ThePumpkins.net

ghostchild wrote:
Hahahahahahahaha!

I wonder what Billy meant by ''a really long goodbye''. Do you think he's contemplating wrapping things up? (again)

Yeah...

But this could also be a new beginning!

Well, he suggested Teargarden will be finished in 4 or 5 years (which is about what I thought, based on the current release schedule)... so he probably doesn't have much more idea than us whether he'll continue with SP after that... if he goes through with the whole Teargarden thing at all.

yeah, i wouldn't be surprised if doesn't keep going with the "SP" thing anymore. either way i just hope he plans on making music and just doing his thing regardless. plus, like was said above there really is no band.

This is what stuck out for me:

Can you talk at all about the upcoming tracks? Any titles?

No. Fans read too much into what I say or don't. I'm enjoying living in the moment with each song as it comes out. All I'll say is, I think songs five thru eight are better than the first four.

This seems like it’s an incredibly complex and creatively demanding project. Is it?

Yes! But I love it. I think its one of the most fun things I've ever tried. I'm having a great time.

Im sorry, but I'm not ok with Billy finishing the band after this. At that ''Artist Confidential'' show, he said that with the fans ''theres always a fear that we'll just take it all away again'' but then reassured us that he was in it for the long haul. I don't want to think about SP not being around. It wouldn't be the same.

Might be a bit of a random comment but I do hope hope the next four tracks don't take as much time as the first ones did, it doesn't work. No excitement what so ever.

I don't know if anyone mentioned it before or not but Ash are doing a much better job on releasing one song each two weeks. Besides this all the songs from the A-Z series are way superior to any Teargarden so far. Sorry for going too off-topic.

Yeah, Ash managed to keep to a much better schedule. I've only heard a couple of the songs, so can't comment on the quality. I might buy the first half CD, or wait and see if a double CD comes out with all the tracks on it.

It would be nice if Billy picked up the pace, but he did say something in that interview about Teargarden being completed in 4 or 5 years, so that would mean sticking with this slow speed

I'm not sure that's a very good idea though. The period of two weeks to enjoy a song and expect a new one looks perfect for me. It looks like he decided to do so for lazyness and no consideration for the fans or the commercial success of the album considering all the bad promotion (seriously, how random was that Leno show?).

Strayz1 wrote:I think everyone seems to be taking the "very long goodbye" part the wrong way. I read that as, for fans of the band, it's either a 'hello, as in a reintroduction of the band' or a 'goodbye, as in the Smashing Pumpkins don't interest me anymore so I'm done with this band.' After the last several years and seeing what changes the band has gone through; I think it fairly safe to say that Billy will continue with the Smashing Pumpkins as long as he's making music.

Visitor #1 wrote:
Not sure what's not a very good idea? I was saying it would be nice if Billy put out a song every 2 weeks rather than every 6 weeks...

Visitor #1 wrote:That's a pretty unfair observation. 44+ songs is lazy? No consideration for the fans? What bad promotion?

Even at 6 weeks per song, that's still 44 songs in 5 years. That's like 4 albums (or 3 albums and a couple of EPs) in a 5 year span, which isn't too shabby. It's actually about the same rate as his musical output from SPv1.

Well, he did Mellon Collie in 2 years after Siamese Dream, which was 28 songs, plus about the same number as b-sides. So if there are 11 b-sides from Teargarden, that would be about the same amount of songs in total, and Teargarden should've been finished by now

epitome wrote:Yeah, I meant a bad idea coming from Billy, not you.


PistolPete wrote:He could have been able to write all of those in one week considering how basic they have been so far. I can write five songs in a day and not work on them, that would make me a lazy musician, which I am (not trying to compare me to Billy in any possible way). Well not really lack of consideration but not much interest in making us happy either, especially when compared to what Ash have been doing. I'm sorry for repeating them once again but I do believe that this project would be way superior if done in the same way Ash have been doing. Yes...awful promotion since 2007 in my opinion: constant change of the looks; nobody heard about American Gothic except hardcore fans; songs like GLOW, Superchrist and FOL being randomly delivered; confusing tours etc. It's just doesn't look as professional as you expect a band like SP to be in my opinion. It's not the songs themselves that have been the problem, it's how everything seemed to be done in a rush.

I would like to work more on that answer but I'll edit or reply afterwards because I'm going out right now! And don't take anything I say in the wrong way, I love the pumpkins and they are probably my favorite band ever.

Well I think as far as promotion goes and the release of American Gothic and FOL and such, that was Billy's reaction to the public for their response to Zeitgeist. Nothing wrong with the promotion in my opinion. I mean if you're into the band at all, then you would have known about American Gothic coming out. It was promoted on the official website and other sources. As for FOL, G.L.O.W and Superchrist, I think they were released as a test for Billy to see how the reaction would be to individual song releases.

Well this might be the end of SP in 4-5 years.
But who cares? SP these days is solo Billy anyway.
And if he'll continue as a solo artist (or under another bandname) the output will just turn better because no one will have SP-expectations on his music then.
SP today is just "fail" and not SP and maybe Billy finally recognized that.
Teargarden might be alright as an own work but it has nothing to do with SP for it's in terms of quality nowhere near anything SP were or did; lyrically, musically, artistically (not the mention the lack of any emotion or any really good idea).
Smashing Pumpkins was art about the darker side of life, true emotions of a man who felt desperate, misunderstood and wrong in here. Smashing Pumpkins somehow are the Gothic Rock of the 90s for me, a darkside reaction to all that plastic grunge- and rockstarshit. SP somehow always were rebells, they always did not do what anyone expected. Who wanted Adore? Who wanted MACHINA? Who wanted personal and uncomfortable lyrics? Who wanted a bandleader full of selfhate and darkness? Yes, even in the 90s SP had some rather happy moments (not to mention several radiopop singles) but it was true! Truly felt!
Believe me, there was much more about Smashing Pumpkins than just Billy Corgan as a leader! It was his soul then! Smashing Pumpkins were an attitude. An attitude of independence in a mainstream rockstar world. There's not a tiny bit of any emotion or attitude in the music Billy tries us the sell as SP today, not even a happy one.
Just listen to Astral Farts and compare it to songs like the MACHINA II version of Speed Kills or Tear from Adore....those are worlds frinds, worlds, if not galaxies!!!
He should never ever have dug out the SP trademark in 2007 and he should have continued as a solo artist after Zwan, still playing some SP stuff at his shows (like Roger Waters and David Gilmour still play some Pink Floyd stuff at their shows), that would have worked fine and satisfied everyone.
But SP are dead, dead, dead and even Teargarden which turned out better for me than Zeitgeist is just a shame for SP. And so are the uncountable pseudo-SP bandformations since 2007.
I really like and respect Billy as an artist, but those SP-reanimating decission are just one failure after another.
To sum it up, yes, this has to be final SP effort, otherwise SP will turn into a joke solo-project like Guns'n'Roses or Megadeth whichs leaders change their lineups and bandmembers all week. Bad enough that it went so far with SP which really leaves my heart bleeding.

Visitor #1 wrote:
Yeah, I mentioned this the other week. I've subscribed to the A-Z Series because I've always loved Ash. The thing is on top of subscribing for all the tracks you also get bonus ones every couple of months. SP should have done something this; pay of a one off fee for the 44 songs off Teargarden, state that one track will be released every two weeks, a CD EP every 4 months and give out bonus tracks and studio videos to the subscribers. That would have worked out so much better than how it's getting done at the moment.

2005-2009 (4 years), Nine Inch Nails released 88 songs. Double Teargarden.