smashing pumpkins atum tour

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce 2023 North American The World Is A Vampire Tour

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS INTERPOL, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS & RIVAL SONS  

General on-sale starts friday, march 31 at 10am local  , release new single ‘spellbinding’   , confirm final act of trilogy album atum    to be released may 5  , performed ‘1979’ and ‘empires’ on siriusxm’s    the howard stern show this morning  .

LISTEN  

‘SPELLBINDING’  

LISTEN    

‘EMPIRES’  

PRE-ORDER/ADD/SAVE  

ATUM  

THIRTY-THREE WITH WILLIAM PA TRICK CORGAN (IHEARTPODCAST)  

THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES  

07/28 – The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas, NV 

07/30 – The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas, NV 

08/01 – USANA Amphitheatre – Salt Lake City, UT* 

08/03 – Shoreline Amphitheatre – Mountain View, CA*  

08/05 – White River Amphitheatre – Auburn, WA*  

08/06 – Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, OR*  

08/07 – Toyota Amphitheatre – Wheatland, CA*  

08/09 – FivePoint Amphitheatre – Irvine, CA*  

08/10 – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – Chula Vista, CA*  

08/11 – Yaamava’ Resort & Casino - Highland, CA** 

08/13 – Isleta Amphitheater – Albuquerque, NM^  

08/15 – Dos Equis Pavillion – Dallas, TX^  

08/16 – Walmart AMP – Rogers, AR^  

08/17 – The Orion Amphitheater – Huntsville, AL^  

08/19 – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL^  

08/20 – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre – Tampa, FL^  

08/22 – PNC Music Pavilion – Charlotte, NC^  

08/24 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ^  

08/25 – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion – Gilford, NH^  

08/30 – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY^  

08/31 – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA^  

09/02 – Budweiser Stage – Toronto, ON^  

09/03 – Canadian Tire Centre – Ottawa, ON ^  

09/06 – Pine Knob Music Theatre – Clarkston, MI^^ 

09/08 – FirstBank Amphitheater – Franklin, TN^  

09/09 – Ruoff Music Center – Noblesville, IN^  

^ w/ Interpol & Rival Sons  

* w/ Stone Temple Pilots & Rival Sons  

**w/ Stone Temple Pilots  

^^ w/ Interpol  

The Smashing Pumpkins , today announced their 26-date North American THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE TOUR. Produced by Live Nation , the tour is set to start on Friday, July 28 at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas . The tour will feature special guests Interpol, Stone Temple Pilots and Rival Sons as support on various dates, as well as some of the world’s biggest champions from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) , who will be competing in most cities. THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE TOUR has already sold-out 30k plus capacity shows in Mexico City this year, as well in cities across Australia this spring, and is set to expand to more countries in the future. Artist pre-sale begins Tuesday, March 28 at 12pm local until Thursday, March 30 at 10pm local . General on-sale starts Friday, March 31 at 10am local. For more details go to: https://smashingpumpkins.com/tour/  

“I grew up in a world where I needed to know bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure existed, it meant there was a place for people like me to hang out and belong. That’s what The World Is A Vampire is about. Bringing back that sense of community. If you don’t fit in, you belong here. It’s about having a shared experience and respecting others, but ultimately having fun. A true alternative festival, where all the self-proclaimed weirdos and outsiders of the world can get together and have a party” – Billy Corgan  

Along with news of their upcoming tour, the band released their brand-new single Spellbinding which received its radio debut this morning during a very special live appearance on The Howard Stern Show, revealing details of their upcoming tour and the release date for their highly anticipated third and final act of ATUM , which is set for release on May 5 . Act 3 will come with a special edition boxset featuring all 33 album tracks plus 10 additional unreleased songs, and is available for pre-order HERE.     The band performed ‘ 1979’ and ‘ EMPIRES’ live in the studio. Watch or listen to their interview on The Howard Stern Show HERE  

ATUM features 33-tracks in 3 acts and is the sequel to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/Machine of God . ATUM was written and produced by Corgan over the past 4 years. 22 tracks have been released to date, with Beguiled continuing to climb at both Active Rock (peaked at #6) and Alternative Radio Charts (#12).  

In other news, Corgan’s popular podcast series Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan continues to quench the thirst of dedicated Pumpkins fans all over the world, offering listeners the chance to hear never-before-released ATUM tracks, as-well as diving into various aspects of the band’s illustrious history. Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and available on iHeartRadio and everywhere podcasts are heard. To learn more, click HERE.  

When  The Smashing Pumpkins  first emerged out of Chicago in 1988, the world had never heard a band quite like them. They spun together rock, pop, shoe-gaze, metal, goth, psychedelia, and electronic into a kaleidoscope of saccharine melodies, fuzzy distortion, bombastic orchestration, incendiary fretwork, eloquent songcraft, and unshakable hooks. Upon their formation, their sound was different, iconoclastic, and wholly new—and it still is today. As a result, they’ve sold over 30 million albums worldwide and collected two GRAMMY® Awards, two MTV VMAs, and an American Music Award. Their catalog is highlighted by the platinum  Gish  [1991], the quadruple-platinum  Siamese Dream  [1993], diamond-certified  Mellon Collie  and the Infinite Sadness  [1995], platinum  Adore  [1998], and gold  Machina/The Machines of God  [2000]. In 2018, they embarked on one of their most successful tours ever, the  Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour , followed by  SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN.  Meanwhile, 2020 saw the release of the band’s eleventh full-length and latest double album,  CYR . As prolific as ever,  The Smashing Pumpkins  are currently working on new music. More details to come. 

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Live Nation Entertainment   Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Sponsorship. For additional information, visit  www.livenationentertainment.com .   

National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)  

History will be made as the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), owned by Smashing Pumpkins front man  Billy Corgan , will be sending some of its biggest stars and Champions to compete at most of the festival locations. Originally founded in 1948, the NWA has been a cornerstone of professional wrestling on a global scale for generations as a promotion and a governing body. Under Corgan’s leadership, the NWA is reaching new heights in the sport and is growing an international fan base. Featured talents include NWA Women’s World Champion Kamille, NWA World Tag Team Champions Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Kerry Morton, Trevor Murdoch, Natalia Markova, Chris Adonis, Thom Latimer, EC3, Thrillbilly Silas Mason, Odinson, Mercurio, Kenzie Paige, Missa Kate, and many more. Be a part of the action as NWA titles and reputations will be on the line in this unique concert environment unlike any other. https://www.nationalwrestlingalliance.com  

Interpol   

Interpol began in New York in 1997, when guitarist Daniel Kessler recruited bassist Carlos Dengler and singer/guitarist Paul Banks to form a band. In 2002, with Sam Fogarino on drums, the band signed to Matador records and released Turn On The Bright Lights, which made it to 10th position on NME’s list of 2002’s top releases and Pitchfork named it the year’s #1 album. Over the next two decades would go on to wide critical and commercial acclaim, with six subsequent high charting records on the Billboard 200; earning rave reviews across the map from Rolling Stone to TIME; performing on late night television shows including the Late Late show with David Letterman and Conan and playing major festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury and headlining Mexico’s Corona Capital. The band (Banks, Kessler and Fogarino) released their 7th album, “The Other Side Of Make-Believe”, in July 2022 to critical acclaim. MOJO called the album “quietly masterful”, Clash hailed it as “some of the boldest, most uncompromising work of their career”, and NME described it as “a confident, rewarding and subtly adventurous new chapter”. They’re touring across the globe in 2023. 

Rival Sons  

Rival Sons play rock ‘n’ roll in its purest form without apology or pretense. Instead, they simply plug in, turn up, and rip on a path of their own. Along the way, they’ve architected a critically acclaimed catalog, including Pressure & Time [2011], Head Down [2012], Great Western Valkyrie [2014], Hollow Bones [2016], and FERAL ROOTS [2019]. The latter represented a creative and critical high watermark, scoring a pair of GRAMMY® Award nominations in the categories of “Best Rock Album” and “Best Rock Performance” for the single “Too Bad.” Elevating the band to another level, “Do Your Worst” vaulted to #1 at Rock Radio as their biggest hit to date, tallying north of 60 million streams and counting. Speaking to their impact, Rolling Stone attested, “Rival Sons have done their part to introduce new fans to rock.” Beyond sharing stages with everyone from Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, and AC/DC to Guns N’ Roses and Lenny Kravitz, they’ve ignited television shows such as The Late Late Show with James Corden. During 2021, they launched their own label Sacred Tongue Recordings distributed by Thirty Tigers and celebrated the tenth anniversary of Pressure & Time by performing the album in its entirety on tour. Ultimately, Rival Sons aren’t here to tell you exactly what to think or what to feel, but they’ll give you one hell of a ride if you let them. That ride twists and turns like never before on their 2023 seventh full-length LP, DARKFIGHTER [Low Country Sound / Atlantic Records] kickstarted by the single “Nobody Wants to Die.” https://www.rivalsons.com  

Stone Temple Pilots  

With over 70 million albums sold, Stone Temple Pilots roared on to the scene in 1992 with their raucous debut, Core. A breakout success, the album peaked #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and dominated radio waves with hits like “Sex Type Thing,” “Wicked Garden,” and the Grammy-Award winning smash single, “Plush.” STP quickly distinguished themselves as a band beholden to no trend. Boasting the inimitable riffs of guitarist Dean DeLeo, the propulsive rhythm section of bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz, and the charismatic baritone of frontman Scott Weiland, STP ruled airways, video playlists and charts alike over their legendary career. The band released their latest studio album, Perdida in 2020 with new lead singer, Jeff Gutt. Paste magazine described Perdida as the most sonically rich experience that Stone Temple Pilots have offered fans to date. www.stonetemplepilots.com  

For all media inquiries, please contact:  

Alexandra Baker | [email protected]  

Jamie Sward | [email protected]  

Read more about

• " Beguiled " Released: September 20, 2022
• " Spellbinding " Released: March 28, 2023
• " Empires " Released: April 13, 2023

ATUM (pronounced like "Autumn" [6] ), or ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts , is the twelfth studio album and third concept album by The Smashing Pumpkins . It features 33 songs that form a three-act rock opera that is the sequel to 1995's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000's Machina/The Machines of God . The album was announced on September 19, 2022 via Madame ZuZu's newsletter.

