Credit: Olivia BeeBilly Corgan touches on a variety of topics in his first interview since Smashing Pumpkins announced their Shiny and Oh So Bright reunion tour. Speaking with The New York Times, Corgan talks for the first time about original bassist D’arcy Wretzky‘s exclusion from the reunion.
Leading up to the reunion announcement, Wretzky said Corgan had told her she’d be a part of the project, only to rescind that offer. She also shared her texts with Corgan. In a subsequent interview, Wretzky called Corgan “insufferable” and said that he “may have a brain tumor.”
“I think what she did demonstrates why she couldn’t be involved,” Corgan now says of Wretzky. “I was vulnerable and shared things and trusted that there was a reason to give it a chance, despite plenty of empirical evidence that that was not a wise decision.”
Corgan adds that the bridge between him and Wretzky is now burned “forever.” Instead, Jack Bates, son of New Order‘s Peter Hook, will play bass on the tour.
Wretzky also said Corgan supported President Donald Trump, but Corgan says he hasn’t voted since casting a ballot for Bill Clinton in 1992.
“I’m a free-market libertarian capitalist,” Corgan says. “I’m not anti-anything except establishment. I find institutions and systems suspicious.”
Additionally, Corgan addressed his controversial reputation, saying that if “kept my mouth shut,” the Pumpkins would be “a lot more successful.” However, he also refers to himself a “class-A heel,” a wrestling term for a villain. In fact, he thinks he’s the number-two heel in rock history, only behind Lou Reed.
“I would say 80 percent of the things that I get held up and mocked for, I’m doing intentionally,” Corgan says. “It’s sort of funny to me that they actually think I’m that stupid.”
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