Are Code Orange making beautiful music with Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan?

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Hardcore's very own Code Orange post a photo from the studio with Smashing Pumpkins' man Billy Corgan

Code Orange with Billy Corgan
Code Orange and (inset) Billy Corgan (Image credit: Roadrunner Records|Billy Corgan: Pedro Gomes/Getty Images)

Pittsburgh hardcore merchants Code Orange have teased evidence of a possible sonic summit with Smashing Pumpkins' leader Billy Corgan. 

The band posted an image on social media of members Eric Balderose, Reba Meyers and Jami Morgan alongside Corgan and the message "the k i l l e r in me...". 

So what's going on? We can only hazard a guess. 

The "killer" message is surely a reference to Smashing Pumpkins' 1994 song Disarm, which includes the lyrics, "What's a boy supposed to do? The killer in me is the killer in you," but more information can perhaps be gleaned from the hashtags accompanying the post – #justgettingstarted #beafraid and #codecorgan – which suggest that the meeting might be more than just social. 

What would you call such a collaboration? Smashing Orange? Code Pumpkin? Perhaps we'll never find out, although the positive reaction to news of the possible pairing suggests that fans are keen to hear more.

"I legally said holy shit! This will be fucking badass!!!" exclaimed twitter user jager666999, while user JMillerofPSA used even more exclamation marks in responding, "Whoa! What the fuuuuuck?!!!!!"

Code Orange's last album Underneath was released in early 2020, scoring a rare 10/10 review in Metal Hammer and described as "the greatest metal record in a generation," although Ohms by Deftones ended up being voted the magazine's Album Of The Year.

Earlier this year Smashing Pumpkins revealed they were working on a 33-track “sequel” to 1995's Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, while last month saw the announcement of a 30th anniversary edition of the band's debut album, Gish. 

 

Fraser Lewry
Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.