The album was released in three separate installments of 11 songs— ATUM: Act I was released on November 15, 2022, ATUM: Act II was released on January 31, 2023, and ATUM: Act III was released on May 5, 2023. A physical box set consisting of all 33 songs, along with a group of 10 additional exclusive songs, was also released on May 5, 2023. The 10 additional songs are what the band had originally recorded as the third volume of the Shiny and Oh So Bright series, entitled Zodeon At Crystal Hall .

Background [ edit | edit source ]

Billy Corgan first announced his plans to release a "sequel" concept album to Mellon Collie (1995) and Machina (2000) in October 2020, shortly prior to the release of the band's eleventh studio album CYR in November 2020. [7] Corgan had wanted to do it as early as 2017 or 2018, but with everything going on with the band at the time, including guitarist James Iha being back in the band for the first time in 18 years, and plotting a large tour around 3/4 of the original band being together again, he instead opted on the less-ambitions 8 song album Shiny and Oh So Bright (2018). [8] [9] When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out years later and cancelled much of the bands planned touring, Corgan found himself with a lot of time on his hands and decided to revisit the concept. [8] The album was recorded over a span of 2 years, some of it concurrently with CYR . [9]

Concept and synopsis [ edit | edit source ]

ATUM is a concept album that Corgan describes as a sequel to the band's albums Mellon Collie and Machina . [10] The album tells the story of the same character followed in the prior two albums ("Zero" and "Glass", respectively), with the character now being much older than portrayed in the prior albums, and now known as "Shiny". [11] Similar to the prior albums, the story is described by Corgan as having "...one foot in reality and one foot in a made up world... It’s based on a lot of autobiographical things. But there’s lots of things that are things I'm just interested in exploring that don’t necessarily have anything to do with me." [11]

ATUM was released in three acts, [12] each consisting of 11 songs. Each act was scheduled to be released 11 weeks after the prior with all three acts being released together on April 21, [12] though the final release was ultimately pushed back to May 5. Concurrent to the release of Act III , a physical box set containing all 33 songs, and an additional 10 extra songs, was released. [12] The release schedule was designed by Corgan to help listener pace themselves in digesting the large body of work. [13] The 10 songs exclusive to the box set were recorded prior to the album's songs, and is what Corgan described as a psychedelic rock record that was originally intended to be the third volume of the Shiny and Oh So Bright series [14] entitled Zodeon At Crystal Hall , with volume 2 being what became CYR . [15]

Sound [ edit | edit source ]

Contrary to CYR' s electronic and guitar-light sound, Corgan described ATUM as more guitar-driven in its sound. [16] He describes the sound as going "into a million different directions", noting that around a third of the album is "heavy", a third of it sounds "kind of more similar to what [the band has] been doing recently", and a third of it sounds more " esoteric " in advancing the concept/musical aspects of the album. [16]

Release and promotion [ edit | edit source ]

The album's title and three part release structure was announced on September 19, 2022. [17] The album's first single, " Beguiled ", was released the following day. [17] Corgan also conducted a weekly podcast called Thirty-Three , where he played and dissected a new song from ATUM each week prior to release. [18]

Each act was scheduled to be released 11 weeks after the prior. ATUM: Act I was released on November 15, 2022, ATUM: Act II was released on January 31, 2023, and ATUM: Act III was released on May 5, 2023, pushed back from the original date of April 21. [19] A physical box-set, consisting of all 33 songs, along with a group of 10 additional exclusive songs, was also released on May 5, 2023. [19] Pre-orders for the box set went on sale on Madame Zuzu's website on September 19, 2022, with two options: the black vinyl edition, and the autographed "milky way gray" vinyl edition. Both are machine-numbered, include four LPs, five 7" records of exclusive songs, a special audio story of "Act I/Atum", and a complete lyric book and story narrative. Units started shipping in May 2023, with no online streaming of the exclusive songs until "at least winter of 2023." [20]

The ten additional songs, which will be spread across five 7-inch singles, were revealed in the fourth episode of Corgan's Thirty-Three podcast to be the shelved Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 3 album. In the final episode of the podcast, "Of Wings", Corgan revealed the title for volume three is Zodeon At Crystal Hall and that six of the bonus songs are from the true album, which is eleven songs total, with the other four being B-sides.

The band embarked on the Spirits On Fire tour of North America with Jane's Addiction and Poppy leading up to the album's first release, with Our Lady Peace filling in on select Canadian dates for Jane's Addiction, and Meg Myers doing the same for Poppy on two of the US dates. [21] On March 28, 2023 " Spellbinding " was released on streaming as the album's second single. [22] It was also used in the end credits for the Netflix movie Murder Mystery 2 on Netflix. [23] On the same day that "Spellbinding" was released, the band also announced a summer North American tour entitled The World Is A Vampire tour . Consisting of amphitheaters, an indoor arena, and a couple smaller indoor theaters, the band will continue to promote ATUM while having support from Stone Temple Pilots , Interpol , and Rival Sons . This comes after the festivals of the same name that took place in Mexico City and in eight Australian cities.

On April 13, 2023, the music video for " Empires " was released, showing performance footage from the Spirits on Fire tour. It was directed by Kevin Kerslake whom also directed the music video for " Cherub Rock ". On May 6, 2023, the band released a trailer for an apparent ATUM film, also directed by Kerslake. [24]

Track listing [ edit | edit source ]

All tracks are written by Billy Corgan.

Release history [ edit | edit source ]

More releases: Discogs • MusicBrainz

Personnel [ edit | edit source ]

The smashing pumpkins [ edit | edit source ].

• Billy Corgan – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizers
• James Iha – guitar
• Jeff Schroeder – guitar, keyboards
• Jimmy Chamberlin – drums

Additional musicians [ edit | edit source ]

• Katie Cole – backing vocals, vocal arrangements
• Sierra Swan – backing vocals

Choir [ edit | edit source ]

• Kimberly Fleming – choir lead
• April Rucker – choir
• Devonne Fowlkes – choir
• Jovan Bender – choir
• Kimberly Nicole Mont – choir
• Wilmer Terrell Hunt – choir

Orchestra [ edit | edit source ]

• Tim Lauer – string arrangement, piano, celeste, harpsichord, percussion
• Kristin Wilkinson – orchestra lead
• David Davidson – violin
• David Angell – violin
• Alicia Enstrom – violin
• Kristin Wilkinson – viola
• Monisa Angell – viola
• Andrew Dunn – cello
• Austin Hoke – cello
• Craig Nelson – string bass
• Erik Gratton – flute, alto flute, bass flute
• Somerlie Depasquale – oboe, English horn
• Emily Bowland – clarinet, bass clarinet
• Jennifer Kummer – French horn
• Steve Patrick – trumpet, flugelhorn
• Rachel Miller – harp
• Stephen Lamb – additional orchestration

Act I story [ edit | edit source ]

• Bill Kurtis – narration
• Grace Bahler – voice acting
• Norm Boucher – voice acting
• Rafer Brian – voice acting
• Amy O'Keefer – voice acting
• Jennifer Weigel – voice acting
• James Zoccoli – voice acting

Production [ edit | edit source ]

• Billy Corgan – production
• Howard Willing – engineering, mixing
• Nikola Dokic – additional recording
• Doug Clarke – additional recording
• Josiah Mazzaschi – additional recording
• Matt Walker – additional programming
• Andrew Scheps – mixing
• Ryan Hewitt – mixing
• Dave Schiffman – mixing
• Ryan Smith – mastering

Artwork [ edit | edit source ]

• Liz Hirsch – art direction, design
• Michael Grasley – artwork, pod/blueprint design
• Paul Elledge – photography

Charts [ edit | edit source ]

References [ edit | edit source ].

