Billy Corgan Discusses Smashing Pumpkins' Breakup, New Album -- Exclusive Video

Posted on Dec 22nd 2009 11:00AM by Benjy Eisen
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Five years after dismantling the Smashing Pumpkins in 2000, main man Billy Corgan announced his intention to rebuild the band via full-page advertisements in Chicago newspapers on the same day he released his solo album, 'Future Embrace.' It was a calculated move that he claims he made so he wouldn't have to talk about "the Pumpkins as a ghost." It was a decision akin calling up an old flame and asking them out for a drink. Still, fans were rightfully psyched for the reunion.

"I do think breaking up the band was a mistake," Corgan admits to Spinner. He says it broke a certain trust that they had built between the band and their fans. "Like a relationship that you break off from and then try to pick back up," he says, using the above metaphor, "it's never quite the same."

Now that the Smashing Pumpkins are back -- albeit with Corgan as the sole original member -- they've hit a new creative peak. In this interview filmed in Spinner's New York office, Corgan discusses the band's plans to release 44 songs online, one at a time, for free -- no strings attached. The songs will form the foundation for the next Smashing Pumpkins album, 'Teargarden by Kaliedyscope,' which will be packaged (and eventually boxed) as a series of 11 four-song EPs. It's a unique way to package and distribute music but, then again, the Pumpkins are a unique band. And Corgan is their unique leader; scarf and all.