Musique Plus interview
Billy's in a good mood,D'Arcy is with him and James looks like he's sleeping...Jimmy is the only one that's not present.
CR: (Claude Rajotte,interviewer)What's it like being rock stars?
Billy: Well let me tell you it's just great!
CR: It's great.
Billy: It's great.I can eat all the macaroni and cheese I want...
D'Arcy I didn't think we were rock stars in Canada.
CR: Oh yeah!
Billy:Well,we're huge in America...
James: That's where it counts baby!
CR: Do you have favorite tracks on the album that you're very proud of?
Billy: I'm pretty proud of it all.
CR: Yeah...
Billy: I think in the context of how much work we did in such a short time, the quality of the music and the spirit of it all,I'm very proud of it all.I never like to think one song is better is better than another.
CR: But there are different kinds of songs... you know...
Billy: Sure,yeah,I mean obviously somebody's gonna react more to say "bullet" than they would "We only come out at night".
CR: Do you think this album will be even more popular than...
Billy: It's really hard to say because it's such an ambitious record and that there's so much material that um,what is success?...I..ummm..obviously success is if it sells more than Siamese Dream but to me if we could sell a lot,which Siamese Dream sold a lot,if we could sell a lot of this one....that's success too.
CR: Are you very organized?
Billy: Umm,that depends on what you're talking about.
CR: Well...
Billy: When it comes to music,I'm extremely organized.When it comes to my life,I'm a fucking mess.
Billy: I really feel that we were umm,we are coming to like the end of what the Smashing Pumpkins were supposed to be and have been and this is like the last album and tours of that thing.It's not to say that we won't still be the Smashing Pumpkins...
D'Arcy (Interrupting Billy) We'll still be mellon collie and sad.
Billy: It was kind of our way to close out the past and the present and also, try to force ourselves into a new future.I feel that the kind of music,style of music that we helped create and invent and popularize has been so copied now that it's really hard for anyone now to differentiate between the Smashing Pumpkins...
CR: Yeah,it's true like when you listen to like Gwen Mars and Hum...
Billy: Hum,yeah...
CR: That's a real copy,it's like your music played backwards.
Billy: Yeah,so you start to think that it's time to create a new Smashing Pumpkins.I a have faith that I can invent a new kind of music.
CR: What challenges do you have in 1995?
Billy: Well,seeing as I've canceled the Fall tour,there are no challenges.
CR: You've canceled the Fall tour...why is that?
Billy: Too depressed...
CR: Too depressed,you're not interested in playing your new songs?
Billy: Not under the conditions people wanted us to play them under.We wanted to go out and do a small tour,and no one else seemed to want us to do a small tour.
CR: Oh...because you're that kind of band,you're that popular that you perform in arena size venues?
Billy: We'll figure it out.
CR: Yeah because your fans are waiting... So when can we expect the Smashing Pumpkins tour?
Billy: Soon.........soon or never.
D'Arcy That's what I'm afraid of...
(Billy grins)