• ↑ Collar, Matt (May 5, 2023). "Atum - The Smashing Pumpkins" . AllMusic . Retrieved May 5, 2023 .
• ↑ Jones, Damian (May 5, 2023). "The Smashing Pumpkins – 'ATUM' review: bombastic space-rock opera with anthems" . NME . Retrieved May 5, 2023 .
• ↑ Epstein, Dan (May 8, 2023). Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/smashing-pumpkins-atum-act-three-1234731395/ . Retrieved April 9, 2024 . Missing or empty |title= ( help )
• ↑ No Ripcord https://www.noripcord.com/reviews/music/smashing-pumpkins/atum . Retrieved April 9, 2024 . Missing or empty |title= ( help )
• ↑ Grow, Kory. "Smashing Pumpkins Tease 'Mellon Collie' Sequel With New Song 'Beguiled ' " . Rolling Stone . Retrieved September 20, 2022 .
• ↑ Childers, Chad ChildersChad. "Smashing Pumpkins Confirm 'Mellon Collie' + 'Machina' Sequel" . Loudwire .
• ↑ 8.0 8.1 Skinner, Tom (September 20, 2022). "Smashing Pumpkins release new single 'Beguiled' and tell us about their three-part "rock opera", 'ATUM ' " .
• ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Billy Corgan on new album ATUM: "It goes in a million different…" . Kerrang! .
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Announce New Album Atum, a Sequel to Mellon Collie and Machina" . Pitchfork . September 20, 2022.
• ↑ 11.0 11.1 Skinner, Tom (September 20, 2022). "Smashing Pumpkins release new single 'Beguiled' and tell us about their three-part "rock opera", 'ATUM ' " .
• ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "The Smashing Pumpkins announce 33-track, three-act rock opera album, ATUM — Kerrang!" . www.kerrang.com .
• ↑ "Billy Corgan on new album ATUM: "It goes in a million different…" . Kerrang! .
• ↑ Corgan, Billy. "Ebracer (with YUNGBLUD)" . iHeartPodcasts . Retrieved October 13, 2022 .
• ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/SmashingPumpkins/comments/izxea1/cyr_is_in_fact_saosb_v2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
• ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Billy Corgan on new album ATUM: "It goes in a million different…" . Kerrang! .
• ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Smashing Pumpkins Announce New Album 'Atum', Share 'Beguiled' Single" . BLABBERMOUTH.NET . September 20, 2022.
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins announce 33-track, three-act rock opera album, ATUM — Kerrang!" . www.kerrang.com .
• ↑ 19.0 19.1 Young, Alex (September 20, 2022). "Smashing Pumpkins announce 33-song rock opera ATUM" .
• ↑ https://madamezuzus.com/collections/atum-box-set-preorder/products/autographed-atum-box-set
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Announce Fall 2022 North American Tour" . Pitchfork . May 11, 2022.
• ↑ "Smashing Pumpkins share new song 'Spellbinding', announce US tour with Interpol" . NME . March 28, 2023.
• ↑ "Murder Mystery 2 soundtrack: All of the songs featured in the movie" . March 31, 2023.
• ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr6k1Xys7R6/
• ↑ Notes which character in the story of ATUM is singing the song
• ↑ "Australiancharts.com – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum - A Rock Opera in Three Acts" . Hung Medien. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
• ↑ "Longplay Charts vom 16. Mai 2023" . Ö3 Austria Top 40 . 2023-05-16 . Retrieved May 16, 2023 .
• ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum - A Rock Opera in Three Acts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
• ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum - A Rock Opera in Three Acts" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
• ↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100" . ČNS IFPI . Note : On the chart page, select {{{date}}} on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
• ↑ "Lescharts.com – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum - A Rock Opera in Three Acts" . Hung Medien. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
• ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum" (in German). w:GfK Entertainment Charts . Retrieved May 12, 2023.
• ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum - A Rock Opera in Three Acts" . Hung Medien. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
• ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100" . Official Charts Company . Retrieved May 12, 2023.
• ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum - A Rock Opera in Three Acts" . Hung Medien. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
• ↑ "Swisscharts.com – The Smashing Pumpkins – Atum - A Rock Opera in Three Acts" . Hung Medien. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
• ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100" . Official Charts Company . Retrieved May 12, 2023.
• ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50" . Official Charts Company . Retrieved May 13, 2023.
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History ( Billboard 200)" . Billboard . Retrieved May 16, 2023.
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (Independent Albums)" . Billboard . Retrieved May 16, 2023.
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)" . Billboard . Retrieved May 16, 2023.
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (Top Rock Albums)" . Billboard . Retrieved May 16, 2023.
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)" . Billboard . Retrieved May 19, 2023.
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (US Top Rock & Alternative Albums)" . Billboard . Retrieved May 19, 2023 .
• ↑ "The Smashing Pumpkins Chart History (Vinyl Albums)" . Billboard .
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The Smashing Pumpkins Detail New 3-Act Rock Opera, ‘ATUM’, Sequel To ‘Mellon Collie’ & ‘Machina’ [Listen]

The Smashing Pumpkins  will complete an album cycle over a quarter century in the making with the release of  ATUM (pronounced Autumn). Due out in full on April 21st, 2023, the three-act rock opera will serve as a sequel to the band’s 1995 opus Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness  and 2000’s  Machina/Machine of God . Along with Tuesday’s announcement, the alt-grunge forefathers shared the lead single, “Beguiled”.

ATUM  is a fittingly expansive project for The Smashing Pumpkins, with frontman  Billy Corgan  reportedly spending the past four years on the 33-song album. Each of the three 11-song acts will come out every 11 weeks on digital platforms, with Act 1 on November 15th, 2022, Act 2 on January 31st, 2023, and Act 3 on April 21st, 2023. The arrival of Act 3 will coincide with the release of a special edition box set that contains all 33 songs plus ten bonus tracks.

Each week for the next 33 weeks, The Smashing Pumpkins will release a new single via the new podcast  Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan . The first two episodes are out now and feature the album’s title track and “Butterfly Suite”. Each episode also includes a dive into Pumpkins history, a classic track, and a special guest including Mike Garson  (David Bowie) in episode one and the band’s producer/sound engineer Tommy Lipnick  in episode two.

Related: Billy Corgan Dusts Off Zwan, Smashing Pumpkins Rarities At Madame Zuzu’s [Videos]

“Beguiled” opens with an interesting combination of a metal-inspired guitar riff and an 808 drum track, but Corgan’s moan gives the track a sleek, modern tone that brings the spirit of Mellon Collie  and  Machina  into the 2020s. The single builds on the dystopian aura the band fostered with 2020’s  Cyr   and adds some of the edge that defined its earlier days. The Smashing Pumpkins will debut “Beguiled” live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon  on Friday.

Listen to The Smashing Pumpkins’ new single “Beguiled” below and click here to pre-order ATUM . The first two episodes of  Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan  are available below and wherever you listen to podcasts . Next month, the band will head out on the  Spirits On Fire  North American arena tour with Jane’s Addiction . Tickets and a full list of tour dates are available here .

The Smashing Pumpkins – “Beguiled”

The Smashing Pumpkins – “Beguiled” (Official Video)

Thirty-Three with William Patrick Corgan

Smashing Pumpkins’ Album Release Show: Billy Corgan Reveals Origins of ‘1979’ and How He Brought Wrestling on Tour

By Sophia Scorziello

Sophia Scorziello

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Billy Corgan is always looking for another envelope to push.

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In 2017, Corgan bought and revived the National Wrestling Alliance, which, before the rise of the WWE, was the premier brand in professional wrestling.

“When I bought the company six years ago, people automatically assumed I’d incorporate into music because it’s the easy thing to do. So we had to really build up the credibility of the company, and now we feel very confident that we can take that in front of a mainstream crowd,” Corgan added.

He said of fusing his two passions, “We just did a show in Mexico with 30,000 people and then 10 shows in Australia. And everyday, it’s amazing to watch thousands of people just gather around the ring and just enjoy it.”

At the iHeartRadio Theater show, the Smashing Pumpkins played new releases and a bevy of greatest hits including “1979,” “Cherub Rock” and “Ava Adore.” They even did a spoken-word rendition of the Talking Head’s “Once In a Life Time.”

Corgan also dove into the timeline behind the fan favorite “1979,” revealing that he actually wrote the song about the year 1984 during the year 1994.

“I had written it as a poem, and all the lyrics are actually as I wrote the poem,” Corgan told Booker and Stryker. “So when I wrote the the song I was looking for something, and I stumbled across the poem and I just sang it. I can’t say anything like that has ever happened again.”

The show was short, clocking in at just over an hour, but there was no loss of energy from Corgan and the band, including guitarist Jeff Schroerer, who has been with the Smashing Pumpkins since 2006, and backing vocalist Sierra Swan. Together they riled up the crowd with solos, occasional middle fingers and handfuls of leftover guitar picks.

Since acquiring the NWA, Corgan has brought pro-wrestlers like Mayra Dias Gomes, known in the ring as May Valentine, to the forefront with his music. Gomes joined Corgan backstage at the show, where she discussed how working with the band helped launch her career.

“I had to work really, really hard,” Gomes told Variety . She had to overcome being more than just “Billy’s friend” as Corgan explained, and make a name for herself. Her move into the wrestling community was a huge pivot from her previous career as a writer and a journalist at Rolling Stone, among other publications.

“Atum” has been framed as a sequel to the band’s former projects “Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” and “Machina/The Machines of God.” The 33-track album will be complete with the final act’s release on May 5. After that, the rockers will embark on their North American The World is a Vampire tour starting in July, where they will be joined by Interpol, Jane’s Addiction and Stone Temple Pilots.

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• Cover Story

The Smashing Pumpkins announce 33-track, three-act rock opera album, ATUM

‘A rock opera in three acts’, the “sprawling” ATUM will feature 33 brand-new Smashing Pumpkins songs. Oh yeah, and there’s an accompanying podcast by Billy Corgan!

Having previously revealed that they were working on a “sprawling” new record, The Smashing Pumpkins have officially confirmed details of the colossal ATUM: their 33-song, three-part rock opera album.

The Chicago alt. legends will be dropping ATUM – which is the sequel to 1995’s iconic Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina / The Machine Of God – in three ‘acts’, with act 1 arriving on November 15, act 2 following on January 31, and the final act seeing the light of day on April 21 with a special edition box set.

If that’s not enough Pumpkins for you, the band have also shared new single Beguiled, which you can check out below; on top of that, frontman Billy Corgan has announced a new podcast, Thirty-Three With William Patrick Corgan, with each song from ATUM being drip-fed (and broken down in detail) via this format for the next 33 weeks.

