Smashing Pumpkins could split

Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman Billy Corgan says he might pull the plug on the band after he finishes working on his current projects.

He is working on albums Monuments For An Elegy and Day For Night and reveals he’s increasingly frustrated at the state of the music business, saying he finds it hard to grab the attention of music fans.

Corgan tells The Chicago Tribune: “I’m not willing to wait around 15 to 20 years to have somebody go, ‘Hey, that album you made is really good’ and then sell it to the 7000 people that are still paying attention.

“When this new album process is over, I’m either going to bail on this ship for good or I’m going to have a new ship to sail on.”

He continues: “How do you reach through the fog as an artist? How do you punch your way back through? How do you say, ‘I still matter?’ How do you say, ‘How does one of my contemporaries get treated like a contemporary artist, and how do I get treated like I’m supposed to play Siamese Dream for the rest of my life?’

“At some point, you’ve got to fight this fight or go away.”

Monuments For An Elegy, featuring Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, has been completed and is expected to be released in 2015, while Day For Night will follow later next year.

Corgan also indicated he’s planning on digging through 800 early Smashing Pumpkins demos for a forthcoming release.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.