Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan: It’s Time to Make a Real Album

2011-09-28

Smashing Pumpkins frontman says single song days are over

At one time, Smashing Pumpkins main man Billy Corgan was dead set on the online, song-by-song release method for new Pumpkins material. Until, that is, he started to see it just wasn’t as effective as he had hoped. That’s why the Pumpkins’ next collection, Oceania, will be released as a traditional album, making this the Smashing Pumpkins’ first “proper” release since 2007’s Zeitgeist.

“I just saw we weren’t getting the penetration in to everybody that I would have hoped,” Corgan told Billboard.com. “I mean, we have 1.3 million followers on our Facebook page, right? So you think you put [a song] up and 1.3 million people are gonna see it — but only if they’re looking at the exact moment it goes up…

“I just saw that we weren’t reaching the sort of casual person who still gets their information from traditional sources. So I thought, ‘What do I need to do?’ and then I thought, ‘OK, I’ll go back to making an album.’ ”

Oceania — which will could drop as early as in November, according to Corgan – is shaping up to be a melodic-yet-heavy release. “It’s probably the most open-sounding album I’ve ever made,” Corgan said. “The general description I’ve heard from people who have heard it is that it reminds them of the Pumpkins in the way they like the Pumpkins, but somehow it sounds new… ”

And, Pumpkins fans, if you want Corgan and company to keep churning out alternative rock, you’d better step it up and give some love to the new album. At least, that’s the tone from Corgan. “If we’re able to get that sense that something is happening again and get people to rally behind us a bit, I think the next three, four years will be very interesting for the band,” he said. “I think if [Oceania] basically hits the same wall a lot of the other stuff has hit, we’re going to have to step back and really evaluate where we’re going, because it’s a tremendous amount of energy to put out to just feel like you’re throwing a pebble in the ocean.”

Corgan is taking his rock band on the road this fall for a 12-date, North American tour, which will advance the Pumpkins’ bigger round of touring next year.

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.

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