Two episodes are out now over at this link , and they include two brand-new songs from ATUM – the title-track and Butterfly Suite.

Read this: The 20 greatest Smashing Pumpkins songs – ranked

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Pearl Jam, Avril, BMTH and more for Mad Cool Festival 2024

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By Brad Shoup

Martha’s Music

May 11, 2023

No one can accuse William Patrick Corgan of skimping on lore. He’s produced reams of it as a  bandmate ,  interviewee ,  blogger ,  Infowars guest ,  wrestling impresario , and  tea-shop proprietor . His musical output with the  Smashing Pumpkins is also lore-heavy, albeit haphazard: The band’s album discography has both a  Vol. 1 without a  Vol. 2 and a  II without a  I . That  II , however, was a turning point for the Pumpkins, as Corgan (a notoriously prolific writer whose  B-sides have shipped platinum) began setting formats and concepts loose upon each other. A singles campaign  became an album; an album  became “an album within an album”; that outermost album  became an abandoned project. With  ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts , Corgan raises the stakes. He’s pitched it as the third in a retconned trilogy of concept albums that began with 1995’s  Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and continued with 2000’s  Machina/The Machines of God .

Corgan’s previous attempts to cast  Mellon and  Machina as something more than good-to-magnificent alt-rock albums—he once teased  Mellon Collie as  The Wall for Gen Xers , and recruited  professional animators and  amateur sleuths to flesh out the story of  Machina —were, in wrestling terms, a work. But on  ATUM  (pronounced, maddeningly, like the season) he sells the storyline like never before. The cover art suggests a space-rock album illustrated by Roger Dean; the stuffy subtitle places it in the distinguished lineage of Corgan’s  beloved   Savatage . Over 33 songs and two-plus hours, he presents the saga of Shiny, a has-been rocker (and incarnation of a character known on  Machina as Glass, and on  Mellon Collie as Zero) exiled into space for unspecified thoughtcrimes. As Shiny makes his unexpected return to Earth, a cadre of admirers and hackers desperately tries to remind the public of his significance, while the perfidious ruling class schemes to co-opt him for its own ends. 

The full story is sketched out in  ATUM ’s “lyric handbook,” but throughout this album’s protracted rollout ( Part I was released in November,  Part II in January), Corgan has been recapping the narrative on his debut podcast.  Thirty-Three combines buzzy guests like  Willow Smith and the voice of Roger Rabbit with Corgan’s Twitter Blue-grade takes on current events. When discussing  ATUM with his solicitous co-hosts—both employees of the Corgan-owned National Wrestling Alliance—Corgan lavished far more attention on the text than the compositions.

All that extracurricular effort is necessary, because almost none of the narrative makes it to the actual recording. Even the larger plot points—or just the  characters —of Corgan’s techno-libertarian saga are submerged at a level below subtext. Always inclined toward quaint turns of phrase, he’s reached a syntactical point of no return. His couplets scan like palindromes extracted from Coheed and Cambria lyrics. “In parried odes to thy mountains/The spirit of us was pungent laughter,” he declares on “Intergalactic.” On the squelchy, plaintive “Night Waves,” he muses, “Are we null at keel/Where mistakes appeal?” Oh shit, are we?

The result is a rock opera that coasts on vibes. Sometimes that vibe is simply  Muse , as on the bombastic, backing vocalist-heavy “Empires” or “That Which Animates the Spirit.” Other times, it is unexpectedly peculiar. “Hooray!” is squelchy high-plains Hi-NRG, replete with Syndrum hits and an organ tone I last encountered on the  Carrie Cleveland reissue . Within the story of  ATUM , it’s performed by an animatronic band in a shuttered amusement park. (Discussing the song on the podcast, one of Corgan’s co-hosts asked him—in all innocence—“Is there a part of you that had an experience at an  amusement park ?”) The song is followed by the yearning synth-pop of “The Gold Mask,” which successfully lashes  Future Islands to the delay effect from “ I Ran (So Far Away) ”. Doomy power ballad “The Culling” rides a slide guitar solo into a three-way conversation between Moog, soaring wordless vocals, and some of Jimmy Chamberlin’s most dramatic drumming.

Chamberlin gets his best opportunities to show out during  ATUM ’s final act, the set’s proggiest. The pace slows; the songs creep past the five-minute mark. It feels like Corgan and company are savoring their stroll to the finish, or maybe straining to leave a good impression. But this section stretches more than it soars and relies on invocation as a dramatic effect. There’s something fascinating, I suppose, in Corgan hollering “Zero! Zero! Zero!” like it’s a Saturday-morning superhero cartoon theme. But what do we get out of him whining “Glory glory, hallelujah”? Or “Agnus Dei”? (For fans of Pumpkins pronunciation, we get a “deus ex machina” sung like  do sex machine .) It’s a relief when they invoke “Zero” as  a song instead of a callback: There’s as much fun to be had in the oompah thrash of “Harmageddon” or the sighing groove metal of “In Lieu of Failure” as in the transparently goofy “Hooray!”

The stylistic flexes are enjoyable, but the bulk of  ATUM is aimed squarely at modern rock radio. If you’re familiar with 2020’s  CYR , you know the drill: streamlined synth-rock, only this time Chamberlin’s not platooning with an 808. Even so, the formula produces pleasures. Chamberlin stomps around Corgan’s sequencer on “Neophyte,” turning the singer’s rueful trudge into a disco strut. It’s almost as bold a choice as Corgan pronouncing the phrase “Philistine or Elohim” so it doesn’t rhyme. Penultimate track “Spellbinding” resolves the meter-shifting dream-pop pulse of its verses with a fist-pumping power pop chorus. “Take me away/I’m going to find you!” Corgan cries, trailed by a nice little .38 Special twin-guitar sting. “To the Grays” plays like a keening, synth-spangled take on “Dancing in the Dark”: The snare sound is more wack and there are a couple more references to burning fields of cosmic space. But the nervy pulse is there, and so is the romanticism, which is the true echo of the Pumpkins’ older work.

ATUM doesn’t necessarily suffer by comparison to past albums. Its highs are more modest. The ferocity is long gone. (At the end of the saga, having riled up allies and enemies alike, Shiny yeets himself back into space.) But in its own ponderous way, it is generous. And anyway, comparisons to past albums are kind of a Smashing Pumpkins trademark: Corgan has already  announced that the band’s next project will be a “straight up rock’n’roll record” in the vein of  Siamese Dream and, um,  Mellon Collie . Perhaps the release of a fully realized—if obliquely written—rock opera has freed him from the gravitational pull of conceptualism. That, more than anything, would guarantee  ATUM ’s place in Smashing Pumpkins lore.

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Armin Van Buuren at Ushuaïa Ibiza: 2024 Line-Ups for Five Unforgettable Sundays

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The decision to roll out the Smashing Pumpkins’ new album over several months was a wise one. The first act of  ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts was released all the way back in November 2022, while Act Two followed in January and Act Three arrived just last week. For most fans, all that new music would be more than enough. For the truly engaged, though, Billy Corgan also hosted a weekly podcast called Thirty-Three  in which he premiered and dissected each song. That’s right: ATUM spans 33 tracks totalling two hours and twenty minutes. It’s billed as a sequel to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness  and 2000’s  Machina/The Machines of God , but it’s also a trilogy in its own right. You have to hand it to the true defenders of the uncool for tackling a 33-track space opera in the year 2023, but you’d have to be crazy to take it in all at once, which is why that release strategy made sense. And yet, “crazy” being a better descriptor of my disposition than “devoted Smashing Pumpkins fan,” that’s exactly what I did.

Unless you want to spend an extra hour in Corgan’s company for each 3-5 minute song that you hear (there are some longer ones, but we’ll get to them), the narrative arc of ATUM will probably slip by you. It continues the story of Shiny, the main character who first appeared on Mellon Collie , and it begins with him being exiled in space. It’s not exactly a metaphor for Corgan and the band’s trajectory but it’s also not not about him. It’s self-aware but not in a way that forces you to participate in whatever narrativizing is taking place, which, again, is smart optics. Even for those willing to sit through the entire album, it’s sort of designed in a way that allows you to dismiss that whole aspect of it. “It’s actually hard-baked in there that I would assume that most people won’t follow the story,” Corgan said in an interview with Rolling Stone . (He also noted that his bandmates initially responded to the concept with “a big shrug.”)

If there’s a central conceit to  ATUM , it’s not the driving force behind it. So what is? It’s hard to tell, which is one of the album’s biggest weaknesses; it often sounds like Corgan is throwing a million ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks, or which songs stick better together. The ambition is always there, but not always the inspiration or follow-through. Though it’s far more guitar-driven and conceptually focused than its predecessor, 2020’s CYR , it suffers from the same problem of being merely serviceable even when it takes some risks. It’s just that ATUM  tries a lot more things and pulls from a wider range of influences, so now we get an album that varies more in quality and style.

One could probably make the case that there is a positive progression throughout the three acts, but each section nevertheless feels like a mixed bag. Act One sets the tone by easing us into the theatrical scope of the album with a collection of songs that are different but not exactly dynamic, straightforward but not particularly catchy or impactful. Vaguely alluding to ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’, ‘Butterfly Suite’ disappoints by having too much sparkle and little resonance, while ‘When the Rain Must Fall’ is a romantic ballad with all the yearning stifled. You get the sense that the band is willing to let more light into their sound but falls short of materializing it: ‘Hooray!’ is goofy in a way that might translate if you’re actually watching the band perform it, while the radio-friendly ‘Beyond the Vale’ – an early sign that the heaviest tracks on ATUM rely on chugging more than actual riffs – ends up sounding rather anonymous. By contrast, songs like ‘The Gold Mask’, which concludes Act One , and ‘Avalanche’, which kicks off the next one, glisten with real conviction, from Corgan’s sincere delivery to a stunning solo from James Iha on the latter.

