Billy Corgan Talks Rick Rubin-Produced Solo Album, Smashing Pumpkins Reunion

Noam Galai

Billy Corgan Talks Rick Rubin-Produced Solo Album, Smashing Pumpkins Reunion

Noam Galai

Billy Corgan has been keeping fans updated on his various endeavors with periodic Facebook Live videos. In the past couple of months, he’s “sort of finished” a new solo album and continued to hint at the possibility of an original lineup Smashing Pumpkins reunion, and now he’s shared some more information on both fronts. In his latest video on the Smashing Pumpkins page, as AlternativeNation points out, Billy Corgan reveals that he worked on the solo album with producer Rick Rubin:

I have talked a little bit about how I’m making a solo record. I haven’t talked about who I made the solo record with. I actually made the solo record with Rick Rubin, my longtime friend, and one of the greatest producers in the history of rock and roll. We finished all the basic recordings. I think we recorded about 12 or 13 songs. I’m set to go back out to the Wet Coast at some point to finish up a few things, but for the most part the record is done. I don’t have a due date on when that’s going to be coming out.

He also revealed that he’s “currently writing a batch of songs for an album for Ms. Sierra Swan, my favorite singer in the world, who I’ve produced an album with before, but on this album all the songs will be written by me.” And regarding the Smashing Pumpkins reunion rumors:

Well last time I said anything about SP news, it turned into a big story about how the band was reuniting, so I guess I’ll just let people read my facial tics. (Makes facial ticks) Is the band reuniting? I don’t know, but definitely making plans for next year, definitely making plans to tour next year under the name Smashing Pumpkins. Who will be on stage? We shall see. (Makes facial tic) There’s my tic.

And what would a new Smashing Pumpkins album sound like?

Call me crazy, but I am getting a hankering to starting writing rock and roll music again. I find myself obsessing on riffs in my head. I would say if I was going to make an album of SP music again, it would probably be somewhere between Gish and Siamese Dream type styles. I think I’m ready to get back to big riffs, big choruses. So I guess I have to get Jimmy Chamberlin on the phone (makes facial tic), there’s another tic, and maybe some other people (makes facial tic) who used to be in the band.

He also discussed plans to reissue old Smashing Pumpkins material:

We’re going to start release archival stuff from the band’s early history, sort of 88-92 era, live recordings that we have in the archives. We’re going to offer those on vinyl and also offer those available on digital. So, we’ll be announcing pretty soon how to get those…There are some songson there that haven’t been released, I don’t even know if they’ve ever been bootlegged.

For the remainder of the video, he discusses the goings-on over at TNA Wrestling, the company where Corgan recently became president. Watch the full video below.

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