In a new USA Today interview, Billy Corgan discussed D’arcy Wretzky sharing text message conversations with Alternative Nation earlier this year that had to do with Smashing Pumpkins reunion tour negotiations. In the text messages, Corgan offered D’arcy a guest role that he compared to Steven Adler on Guns N’ Roses’ Not In This Lifetime tour. D’arcy felt insulted by the offer, as she wanted to return as the band’s full time bassist for an original lineup reunion, which failed to come to fruition after two years of teases, as only Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin reunited for the Shiny and Oh So Bright tour with guitarist Jeff Schroeder and touring bassist Jack Bates.
Alternative Nation also conducted the only in-depth interview D’arcy has done in the last 20 years in February, which Billy Corgan recently indirectly referred to as a ‘third tier website.’
Corgan did an interview with Alternative Nation in September 2014 when our audience was smaller than it is now, and it was promoted on The Smashing Pumpkins’ official website. Corgan said early on during the interview, “Good question, coming out of the box strong.” While Alternative Nation has published plenty of D’arcy’s shots at Corgan this year, it’s our job to report what the musicians we cover say. We reported plenty of insults that Corgan made at James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s expense over the years. We’ve never ourselves editorially taken cheap shots at Corgan, like many have over his political views, and one of our writers recently gave the new Smashing Pumpkins album a very fair review. Alternative Nation also named Corgan’s album Ogilala the best rock album of 2017.
Alternative Nation publicly offered Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin an opportunity to share their side of the story on social media and in articles, but we have never been contacted by any of them. D’arcy is the only person involved in the situation who has contacted Alternative Nation, and we would still be interested in hearing Corgan’s side of the story, as he’s only given vague details in interviews over the last 9 months.
USA Today recently asked Corgan, “What exactly went down between you and D’Arcy Wretzky (the band’s original bassist, who left the band in 1999)? She recently shared what appear to be text messages between you two, in which you offer to have her be a part of the reunion but only in a limited capacity.”
Corgan responded, “The problem is that she presented an incomplete record. Those conversations went on for years. What she presented was, a), without my permission. They were private messages. And b), because I never contextualized the messages, people just filled in their own conspiracy blank and created a narrative that isn’t true. As you know, in the world we live in, you can try to correct a narrative that’s already sealed in concrete and nobody listens because the narrative that they formed is far more interesting. The reality is quite boring.”
If Billyleaks is a conspiracy, does that make me Julian Assange?
Extending an open invite to @Billy, @jccomplex and @James_Iha to discuss the SP reunion after our D'arcy interview. Still a huge fan of all four of them, and would love to hear their side of the story. Hopefully they share it somewhere with the media when they're ready.
— Alternative Nation (@AltNationNet) February 14, 2018