One of the synthier cuts on  ATUM , ‘With Ado I Do’, is actually richer and more affecting than a lot of the songs on CYR . But even when they return to a more familiar rock sound, the album is too often marked by the same robotic production that hindered that album. While ‘Neophyte’ achieves the expected grandeur, its repetitiveness becomes cloying; ‘Beguiled’ is a fine single, but it strangely lacks the hint of weirdness that would set it apart (‘Empires’ does the no-frills rock thing much better). Fortunately, Act Three serves as LP’s most spirited and adventurous stretch, with both of the 8-plus-minute tracks offering enough to keep you engaged even if you have no investment in the album’s lore. The band even pulls off a decent experiment in power-pop with ‘Spellbinding’, which proves they can take the lighthearted synthpop route without sounding too dull. Overall, the strange thrill you can get from listening to the Smashing Pumpkins isn’t entirely absent on ATUM , but sometimes it felt like I could get the same feeling just by seeing Billy Corgan react to Yeat and save myself a couple of hours. Dig through the muck, though, and you’ll find the parts that shine.

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SMASHING PUMPKINS Announce New Summer 2024 North American Headline Tour Dates

Expanding an already stacked schedule, two-time Grammy Award -winning iconic rock band THE SMASHING PUMPKINS reveal a string of new North American headline performances in 2024. In addition to a combination of arena and headliner festival dates in Europe and North American stadium performances with GREEN DAY , as part of "The Saviors Tour" , the band added additional solo arena bookings that span July through September. This new run of dates kicks off on July 31 in Muskoka, Ontario at Kee to Bala, rolls through markets such as Kansas City, Cedar Rapids, St. Louis, and concludes on September 27 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Fontainebleau. Plus, they will close out Osheaga Festival as one of the headlining acts in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on August 3.

Tickets for the new dates will be available starting with an artist presale beginning Tuesday, April 2 at 10 a.m. local time. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale beginning Friday, April 5 at 10 a.m. local time at smashingpumpkins.com/tour/.

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS continue firing on all cylinders live. During 2023, they headlined and curated their very own "The World Is A Vampire" tour joined by STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and RIVAL SONS , while 2022 saw them canvas North America on the "Spirits On Fire" tour alongside JANE'S ADDICTION . A spectacle of eye-catching stage production and a setlist sequenced like a film with moments of heavy guitar catharsis and transcendent melodic singalongs, their shows have consistently incited widespread critical applause. NME professed, "it's indisputable that the band are responsible for many of the '90s' best rock songs, and this is as good as you're going to hear them." Meanwhile, The Patriot Ledger proclaimed, " [THE] SMASHING PUMPKINS proved they are still one of America's most interesting — sometimes befuddling, but never boring — musical groups." Miami New Times attested, "the band took the audience back in time to when alternative music was the mainstream, and the idea of browsing on your phone during a fantastic concert was bad sci-fi satire."

Last year, THE SMASHING PUMPKINS completed the three-act trilogy "Atum" , releasing the 33-track project in its entirety. Among many highlights, it boasted "Beguiled" , which catapulted to No. 6 at Active Rock and No. 12 at Alternative Radio charts. "Spellbinding" emerged as the No. 1 most-added at Alternative Rock. Plus. Rolling Stone applauded, " 'Atum' is clearly meant to be the kind of record that requires your full attention, and Act Three makes for a nicely trippy conclusion to the whole project, as well as an intriguing listening experience in and of itself." In a "4-out-of-5 star" review, NME raved, "This sci-fi-inspired epic is ambitious and complex."

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS are currently in the studio recording the follow up to "Atum" as they prepare to release new music this year.

Newly announced tour dates:

Jul. 31 - Muskoka, ON - Kee to Bala Aug. 03 - Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival Aug. 04 - Bangor, ME - Maine Savings Bank Amphitheatre Aug. 14 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre Aug. 16 - Springfield, IL - Illinois State Fair Aug. 20 - Des Moines, IA - Vibrant Music Hall Aug. 21 - St. Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre Aug. 27 - Simpsonville, SC - CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park Sep. 10 - Southaven, MS - BankPlus Amphitheatre at Snowden Grove Sep. 21 - Reno, NV - Grand Sierra Resort Sep. 24 - Airway Heights, WA - BECU Live at Northern Quest Sep. 27 - Las Vegas, NV - BleauLive Theater inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas at Fontainebleau

This past January, SMASHING PUMPKINS revealed that they had been inundated with thousands of applicants after announcing that they were looking for a new guitarist following longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder 's departure.

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The Smashing Pumpkins Announce New Tour Dates

T he Smashing Pumpkins have announced headlining tour dates for this summer. The band had previously unveiled shows with Green Day on their Saviors Tour .

The new dates include a dozen concerts that will take place during open days on the Green Day tour. The new North American shows start almost immediately after the Saviors Tour starts on July 29, with a July 31 gig in Muskoka, Ontario.

The headlining tour completes on Sept. 27, two days before the Smashing Pumpkins’ shows with Green Day concludes in San Diego.

READ MORE: 2024 Rock Tour Preview

Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts , the Smashing Pumpkins’ 12th album, was released in May 2023, after a three-part rollout that started in November 2022 with the first 11 songs. The second set of tracks arrived in March 2022, with the final 11 completing the album with the LP’s full release.

Earlier this year, the band put out a call for a new guitarist . More than 10,000 people applied for the job, but no official word has been released on the replacement yet for Jeff Schroeder, who left the group in October after 16 years.

Where Are the Smashing Pumpkins Playing in 2024?

The Smashing Pumpkins have a busy 2024 lined up. They will play a series of European tour dates starting on June 7 in Birmingham before winding down that leg of shows on July 16 in Athens. Concerts include dates with Weezer , Interpol and Tom Morello .

The Saviors Tour with Green Day launches on July 29 with a stadium show in Washington, D.C. For the next two months, the Pumpkins will alternate dates on that tour with headlining shows by themselves.

The newly announced headlining dates include stops in Montreal, Kansas City, Des Moines and St. Louis, before wrapping up on Sept. 27 in Las Vegas. You can see the Smashing Pumpkins’ 2024 tour itinerary below.

Tickets for the new dates will be available beginning with a presale on Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time. The general on-sale starts on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. You can find more information on the band’s website .

The Smashing Pumpkins 2024 North American Tour

7/29 – Washington, DC – Nationals Park*

7/31 – Muskoka, ON – Kee to Bala

8/1 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre*

8/3 – Montreal, Quebec – Osheaga Festival

8/4 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Bank Amphitheatre

8/5 – New York, NY – Citi Field*

8/7 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park*

8/9 – Philadelphia, PA – Citizens Bank Park*

8/10 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium*

8/13 – Chicago, IL – Wrigley Field*

8/14 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre

8/16 – Springfield, IL – Illinois State Fair

8/17 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Field*

8/20 – Des Moines, IA – Vibrant Music Hall

8/21 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

8/22 – Cincinnati, OH – Great American Ballpark*

8/24 – Milwaukee, WI – American Family Field*

8/27 – Simpsonville, SC – CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park

8/28 – Atlanta, GA – Truist Park*

8/30 – Nashville, TN – Geodis Park*

9/1 – Pittsburgh, PA – PNC Park*

9/4 – Detroit, MI – Comerica Park*

9/7 – Denver, CO – Coors Field*

9/10 – Southaven, MS – BankPlus Amphitheatre at Snowden Grove

9/11 – Arlington, TX – Globe Life Field*

9/14 – Los Angeles, CA – SoFi Stadium*

918 – Phoenix, AZ – Chase Field*

9/20 – San Francisco, CA – Oracle Park*

9/21 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Resort

9/23 – Seattle, WA – T-Mobile Park*

9/24 – Airway Heights, WA – BECU Live at Northern Quest

9/25 – Portland, OR – Providence Park*

9/27 – Las Vegas, NV – BleauLive Theater inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas at Fontainebleau

9/28 – San Diego, CA – Petco Park*

*The Saviors Tour with Green Day

Next: Top 30 American Classic Rock Bands of the '90s

Billy Corgan Is Happy If Anyone Listens to the New Smashing Pumpkins Album

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Few Smashing Pumpkins fans realized it at the time, but the group’s 1995 double LP, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness , was the start of a loose storyline about a character known as Zero, who was reborn as Glass on 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God . Two decades later, Billy Corgan is revisiting the whole saga on the triple album Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Parts, where the central figure — now known as Shiny — has been exiled in space. The band will promote it on the World Is a Vampire North American summer tour with special guests Interpol, Rival Sons, and Stone Temple Pilots. “For a while I thought this album was never going to happen because the band’s enthusiasm was suspect,” Corgan says. “But the pandemic was a watershed moment for me. I thought, ‘What’s happening in the world, I have no control over. At least I control the world of Shiny and his friends.’ ”

So if somebody likes a song, great. If somebody wants to know every guitar pedal and what these lyrics mean and stuff, that’s great, too. It doesn’t bother me at all. I’ll just take engagement, because I can do something with engagement. That’s something that professional wrestling teaches you. Without engagement, there’s no opportunity.

