Corgan's Fury: Exclusive Q&A

Right, because, like you say, it's not really about the music at the end of the day.
Right. And as an alternative artist, we're still here because it is about the music. And anybody can point to any other 9,000 stupid things I've said or done. The music still trumped any of those things. So I can sit here at my rosy age and know that that's why we're here, because the music has held us in good stead with a lot of people around the world.

Speaking of the music, could you talk about new single "Superchrist"? Is that indicative of what you guys might be working on next?
I think that's the band, me, whomever, back in free territory. I think, if I was a fan of the Pumpkins, the great frustration is, where's that energy that used to be there? We made the video for $5,000. We spent our own money to record the song. We did it our own way. There was nobody standing there and there was no timetable. We just put it out when we wanted. It was great. I think that's where the band belongs.

Coming back, we didn't really know what to expect. It's a weird world. I mean, we never said we were bringing the original band back. And then people were saying, oh, it's not the original band. Well, we tried. I mean, what are we supposed to do? Stay home? You're dealing with ideas and opinions and disappointments that aren't yours. And there's not much you can do about them. We've rebelled for years. It's just that we've been quietly rebelling in a system that didn't give us a lot of options.

Is there a moment you can pinpoint that demonstrates your mistreatment at the hands of a label?
I'll give you my favorite line of the past three years. I was talking to the label president from Warner Bros., Tom Walley, and we were having a call. They were actually thinking about dropping us, which in retrospect probably would have been good. I was in Arizona, we were starting to write the album, and so I said things are going great. And he said, "What's the difference between Zwan and Smashing Pumpkins?" And I was like, what do you say? What do you say to a brick wall? What's the difference between your side band and the band that was your blood and your sweat and your heart for fourteen years? So we're out of Purgatory. And we're excited now.