Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Mellon Collie/Machina’ Sequel Will Be 33-Song Rock Opera

Late last week, in advance of the anniversary of the 25th anniversary of the Smashing Pumpkins double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the band revealed that a sequel was in the works for the record, but singer William Patrick Corgan has now served up more details of what's to come.

In a self-released video announcement (seen below), Corgan explained that the forthcoming release will be a 33-song rock opera that serves not only as a sequel to Mellon Collie but another of their records, Machina/The Machines of God, completing a trilogy.

“It’s a sequel to Melon Collie… and Machina,” explains Corgan in the video detailing his band’s plans. “We're currently working a 33-song open. Basically, if you want to call it anything else, it’s kind of a rock opera and it's being written from the ground up as that."

The singer added, "We're already working on that and we already have all 33 of the songs. We're hard at work and I've been in the studio right now with Jimmy [Chamberlin] working out all the drum stuff."

He continues, "We feel like in many ways this completes the circle on everything we started and weren’t able to finish at that time, so we’re very excited about that.”

Corgan also revealed that the band is getting a new mix for Machina after years of legal squabbles. Plus, Corgan announced that the band was planning to do a Mellon Collie tour before the pandemic, and still intend to do a "full-on arena tour" with full production and narrative art that would celebrate the Mellon Collie period.

"My dream, as I've said to the band internally, is that we'll eventually be able to stage all three albums as a show. You can call it Broadway, you can call it full production, whatever you want, so my dream is that we'll be able to do a Mellon Collie show full production, a Machina show full production and ultimately the album we're working on now. It'll be kind of like a living film."

In the interim, Smashing Pumpkins will issue their upcoming double album Cyr on Nov. 27. Pre-order that record here.