Richard Patrick Says Smashing Pumpkins’ D’Arcy Wretzky Inspired Filter’s ‘Take a Picture’

2019-08-05

Filter’s “Title of Record” – Story by Cat Badra

Filter’s “Title of Record” turns 20 this year, and frontman Richard Patrick remember that his inspiration for much of the album was Smashing Pumpkins bassist at the time, D’Arcy Wretzky

Filter’s 1999 breakthrough album “Title of Record” turns 20 this year, and in honor of the anniversary, a special expanded reissue of the album will arrive on Aug. 9. Looking back on the record, frontman Richard Patrick recalls that his relationship with then-Smashing Pumpkins bass player D’Arcy Wretzky inspired many of the songs on the album, including the band’s rock hit “Take a Picture.”

“Yeah, there’s like, two or three love letters on this record,” Patrick tells Loudwire. “There’s ‘Miss Blue,’ there’s ‘I’m Not the Only One,’ there’s ‘Take a Picture,’ there’s ‘Skinny’ and there’s ‘It’s Going to Kill me.’ She was my favorite piece of plastic held to my ear because we were constantly on the phone, but we were never in the same room for more than one time.”

He added that being with Wretzky was a “massive secret” at the time of their relationship.

“She was married to Kerry Brown at the time,” he said. “The Smashing Pumpkins were the biggest band ever. She was playing Soldier Field and she would say, ‘Get a car and come out to see me at my house, in my little apartment.’ She spent the weekend and then she flies out on a Learjet, to go play some other massive show with the Pumpkins.”

He added, “But, it was really amazing because she has such a clear vision and she was just spot on and she was a fantastic person to be around. I was just in awe. And it was just so weird keeping everything a secret — like people would ask, “who’s the girl on this, who’s the girl on this record?” while doing press on it. I just could never talk about it. But I talked to her recently and she said, ‘People at the time said that I was owed royalty on the number of lyrics that came out from the relationship.’ She was kidding.”

Patrick says that looking back, he thinks he was very starstruck by the pretty bassist” “I was with the hottest girl in the world. I mean, she arguably was one of the most attractive women in the world at that time. And it was all a secret! And it was just this crazy thing, but that whole half of this record is dedicated to her.”

He added that they’re still friends and he still loves her “tremendously,” even though they parted ways in 1998. Read the full interview with Loudwire here.

Cat Badra
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