Billy Corgan 2012 Interview with Crestfallen.com on Reissues, Lucky 13 Team and Oceania (by bystarlightsite)
This interview covers the reissue process, the Lucky 13 project and the upcoming release of Oceania. For those interested in learning more about the Lucky 13 project and the release of archival material, this interview sheds some additional light on it. http://www.crestfallen.com/the-lucky-13/
Sound clips for specific topics can be found here: http://www.crestfallen.com/2012/04/17/crestfallen-com-friday-the-13th-interview-with-billy-corgan/
On the reissue process and selecting the content, Billy explains that he takes a balanced approach and considers both long-time and new fans. His goal is to create an interesting listening experience, and for each reissue to have its own feeling. He stated that working on the reissues for the earlier albums was rather difficult since there was a lack of documentation during recording and many tapes were misplaced over the years. Each song had some kind of obstacle to overcome.
On the release of archival material, Billy discussed the creation of The Lucky 13 team. They are an intermediary team of fans that will recommend upcoming Smashing Pumpkins Record Club (SPRC) releases. In conjunction with fan input, The Lucky 13 team will review archival material, identify possible pricing models, and propose methods and formats of distribution for selected audio and video releases. Billy explained that the band has invested over $750,000 to properly store and digitally transfer Smashing Pumpkins material. He confirms that not everything can be released as he considers every Smashing Pumpkins release to be part of his artistic legacy. So, he is calling on fans to become engaged consumers if they want archival material to be released in a communal and sustainable way. The main role of the Lucky 13 team and fans will be to determine what is worth releasing and at what price. Billy states that he is highly interested in releasing archival material and that he wants fans to feel invested in the process. He believes that now is good time to reboot the archive project since legal issues with EMI are resolved. In addition, many new technologies and systems allow for more efficient and less costly ways of distributing content.
On Oceania, he states that the album will not have a single and that people will be able to listen to it one week before the official release date of June 19th, 2012. He feels that the album needs to be listened to in its entirety to get the full experience. He believes that fans will positively respond to Smashing Pumpkins music again if they can connect to it with their hearts and minds. He shares that many new opportunities have been opening up for the band due to positive reception of the new music from people in the business.
On his life in general, he has not written new music since Oceania was completed in September 2011. When he is not on tour, he spends 4-6 hours a day writing his spiritual memoir. He said that the book has been one of the most challenging projects that he has ever taken on. On his other side projects such as Resistance Pro and Madame Zuzu’s Tea Shop, he states that they are labors of love. He feels that stepping away from the music world is a good thing and that these side projects help him to return to music with a fresh mind. Overall, he is very proud of his past work and is grateful to have band mates with a similar vision for the future.
Interesting Smashing Pumpkins facts revealed in the interview:
* There are 40-60 hours of ‘Rubano Tapes’ audio and video material from early Smashing Pumpkins concerts.
* On the Pisces Iscariot reissue, ‘Soothe’ is the only song with a new mix. On the original Pisces Iscariot release, ‘Soothe’ was from a home demo that was mixed to a DAT machine.
* The working title of ‘X.Y.U.’ was ‘Spum’. The version of ‘X.Y.U.’ that appeared on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was a recording of the band playing live in the studio, and both Flood and Alan Moulder were present. There were no overdubs on the album version.
* For the Mellon Collie reissue, home demos, rehearsal material and every rough mix have been transferred to digital format.
* Billy is looking for the non-distorted version of ‘Tales of a Scorched Earth’. If he can find the tape, the song might appear on the bonus disc of the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness reissue.
* The reissue for Adore will be released on Record Store Day 2013.
* The reissue for Machina I & II will be released by the end of 2013. There might also be a reissue of ‘The Greatest Hits’ by the end of 2013.
* A DVD for ‘The Final Show’ that was taped on December 2nd, 2000 at The Metro will be released as part of a reissue.
* When Billy gets back the rights to Zwan material from Warner Brothers, he would like to release 65 previously unreleased Zwan songs.
* A vinyl of the Stigmata soundtrack will be released by EMI.
* Billy would like to release The Chicago Kid material in 2014.
* Billy could do a reissue of TheFutureEmbrace in 2015.
* Billy could possibly release an alternate version of Zeitgeist when he gets back the rights to the material.