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So I’m cool with the idea that if only a certain number of people want to get granular, then they become part of the force that goes out and explains it to others — not me.

I saw a lot of people on Reddit paying pretty close attention to the story. If you went back in a time machine to me 30 years ago, I would be plagued by the idea that not every person was paying attention. Now I’m on the opposite. I’m almost pleasantly surprised and pleased that people pay attention. That’s icing on the cake. It’s my job to make attractive pop music that people will want to listen to while they’re washing their car or something. That’s OK. There’s no shame in that. 

Smashing Pumpkins Reveal Kiki Wong as Their New Guitarist After Nationwide Search

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Right. We’re past the point where an album’s success is judged by sales.  I was up last night at midnight, and I found some EP of Sisters of Mercy from ’82 of them playing on some guy’s radio show that I’d never heard. It’s just a live recording. And I loved it. I spent half an hour listening to some recording from 40 years ago, and I was totally in the moment. I was enjoying it. It was inspiring to me. So did it sell? It doesn’t matter. You know what I mean? That’s what I’m saying. We’re moving past that.

This goes back to the DIY alternative community, the promise that engagement illuminates and you can be an integral artist and you can build a ecosystem spiritually and fiscally that is supportive of your being different. You can sell 5,000 numbered copies of your vinyl, or you can do an acoustic EP that only comes out on Record Store Day. This is really exciting. It’s the true maturation of alternative culture, where the audience is sophisticated enough to know how to support. You’re not relying on gatekeepers and you can do your thing.

You’re bringing your NWA wrestlers on the road with Smashing Pumpkins this summer. Why did you want to combine these two worlds? I thought it would be fun to introduce wrestling to a crowd that doesn’t like wrestling. But if they’re given wrestling in a certain way, they might like it. Let’s call it the alternative version of wrestling — it engages the alternative mind in a way that they wouldn’t think if they watched the normal products. It’s not a financial opportunity. I probably have to go out of pocket to make it work, but I love it as an exercise in putting your money where your mouth is. “Hey, let me share this other thing I’m doing with you.” And the cost of entry is really low, which I think works for a lot of people. You can watch it, you can not watch it. It doesn’t necessarily impact your day.

How much new material are you going to play on the tour? We play about four or five new songs, which is a lot when you think about it. I still hold out the dream that we’ll be able to perform the entire album in the right setting, but we’re not there yet.

A certain percent of any Pumpkins audience basically just knows your Nineties work.  That’s been going on for 20 years. That’s not a new thing.

How do you process that? If you want to be negative about it, I could stand there and say, “That guy in the fifth row, he stopped listening to me in ’96. What a bummer. He doesn’t know all these great songs I wrote over the last 20-something years.” The other opportunity is, “Hey, it’s so awesome that guy’s here. I’m not only playing new music, I’m playing a lot of new music, and I’m playing deep cuts that he may not know.” And gauging by the reaction over the last couple years, that guy tends to walk out of that concert more interested in what we’re doing.

A lot of your older songs reflect incredible pain and trauma from your childhood. What’s it like emotionally to sing a song like “Disarm” every night and have to basically re-live it? I approach it more like an actor, which is you have to allow yourself to be open to the emotions of what you’re feeling, but you also have to recognize the moment that you’re in. I can’t perform it mawkishly in the way I would’ve done it 30 years ago, and I can’t pretend that I’m the same person. But I can stand there and say, “I am the guy who wrote this song.”

I can reflexively remember what it’s like to be three-dimensionally in the room as I wrote the song and what I was thinking. So I try to create a bridge from who I am today to who I was then. And oftentimes, for an example, when I’m singing a song like “Disarm,” I’ll think of my children, more so than myself. The song becomes a triumphant statement of someone who’s not only survived, but is raising children who won’t be traumatized like I was. I’m able to flip it into something that doesn’t feel like you’re opening up a wound.

Speaking of your kids, how has fatherhood changed you? The biggest thing is it made me appreciate the opportunities that I had. It allows me to think, “How do I want them to perceive me?” Most recently, I was at Lisa Marie Presley ‘s funeral. I was very acutely aware, because of my friendship with her, of how she felt as the child of a famous person, arguably maybe the most famous person. And I’ve met many other scions of famous families.

So with my kids, I want them to see me in a current modality. When someone comes up and says to them, “Hey, I love your dad. I’m a big fan.” Or, “I love your dad, but he hasn’t done anything good since 1996,” they have their own impression of who their father is based on who I am today. And then they can do the math.

At some point, people are going to tell your kids the impressions they once had of Nineties Billy.  Yes. And I know enough for my own life, however… to use the term of the day, micro-aggression. I deal with people all the time who throw out little weird micro-aggressions because of something I did or said or didn’t do. I’m aware that my children will encounter these things as they go. The most important thing for me is for them to see me actively engaged, working hard, positive, happy. And them being here forced me to have to deal with that, where I don’t think I would deal with that in the same way if they weren’t here.

You said recently that the Pumpkins were a “pile of wasted opportunity” if you look at them the right way. What exactly did you mean by that? Well, I think in my mind, the Nineties band separates into two eras. There’s up until Jimmy [Chamberlain] leaves the band in ’96 and then there’s what happens afterwards, which is a month-to-month struggle of who’s in, who’s out, the decline of the music business, MTV going off of rock music. It’s a lot of forces. If one is an elevator straight up, the other one is like a rollercoaster, a jumpy up and down.

People have asked me many times, “If you could change anything about your life, what would you do?” And I said, “The only thing I would change is I would’ve left the band in ’96. When Jimmy left, I should have left. That should have ended the band right there.”

The band had in many ways outlived its usefulness, even to me personally. But we continued, and our story continues to be what we did after that point. Even the current incarnation is certainly closely linked to what we did to carry on. Like a family, you carry on, and you’re not really sure whether the love is there or the fidelity is there, but you carry on because that’s the family that you know.

I had other contemporaries, unnamed, who were literally critical of the fact that Jimmy and I were out under the name of the Smashing Pumpkins, as if we didn’t have the right or something. James coming back ended all that. There’s always that crowd that’s going to want the fourth person [former bassist D’arcy Wretzky], but for the most part, that conversation is over. It allowed us to get back to the work of, “OK, we’re a music band. Let’s make music.” 

Since James has come back, we’ve put out 71 songs in five years. We got back to doing what we’re good at, which is making music. We learned to be quiet, not talk a bunch of dumb stuff, and just move on. And like all jagged stories, you assimilate the bad with the good. So the 16 years of not talking become part of why you are less likely to be dramatic about something today.

Back in the day, it was clear you liked to stir the pot and almost make yourself into a villain. It seems like that’s no longer the case. Well, let me say this first. I was never that person. I became that person in a reactionary way to the way I was presented. So I’ve just gone back to the person I was before all this BS started. At some point after having children, I looked around and said, “I don’t want to be this guy anymore.” Working in wrestling, I get it. We know those personalities that are still out there that are working negative game for attention. We even had a president you could argue was one of the great villains of all time, right. [Donald Trump] loves playing that game. He’s still doing it.  For me personally, I reached a point of just being weary with it.

Occasionally I’ll step over a line, but I’m pretty tame these days. I still encounter journalists who want the old guy to come back. They won’t let it go. I even recently did an article for the UK Guardian , and the guy [writer Jeremy Gordon] was a former Pitchfork guy, from Chicago. He wasn’t a bad guy or anything. The article is him wrestling with the ghost of me basically admitting that I’m not that person anymore. And looking under the covers like, “Well, maybe he’s still there.” And it’s like, I’m 56.

We just hit the 20th anniversary of the Zwan record, and there have been a few articles reappraising it. I know it was a difficult time for you, but do you see that record differently today now that the drama is long in the past? I don’t read any press, so I didn’t even know there were articles reappraising the work. That’s nice to hear. I thought it was a good record at the time. We really didn’t have good record company support, and that’s the true story of the business side of that band. The personal stuff, I put that on me. I tried to recreate the family dynamic of the Pumpkins with different people, and when it didn’t work, no one was more shocked than me. When you get out of a long-term relationship and you have the rebound relationship, that one doesn’t last long because you basically invited in the same problem.

The album isn’t on streaming and it’s pretty hard to find. Are you going to put it back out at some point? Actually, I’m working on the box set right now. I think there’s 65 unreleased songs.

When might that come out? Not sure. I’m setting up a new business model with the Thirty Tigers company that we’re working with. Atum is a good model. I think I’ll be able to release these projects through them. That’s because they can handle the independent record stores and all that type of stuff for ordering, because otherwise I’m just putting it out myself and that’s very difficult. 

I’m working on the box as we speak. I’m very excited because honestly, I personally think the best Zwan music didn’t get released — the acoustic side of the band, which is really what we should have done, and not tried to do an alternative pop record. That would’ve been the stronger effort, I think, and a more timeless thing.

Your political views can be hard for people to nail down. You aren’t firmly on either side of the left/right debate. Does it frustrate you that people can’t accept the fact that you’re just heterodox? I had to give up [speaking about politics] because I was slow to recognize how hyperbolic the political atmosphere had become. Stuff I would say in ’95 just didn’t fly in 2005. And I was an old guy that was slow to realize you can’t talk like that anymore. People were getting into, “I’m never listening to you again because of one thing you said.” And I was like, “Are we really living in that world?” And obviously now, almost 20 years later, yeah, we are living in that world.

