Smashing Pumpkins Band • Page 40

Interview: Billy Corgan has been making an epic new Smashing Pumpkins album in Nashville

tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/01/31/billy-corgan-interview-new-smashing-pumpkins-album/2854121001/

 

Gonna try and get tix for Toronto eventually! The band is really blessing us; saw them basically every year since 2015 (including a WPC show).

 

Just saw an iPhone ad with a slowed down version of We Only Come Out At Night, that was wonderfully random haha

 

We Only Come Out At Night

 

Still such a drag “Stellar” didn’t make the regular track listing for Zeitgeist. One of my favourite post-reunion Pumpkins tracks

 

I love that song so much!

 

Haha I was just telling a friend last night that SP and GNR had kind of a similar story the last few years with their reunions. That’s cool.

 

Weird - Why isn’t that album on Spotify?

 

Alot of fans did not like the mix of the entire record. I personally loved it cause it was gritty and textured different than most pumpkins records. WPC has said that they are going to remix and master it. Who knows when the hell that will happen.... Machina has taken FOREVER!

I loved Zeitgeist. I saw them on the Zeitgeist tour and that record really got me interested in the band. I'd say that it was my starting point for them.

The song called United States is mindblowing!
As a guitar player, I loved the record!

 

United States is an amazing song; definitely one of the best post-Machina era SP songs! The problem I have with the album is that the mastering is brick-walled so every possible dynamic has been squeezed out of it. Couple that with WPC's super-dry, thin, very up front vocals and it just isn't pleasant. I'm sure the pre-mastered mixes sound worlds better!

 

It seems to be really well received, too!

 

I'm excited to hear the remaster. I miss being able to listen to it on Spotify. Also! I'm hoping that some of the songs from If All Goes Wrong make the remaster box set. It's a shame that songs like 99 floors, Mama, Gossamer, The Leaving Lament, and I'm Trying The Best I can never made it out of that era.

 

Listened to TheFutureEmbrace for the first time last night, PRETTY GOOD

 

Gossamer was killer live! I'd love a proper recording of that. I'm sure all of that would be compiled together were a reissue to actually happen.

Slightly OT, but somewhere on the Internet, I came across a few un-mastered Zwan tracks that leaked out and they sound so much better than what actually got released. It gives me hope that there actually was good fidelity in these recordings that just got trampled by the time the mastering engineer was done with them!

 

United States is in my top 5 favorite SP songs ever. But as a whole I hate the album. As someone said earlier, his vocals are so upfront. I don't know what the hell they were thinking with that mix. And at a lot of points the guitars are way too loud. Like in the bridge for Tarantula, when the solo ends it rings out way too long and loud to understand where the next part is heading.

 

I think they thought this was somehow giving it more of a "live" feel. Personally, I'm tired of hearing from bands trying to achieve that. It always seems like "live feel" translates to "bad sounding record". IMO, there's a reason why the mixing process can take weeks as opposed to a live show where its nearly set-it-and-forget-it! :)

 

Looks like WPC said this the other day on IG

 

In retrospect, I think the production choices on Zeitgeist work enjoyably as a one-off. If Oceania followed suit, I’d view that sound much more unfavourably.

 

Have you heard the "Bonus EP" that came out shortly after Zeitgeist? There's a very well mixed 16:30 live version of Gossamer on it. Ironically, I think this live track sounds better than anything on Zeitgeist from a production standpoint!

 

What else is on this Bonus EP you speak of?

Thanks

 

I think it was either sold or given out as a download code if you bought tickets for the Zeitgeist-era tours. Release “Bonus EP” by The Smashing Pumpkins - MusicBrainz

 

Cool, thanks.

 

Dude...Zeitgeist was such an awesome period for the band. They played with so much love back then. So many deep cuts were played in that era. One thing that kinda drives me nuts now is that they don't have their amps on stage anymore. I totally understadn why they decided to use ISO cabs....due to more control in arena environment. Kinda of a weird thing to be bummed out about, but I swear that the mic bleed added to the overall sound live. Plus, I just loved geeking out on their gear. I've never heard an amp transport me quite like Billy's Diezel herbert. Standing in front of that thing was insane! Total Sonic Destruction!

 

My love for “That’s the Way” is endless.

 

One of my Zeitgeist favourites, too.