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Billy Corgan, on stage with The Smashing Pumpkins, in Louisville, Kentucky, 2010. © Cooper Neill ./Retna Ltd./Corbis

"I'm happy to be in The Smashing Pumpkins," says Billy Corgan, who does indeed sound like a man who's reveling in a much-longed-for period of contentment. "I'm happy to be playing with the people I'm playing with. Obviously, I'm not looking back in my current musical life. I'm happy to do the reissues, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to craft this new deal with EMI to release a lot of material.

"But my whole life is invested in what I'm doing right now," he continues. "I think there's a nice balance that can be achieved between the past, the present and the future. But for me, it always starts with the future. The Pumpkins have always been about trying to push forward."

For Corgan and the rest of The Smashing Pumpkins (drummer Mike Byrne, bassist Nicole Fiorentino and guitarist Jeff Schroeder) that balance of the past, present and future will be revealed in some fascinating and exciting ways in the coming years. Next week, they'll release the glistening new track Owata, the latest installment of their 44-song opus, Teargarden By Kaleidyscope.

In an interesting turn, however, that sprawling mega-work is taking on a new shape. There will be an 'album within an album,' a complete disc to be called Oceania, part of Teargarden but to be issued separately under the terms of the deal that Corgan just inked with EMI. It's an arrangement the maverick musician is stoked about, giving the Pumpkins rights to all unreleased materials and allowing them to release, in Corgan's words, "whatever we want, when we want it."

And there's more: Over the next three years, the band's back catalogue will be reissued, with each set remastered and packed with bonuses. The initial batch will come this fall, when the group's first two albums, Gish and Siamese Dream, along with their 1994 compilation set, Pisces Iscariot, hits stores. Then, in 2012, the Pumpkins' double album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, the five-CD rarities package The Aeroplane Flies High, and 1998's Adore, will be released. Finally, in 2013, 2000's Machina/The Machines Of God and Machina II: The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music will come out as one complete set, along with a greatest hits disc.

MusicRadar sat down with Corgan this past week to discuss the first wave of reissues, the new song Owata, and the frontman's plans to revisit (for now at least) the long-form album format. In addition, we talked about the state of the union in Smashing Pumpkins land and how Corgan is feeling in 2011: upbeat, liberated and more motivated than ever to create.

With the opening trio of reissues, Gish, Siamese Dream and Pisces Iscariot, is there anything you want to alter dramatically as far as remastering?

"No, I just think we're in an era where the dominant music format is no longer the compact disc. Now, it's compressed MP4s or whatever, so I think we have to take into account the mediums and the ways that people are listening to music, which is on iPods and headphones. I know I listen to a lot of music on my laptop, through those little shit speakers.

"I guess you have to balance what is a clear take without subverting the recordings to the point where they don't sound right. Sometimes I hear '60s stuff, which was obviously not meant to be bright, and it just sounds really weird. I heard a remastered version of Time Is On My Side by The Rolling Stones, and the tambourine was just crankin' loud. [laughs] I'd never heard it that loud before. So, I'm sensitive to the original intention.

"In our case, it's been 20 years since the albums have been released, and they're due for a fresh look with new technology. You know, when we did those albums they were mastered to 16-bit. I think when we go to a much higher digital bit-rate, people will be really surprised at how good those master tapes sound. Basically, I just want to update the fidelity that's there already. That's the best way to put it."

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