So I had to withdraw myself from that polemic. It’s just too dumb. To me, it’s dumb world. It’s Idiocracy . I really truly believe in democracy, and I really believe that when everybody says what they need to say, we by and large, however slowly, get around to the good part. We have a long history, however painful, of getting around to the good part … And seeing where we’re at now, where people can’t have conversations around a dinner table, or people are whispering … When I was a kid and we read Animal Farm and 1984 , these were supposed to be warnings, not, “Here’s your future, kid.”

Smashing Pumpkins haven’t even appeared on a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot, but you’ve been eligible for a few years now. How do you feel about that? I’m not one to avoid questions, but I’ve decided I’m not going to answer this question anymore, because every answer I give is the wrong answer. But I appreciate you asking. I appreciate the sentiment behind the question. If you want, feel free to look up my past statements on it … Put it this way. There’s nothing I’ve said in public about it yet that actually represents my feelings about it. I made the choice now, either I’m going I’m going to be blatantly honest or I’m just not going to talk about it.

At least Joy Division/New Order finally made the ballot this year. They are one of the most important bands in the history of rock & roll. I was saying that in the Nineties. I was quoted as saying they’re the second most important band after the Beatles, Joy Division. New Order has shown its mettle over time, too, and you could argue they are maybe even more influential than Joy Division, which is hard to imagine.

I’ve known Peter Hook since 1990, and obviously his son Jack plays in the Pumpkins. To be part of the family of the band, to know a lot of the things that are not public, to have played with them on stage … Hooky just appeared with us in Mexico the other night. I couldn’t be happier, because they are the true testament of where four people getting in a room making music, even with primitive technology, can change the world. They certainly changed the way I saw the world. So I’m forever grateful to them. They are up there for me in the top-top.

Your new record presents a dystopian look at the future. Is that where you think we’re headed? I am very pessimistic, but if I look historically at the American story, every time it gets really, really funky, we figure it out. I want to point out that I said the word “we.” There’s something that happens here. And so if I got to go with history, which I am, I feel like we’re going to figure something out. I don’t think it’s going to be what anybody thinks it’s going to be.

Shiny begins the new album exiled from Earth, alone in a spaceship. It’s easy to read that a metaphor for cancel culture. That’s the simple version, but I believe cancel culture is more akin To Kill a Mockingbird or the story of Jesus. It’s about shooting the messenger. Why are we obsessed as a mob with always killing the messenger? In psychology, they call it the identified patient, where the mob decides, “If we get rid of that guy or that girl, everything’s going to be better.”

Not everything in the story is me, but my own part of the story is that I came along with a lot of innocence and a lot of guile, and I was very successful, but I was also targeted and bullied for a lot of reasons, which aren’t worth getting into here. And they also involved generational changes and even changes in the music business. I survived. I got my life together. I didn’t kill myself. I’ve been sober for 20-something years.

I stuck with being a musician, much to the detriment of my mental health. I could have quit years ago, when I had enough money to. I decided not to. I built a life that went beyond “the rat-in-a-cage guy.” I have a tea house. I have a successful partnership, a family. I have a wrestling company. I run a little empire over here. And if my partner has anything to do with it, it’ll be a bigger empire, including her fashion brand.

And yet I feel on some level I haven’t accomplished anything because of the way the American system works. For example, you brought up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When they do those things at the Grammys where they have somebody come out and play to honor who’s passed in the past year, I guarantee you I’m not on that piece of paper. I’m not on the shortlist of people to call to come play the sad song at the Oscars.

What I’m saying is you reach a point in your own personal accomplishment where you go, “I’m good.” And yet I’m still engaged in the system that requires a certain level of material success, which is fine. That’s capitalism. 

It’s not part of my daily churn. It’s in fact not even remotely close to my daily churn. But when I do what I’m really good at — which is to make sad rock music — and I reengage, I have to deal with this other thing. So some of your questions today have to do with the way I’m viewed over there by those other people. For me, it’s more about building something, and then it takes on a life of its own. Whether it’s Frankenstein’s monster and the great Pumpkin machine comes back to kill me, or I become too old or too weird to run it, you have to navigate something.

As I said, this is a mad culture that’s obsessed with a bunch of stuff which is completely counterintuitive. On some level, when you reengage with it, you’re basically saying you approve, or you wouldn’t be there. But until somebody else builds a counter-system, which no one has yet, that’s the only game in town. And so a third of your questions, or a quarter of your questions, have to do with the game in town. And you’re rightly asking, “Well, how do you navigate those things?” And I’m telling you, I don’t, because I don’t agree — but I still have to raise my hand and say, “I’m still here.” So judge me for reengaging even though I tell you it’s crazy. It’s like, “If you don’t want to be on the boat, why are you on the boat?” And I’m like, “Well, what other boat should I be on?”

You do seem happy, though. We’ll leave that for another interview.

But you’re laughing and smiling as you say a lot of this to me. I’ll be succinct here. I feel by being more in charge of the way this rolls, that it’s closer to who I am. So I’m not asking you to do this, but if you compare the perception thing, the cloud, versus my daily life and what I’m engaged in with, I think you see a truer path in what I’m actually doing, as opposed to the cloud that was created in another time, under a different set of circumstances.

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You said that you were working on a memoir a few years back. What’s the status of that? I put it down. I wrote about half of it, which was half a million words, and I turned it in. The publisher loved it and said, “We want to wait for you to finish it before we start putting it all out.” And I asked them, “Why don’t you start putting it out and I’ll keep writing?” So then it just ground to a halt, and I stopped writing, because it was such a herculean effort just to get to the half a million.

The craziest part about my life is as public as I’ve been about a lot of stuff and as transparent as I’ve been, easily 90 percent of what has happened in my life is not public. Using the analogy of the avatars and the characters out front, I let them create a narrative which wasn’t true. Basically, that kept the true narrative away from everybody. So people that have read passages of the book are shocked, because it’s the complete opposite of what they thought happened to me.

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Enter to Win Smashing Pumpkins’ Complete ‘Atum’ Box Set

The third and final act of Smashing Pumpkins '  Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts  will be out this Friday (May 5), and Loudwire Nights is giving one lucky winner the chance to win a box set that includes all three albums.

You'll have until Monday, May 8 at 11AM ET to enter. One winner will be chosen to receive an  Atum  box set, which features all three acts — a total of 33 songs on four standard black LPs. The set comes in a black box with a complete lyric book and story, as well as 10 unreleased songs on five 7-inch records that are exclusive to the set and won't be available on streaming services until later this year.

Enter the contest below, and see some photos of the box set underneath.

Act One  of  Atum  came out this past November and  Act Two  was released at the end of January.

“When you decide to do a three-act, 33-song rock musical in 2022… You’re definitely stepping in it! Because there’s a lot of people who believe less is more these days. I’m on the opposite side – I actually think more is more!” frontman Billy Corgan told NME in September.

"I actually wanted to do it about four years ago, but there wasn’t a lot of energy in the band for it... But once COVID hit and I found myself sitting here with nothing to do, I thought, ‘Right, I’m gonna do it now.'"

READ MORE:  Billy Corgan Talks About Criticism He Faced in Music Industry - 'It Was Constant'

Corgan will be the featured guest on  Loudwire Nights  this Friday, so be sure to tune in at 7PM ET to hear the full interview. Smashing Pumpkins will hit the road for a North American tour with  Interpol , Stone Temple Pilots and Rival Sons  starting in late July. See all of the upcoming dates and get tickets here .

Loudwire Nights with Chuck Armstrong airs nightly starting at 7PM ET. You can tune in anytime, from anywhere right here  or by downloading the Loudwire app .

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Billy corgan, chloe mendel on rock, wrestling and ‘adventures in carnyland’.

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Chloe Mendel and Billy Corgan pose prior to a screening of their new reality television show 'Billy ... [+] Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland.' Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at Madame ZuZu's Emporium in Highland Park, IL

For Smashing Pumpkins singer, songwriter and guitarist Billy Corgan, professional wrestling has been more than just a lifelong fascination.

Founding the independent wrestling promotion Resistance Pro out of his hometown of Chicago in 2011, Corgan would begin work on a reality series for AMC based upon the promotion - but, ultimately, it would never air as the network dropped unscripted programming in development at the time.

In 2015, he joined Total Nonstop Action wrestling as Senior Producer of Creative and Talent Development, adding duties as TNA president the following year.

By 2017, Corgan took an even bigger leap, purchasing the legendary National Wrestling Alliance .

Founded in 1948, the NWA tied together regional promotions across the country prior to the rise of cable television, showcasing legendary heavyweight champions like Lou Thesz, Killer Kowalski, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair over the course of more than 75 years.

In his latest foray into reality television, Corgan has partnered with diversified media company Nacelle for eight episodes of Adventures in Carnyland , a series which traces his work in Smashing Pumpkins, attempts to re-energize the NWA and marriage to entrepreneur and fashionista Chloe Mendel, who oversees the couple’s business as CEO of Madame ZuZu’s, a plant-based tea house, coffee shop and live performance venue in the northern suburbs of Chicago which acts as a central setting in the new series (now available for streaming via the CW app and website ).

Chloe Mendel and Billy Corgan celebrate their nuptials during an episode of their new reality show ... [+] 'Billy Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland.'

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Corgan’s efforts to drive live event ticket sales and overall interest in the NWA sit at the heart of the conflict in the first two episodes of the show, giving fans a rare glimpse behind the curtain at at the rocker’s sense of humor, work ethic and inner sanctum alongside Mendel and their two children.

Today, great storytelling drives professional wrestling aired on national television, with a renewed focus on long form narratives like WWE’s “Bloodline” angle, which featured superstar Roman Reigns as Universal Champion for a whopping 1,316 days, the fourth longest run in WWE history.

“I love it. That’s, really, honestly, what I love about professional wrestling,” said Corgan, highlighting the importance of storytelling during a video call last week. “To be overly simplistic about it, nothing in the ring should happen without some story line driver. If you just have athleticism in the ring with no story line connection, the athleticism seems kind of hollow. That’s why the ultimate thing is fighting for a title, right? It’s sort of what animates the passion: they’re fighting for a prize,” he explained. “It’s all about narratives.”

I spoke with Billy Corgan and Chloe Mendel about crafting honest reality television via Adventures in Carnyland , the importance of great storytelling, Mendel’s efforts to grow business at Madame ZuZu’s and a Smashing Pumpkins summer tour (the group’s first to feature new guitarist Kiki Wong) alongside Green Day set to kick off Monday, July 29 in Washington, D.C. A transcript of our conversation lightly edited for length and clarity follows below.

Jim Ryan : Billy, I remember an AMC reality show planned to showcase Resistance Pro about 10 years ago. I know it never aired. But I remember as a fan at the time thinking that sounded like an idea you might loathe. How was the experience working on Carnyland ?

Billy Corgan: You know, what was interesting in this show is I was a co-producer. So, I had much more control over how the thing was shot and what they were trying to accomplish with the shooting. I was insistent that the show represent an organic form of storytelling. So, most of what you see in the eight episodes of Carnyland really is stuff that actually happens. There’s no staging and there’s no fake dialogue or stuff like that. That was really important to me.

Stars of the new reality series 'Billy Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland' take part in a Q&A ... [+] following a screening at Madame ZuZu's Emporium. Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Highland Park, IL

Ryan : Chloe, there’s this funny moment in the first episode when Billy takes you to an [independent] wrestling event for the first time and we get to see your reaction to that world. Obviously, now you’ve spent more time immersed in the world of professional wrestling. What have you learned and what’s kind of your approach now?

Chloe Mendel : I mean, how can you not love it? It’s ridiculous. And it’s entertaining. And the people are pretty nuts. Why be a superhero for five minutes? That’s kind of the whole story of the show. Billy has this affinity. And everybody becomes a wrestler or works in wrestling because they watched it as a kid. I don’t know anybody who has a different story. So, it’s like you're achieving this childhood dream.

But it’s such a gritty business. And we’re also having a start-up. So, it’s kind of seeing into the world of the reality of wrestling and what it is for almost all wrestlers - unless you’re in WWE, right? That’s what it’s like. So, it’s fun.

You’ve got to love the people - their stories are nuts. And I just love how anybody from any walk of life can come in and appreciate the absurdity. And if they’re good - if they’re great on the mic or great in the ring - you can just appreciate great talent.

And we have great talent. That’s something where the NWA really differentiates ourselves from other promotions: our talent, our great characters and great story lines.

National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) owner Billy Corgan outside the ring during an episode of the new ... [+] reality series 'Billy Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland.'

Ryan : Billy, what did you learn launching Resistance Pro and working with TNA that prepared you for all of the different hats you’re wearing now with the NWA?

Corgan : Well, with Resistance I really learned how to work with talent at the independent level and understand that, just like I was when I was [a musician starting out] in a club, they’re trying to make a name for themselves. And that negotiation between like, “Here’s what I need from you…” and trying to get their attention enough to where you don’t feel like they’re looking past you because they’ve got their eyes on some other prize that’s beyond your goal. That still happens of course with the NWA. I mean, it’s obvious when you have a $9 billion company in WWE sitting at the top of the hill. So, it’s getting with talent and finding common ground and goals so that you can work together so everybody gets the best of the situation.

With TNA, I really learned how to produce television. I really got a free education in producing television. And, as blithe as it might sound, the NWA is very much a television product first and a wrestling company second. That’s the way we’ve been able to kind of pick up momentum.

So, that ability to know how to produce television was something I never thought that I would need - but it’s critical to making the NWA successful.

'Billy Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland,' a new reality series from Nacelle starring Smashing ... [+] Pumpkins founder Billy Corgan and his wife Chloe Mendel, is now streaming via The CW website and app

Ryan : I grew up with the tail end of the NWA’s most prominent days in the 1980s. And I think what really fascinates me about the NWA is that you have fans who recognize the nostalgia and embrace the incredible history of the brand - but you’re also taking that product now and trying to push it forward. How difficult is it to find a delicate balance?

Corgan : Honestly, as the years go by, the nostalgia factor means less and less. I love the nostalgia. My wife can tell you that our house is full of ancient wrestling memorabilia. I really, really, honestly, from the bottom of my heart, love it. And I pay tremendous respect to the superstars that built the business, from Mildred Burke and Gorgeous George on.

But the fact of the matter is, if you’re trying to appeal to a modern audience - particularly kids who have TikTok, Instagram and all of that stuff - and if the core of the wrestling business is attracting young people to your product, history lasts for them for about a minute. But a young superstar - like how CM Punk sort of was a generational wrestler for a certain generation - I’m looking for this generation’s version of it.

And we think we have some of them in Kerry Morton and Kenzie Paige. Kerry Morton is, I think, 23 years old. Kenzie Paige, our women’s champ, is 22. I’m trying to find that next generation.

So, my focus 90% of the time has nothing to do with the nostalgia or even the NWA history. And that’s not a disrespectful thing. The best thing I can do for the NWA to go forward is to live in the present.

Stars of the new CW reality series 'Billy Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland' pose prior to a ... [+] screening at Madame ZuZu's Emporium. Tuesday, May 14, 2024 in Highland Park, IL

Ryan : Episode one of the show really gets into the importance of storytelling. I think every wrestling fan goes through these phases where you’re in for a while and you’re out for a while - and then you get sucked back in. I think “The Bloodline” story line sucked a lot of people back in. And I think one of the reasons for that is the long term storytelling. It’s there on your last album ATUM and certainly it’s there in the NWA. How important to you is the idea of great storytelling?

Corgan : I love it. That’s, really, honestly, what I love about professional wrestling.

To be overly simplistic about it, nothing in the ring should happen without some story line driver. If you just have athleticism in the ring with no story line connection, the athleticism seems kind of hollow. That’s why the ultimate thing is fighting for a title, right? It’s sort of what animates the passion: they’re fighting for a prize.

Not everybody in modern professional wrestling agrees with it. A lot of people really believe that athleticism trumps all forms of storytelling at this point. Maybe it’s that generation that they think won’t pay attention? But, I think, for example, looking at the “The Bloodline” story line, that’s a perfect example of people really do want stories. Look, it’s television, right? So, what drives television? Story lines.

Look at the way the NFL markets whomever is the latest quarterback sensation, Patrick Mahomes or something. Or how they went down the rabbit hole with the Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift story. It’s all about narratives. And sports with narratives is always better.

Billy Corgan and Chloe Mendel take part in a Q&A following a screening of their new reality series ... [+] 'Billy Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland.' Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at Madame ZuZu's Emporium in Highland Park, IL

Ryan : Chloe, how have you gone about curating Madame ZuZu’s and growing it in your role guiding that business?

Mendel : It’s grown a lot. We are really focused on being a community-based business: giving back to the community and doing things that are really creative and outside the box.

I kind of look at ZuZu’s as a place where grandma is welcome as well as all of the people who don’t feel welcome in other places. So, we’re sort of the comfort for people who feel like outsiders.

But we have a great online business. We do limited edition vinyl releases. And we have a lot of really great shows. We have a lot of really great talent coming through. And, again, family-based. Because that’s really important to us: our community and the people who live here. So, we have children’s shows, magic shows, storytellers. We have comedy. I have great music. We have great jazz shows.

So, with ZuZu’s, I look at it as what would we love? And that’s what goes in there. We felt like there was a gap for a place that we wanted to frequent. And that’s how it was born. And it’s just grown from there.

The menu is fun. The people who work there are fun. We have great merch . I love merch. So, it’s just things that we are passionate about.

CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 30: Singer Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins ... [+] during the 101 WKQX The Nights We Stole Christmas show at the Aragon Ballroom on November 30, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)

Ryan : I know that you also work on some of the Smashing Pumpkins marketing a bit. How do you go about sort of branding that fan experience?

Mendel : I look at it as, what do we have an affinity for? What is exciting and what is new - and what people from all walks of life will enjoy. We need to do high level things and low level things, big market things and just activate in all areas.

So, that’s how I look at all of the brands that we do: how do we get excited for all different types of people? Because our product really is for everybody.

Ryan : Well, Billy, obviously a big summer tour ahead. It’s Kiki’s first Smashing Pumpkins tour and I imagine Wrigley Field sticks out on that itinerary. How excited are you about the tour?

Corgan : Really excited. Very grateful to Green Day for asking us to come out. We have a huge European tour coming up. I think 23 shows. It’s our biggest European tour probably since 1997. So, it’s great times for the band - a lot of peace in the kingdom. I’m very excited for Kiki. I think that will be a great adventure for her. And we’re looking forward to working with her.

Things are really good, you know? I’m grateful. I point to [Chloe]. She’s a lot of the reason for the stability and, I guess, the focus back into work. I’m definitely a person that needs to be kind of peaceful in my life to sort of be able to focus on work at a higher level. And so I give a lot of credit to my wife. She’s really helped me turn my life around.

And, as crazy as it is, when you turn to someone who’s not a wrestling fan to start with and say, “Oh, by the way, I’m not only going to work in wrestling, I’m going to buy a wrestling company…” and have the full support of your family? It’s really, really humbling.

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