Interview: Billy Corgan Unpacks New Smashing Pumpkins’ Album

It’s no secret that Billy Corgan wanted to try to re-create some of the sounds of Smashing Pumpkins‘ first few records on their latest release, Aghori Mhori Mei.

“I was just writing riffs, no vocals, just riffs,” Corgan told Chuck Armstrong on Loudwire Nights Wednesday (Aug. 7).

“[Jimmy Chamberlin and I] did a bunch of stuff, you know? A Siamese Dream riff here and a Mellon Collie riff here and Gish riffs there. It was kind of interesting, we were just kind of playing with the idea.”

It didn’t take long for Corgan to connect what he was attempting to do with his band with one of the biggest bands of the ’80s.

“All of a sudden I start talking about Motley Crue,” he recalled, “specifically the Too Fast For Love and Shout at the Devil albums … In their own crazy minds, they thought they were doing glam. Nikki thought they were doing Sweet and early Bowie, but they couldn’t really do it and they hadn’t really studied the records, so they did the Motley Crue version of Sweet or something. And you end up with this beautiful, almost primitive but more visceral version of the thing they were trying to kind of be.”

Getting to the 21st Century Verison of Early Smashing Pumpkins

As soon as he made that connection, he realized that was what he was doing in the studio with Aghori Mhori Mei.

“We couldn’t be Led Zeppelin, but we could kind of do Pumpkins’ fake version of Led Zeppelin or Pumpkins’ fake version of Soundgarden or something,” he said.

A light bulb went off. As much as Corgan could try to sound like he did three decades ago, the reality is he was a much different artist and musician then compared to today.

“You have to get back in this mindset because we’re so much more skilled 25, 30 years later than we were then,” Corgan said.

And because he still wanted to connect to that earlier sound of the band, he had to remind himself of a few things.

READ MORE: Bush’s Gavin Rossdale Reflects on 30 Years of Sixteen Stone

“You’ve got to find the thing that made you want to rock in the first place,” he shared, thinking about some of the influences on Aghori Mhori Mei, like Black Sabbath or Dio.

“Not the 30-years-later version of what makes you want to rock. What kind of riff would get out of the garage? Not what kind of riff would get out of the expensive, SIR rehearsal space in the 21st century. What kind of riff would you be willing to risk your life on? Get in the van and drive all over America?”

What Else Did Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What runs through his head when he hears Loudwire Nights‘ Chuck Armstrong tell him Aghori Mhori Mei might very well be the album of the year: “We don’t really know what we have, you know? We’ve always traditionally run in a very small world. We don’t have a lot of groupies or hangers on. Even going back before the band was successful, 97-percent of all Pumpkins’ practices were just the four of us … I’m not saying you’re gun shy, but you really hold your breath.”
• Why he doesn’t normally reflect on his past, even as he did just that while creating the sound on the new record: “I love history. My house is packed with old stuff. I love old stuff, I love exploring the history of bands, my favorite bands whether it’s Cheap Trick or Led Zeppelin. It’s all good, but when it comes to me, I don’t want to look back at all. I am a bridge burner for sure, both publicly and privately. I’m probably more like Bob Dylan in that way where you do your thing and then you move on to the next one.”
• Why he gets deep and almost biblical on some of the concepts found on Aghori Mhori Mei‘s songs: “I’m at least trying to explain what I’m going through and I’ve been lucky enough that people seem to want to hear what I have to say in artistic terms. They definitely don’t want my opinion, but at least they’re willing to listen to my take on it artistically.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Billy Corgan joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday, Aug. 7; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.