MusicRadar

Billy Corgan says the new Pumpkins lineup is, well, smashing! (© Shawn Thew/epa/Corbis)

View in gallery

"Well, I finished eight." [laughs]

[laughs] OK.

"And I'm preparing what will be the next four. I'm looking to when we'll be recording again. We have some touring coming up, so I'm not really sure. But the next four are ready to go. I'm really enjoying the process; it's really pushed me to approach my work in a different way, and I think that's the best thing for me."

You might have mentioned this somewhere, but what is it with the number 44?

"I guess I was into thinking, for the Mellon Collie album, I think the Pumpkins put out 56 songs or something? We had 28 on the album and 28 B-sides."

Yeah, that was a lot.

"And I think for Pumpkins albums Machina I and Machina II there's something like 35 or 40 songs. So I knew it was somewhere in the 40 to 50 range that would be a significant body of work, and I just kind of hit upon 44 one day. I mean, now that I've opened by big mouth it seems like a really big number. And it is! But I like the challenge. I like the challenge of 'Can I come up with 44 pieces of music that are each in their own way worth hearing?'

"Because I think that's the real demand right now. You have more people than ever putting out music, and getting anyone to pay attention to what anybody's doing is obviously difficult - and I like the challenge. Each time I put something out I have enough faith in it that I can say, 'I think this is worth listening to.'"

Well, these first four certainly are. Let's get into some of these. Astral Planes, which I think is a great, great rocker, how many guitars did you lay down on that? There's the main the riff and the really cool flanged solo that drifts in and out -

"Right."

Are you playing all of those solos, or is your other guitarist, Jeff Schroeder -

"No, I'm playing. I think I'm using a '61 SG - no, no, it's a Les Paul Special, which Ric Ocasek from The Cars turned me onto - through a mid-'70s Marshall combo amp. So the guitars are left and right, just two tracks. In order to get that song, you have to play pretty tight. For the solo…I can't remember what I used. I know we did a tape flange to give it that sound. But I was using some kind of '60s fuzz to get that octavey kind of sound. And then in the middle…shoot, I can't remember what I used. There's that crazy part in the middle where it gets kind of jangly…gosh, I can't remember."

Around the web: