Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan says he could write a song that sounds like Siamese Dream “in five minutes” – he just chooses not to
It’s not a matter of whether or not he can, but whether or not he wants to, so says Billy Corgan of the prospect of writing another Siamese Dream.
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman recently shared insights into his creative process, saying he could easily replicate the sound of the band’s iconic 1993 album if he chooses to.
READ MORE: Billy Corgan slams ‘greatest guitar player’ lists for not placing him higher: “They’ll put me behind somebody who I could play circles around”
Of his approach to songwriting, Corgan tells Premier Guitar: “I think it’s more trying to find something that seems to signify whatever’s happening at the moment. It’s a truthfulness.”
“You could say to me, ‘Hey, play me some Siamese-type thing that you would’ve done in ‘92,’ and in five minutes, I could write you something that would sound like a song that would’ve been a Siamese song in ‘92.”
“I can dial in any era of the band or my writing at will, because they’re all based on methodologies and certain emotional templates,” he explains. “So, I’m trying to do that for today. What is the 2024 version of that that makes me feel something — anything at all?”
The musician also speaks about his relationship with the guitar, such as the fact that he doesn’t actually pick up the instrument much unless he’s working.
“If I pick up a guitar, I’m looking to play something that surprises me. It’s whatever comes out,” says Corgan. “And sometimes you hit the wrong chord and go, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ Or you find a new inversion or something that you never thought of before. You try to play a different scale run than you’ve played 10,000 times, always landing on the same note. It’s just looking for something just a little bit new.”
“I find oftentimes, in that quiet solitude of just you and the guitar, this communication can happen that sort of expresses something about yourself that is surprising – an emotional feeling or a way of approach.”
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