Last Wednesday, Billy Corgan and long time collaborator/drummer Jimmy Chamberlin spoke with Zane Lowe of BBC Radio 1 about the future of the Smashing Pumpkins. The short interview touched base on the previous break up, the current tour, and most importantly, what they’re going to do now.

“We’re going to start doing tours that are focused on particular periods,” Corgan explained. “So we’ll go out and actually do a tour where we say, ‘Okay, we’re only going to play songs from the beginning of the band through Gish.’ We’ll probably play fairly small places, charge a good ticket, so you’ll have to be a fan if you want to come, but it’ll really be a good chance to revisit those times.”

Additionally, some unearthed material will surface by the year’s end, finally. But as for any forthcoming releases, Corgan and Chamberlin do shed some light. “We’re actually pretty full tilt into the future right now,” Chamberlin added. “We’re in the process of buying a space in Chicago, we’re going to build another what would be, Pumpkin 2.0″

Corgan also added that, “Rather than go away for awhile and then release, you know, a pile of music, we’re actually going to sort of release the album as we make it. So we’re talking about making an album, say over the course of three years, and try to come up with a level of work the size of Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie [and the Infinite Sadness].”

This isn’t the first time the band has done something off the chart. In 2000, they did offer up their sixth album, Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music, free to download online. Something I’m sure plenty of bands do today. (Radiohead, anyone?) We’ll have to see how far this idea goes. For now, the Pumpkins will continue touring Europe in support of their latest EP, American Gothic.

Apparently, the sun never sets for the Pumpkin camp.

Check out:
“Mayonaise” (1/31/08’s performance in Vienna)

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Categories: News
Tags: The Smashing Pumpkins