get on my knees and *bleep* anybody else *bleep*…

MM: What about Jimmy?

BC: Oh, I’ve done that many times.

MM: No, but I mean, would Jimmy have *bleep*?

BC: With the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex, yes, he would have.

JC: [laughs]

BC: The point is we came out of nothing. We were lower-middle-class kids. We didn’t grow up thinking we were gonna be on, you know, Solid Gold or whatever. Suddenly we found ourselves in this situation. So we were like, we had to make weird choices. I think we were immature and we didn’t realize that dying wasn’t a good idea. [laughter] You know, killing ourself, killing each other…those were all bad ideas.

MM: Standing next to Jimmy on stage is an amazing thing. The amount of energy that you put out, Jimmy. You are an amazing drummer. Billy, do you tell him? I know you have trouble with this…do you tell him how great he is?

BC: All the time.

MM: Can you do it right now?

BC: I think Jimmy is the best drummer in the world.

JC: Aww, thanks!

BC: I think no drummer in the world can do what Jimmy does, wihch is to play with that level of power for two hours like that and play to such a high level. And he’s able to play all different styles. Jimmy’s played on mellow songs, heavy songs. I mean, he’s up there with Bonham, you know…

MM: I agree.

BC: That level of drummer who’s been able to play in a different variety of music and have his style impact the way people play the drums, that’s the hallmark of a great drummer. Right now, I think pound-for-pound he’s the best drummer in the world.

JC: Aw, thanks a lot.