A video from a press conference for Smashing Pumpkins’ 2023 The World Is a Vampire festival has resurfaced. In the clip, a radio host asks frontman Billy Corgan why the band’s newer albums, like ATUM, sound like “plastic” compared to their previous material. Needless to say, the mercurial rock star didn’t take the critique well.
The video was reposted by La Bestia Radio earlier this week, but was originally recorded on March 1st, 2023. “What does Billy think [about] listening to his own records with such a different sound [compared to] the ’90s?” the host asks.
Expanding on the question, he emphasizes the criticism isn’t meant in a “bad way.” He then describes the Pumpkins’ newer sound as “plastic,” while older records like Gish and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness sound like they have “more soul.”
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“First of all, I respect your opinion, but I think what people have a hard time understanding is that a musician is like an instrument; you vibrate to the world around you,” Corgan responded, with an air of sarcasm. “So, the world of 1992 was very organic. It was very much in the clubs, and we played for years ’til we figured out who we were.”
Taking on a more combative tone, he continued, “Look at the world you live in now. Is that an organic world? I can make organic music all day if you want me to. If you want me to make music just for you that reminds you of 1992, you pay me $1 million, and I’ll do it for you.”
Corgan then claimed this was the “most successful” the Pumpkins have been since the late ’90s. “So maybe we’re not making music for you, but we’re making music for young people who understand the sound of the street,” he added. “So, it is what it is, but always from the heart.”
ATUM is a “rock opera” released in three acts between November 2022 and May 2023. It was written by Corgan as a follow-up to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God. In an interview with Kerrang!, Corgan described the album’s sound as going in “a million different directions.”
In the present day, Corgan is set to launch a new solo project, Billy Corgan and the Machines of God, which will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and the 25th anniversary of the Machina albums during a North American tour set for June 2025. See the full schedule below, and get tickets here.
After that, the Pumpkins will embark on a tour of the UK, Europe, and Asia. Tickets can be purchased here.
Billy Corgan and the Machines of God’s 2025 Tour Dates:
06/07 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
06/09 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
06/11 – Muskoka, ON @ Kee to Bala
06/12 – Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
06/13 – Montreal QC @ Beanfield Theatre
06/15 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
06/16 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
06/17 – Allentown, PA @ Archer Music Hall
06/19 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
06/20 – Joliet, IL @ Taste of Joliet
06/21 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Intersection
06/23 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre
06/25 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues Cleveland
06/26 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
06/27 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
06/29 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
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