Jimmy Chamberlin was interviewed by WGN Radio last week, and he revealed that he was meeting with Billy Corgan for lunch. It is unclear if James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky were set to be present, as James was mentioned in the question.
The interviewer brought up his relationship with the rest of the group, asking, “In 2017, where are you at with Billy Corgan and James and…”
“They’re good – we’re having lunch on Wednesday,” Chamberlin answers, laughing. “[Corgan] and I have done so many things together, and we’ve written, you know, so many songs. We know that when we get together to play music, good things happen — we’ve never questioned that.”
Chamberlin was then asked if it was hard to have a “strong bond relationship” when everyone in the band is riding the same roller-coaster. “I would say the same about our relationship today, right,” he says. “The two hours that we spend playing music together is the greatest thing in the world. It’s the other 22 hours of the day that him and I are … he’s got opinions, I’ve got opinions; we’re both grown men, right?”
Chamberlin then brought up original bassist D’Arcy Wretzky, who left the band in 1999. It isn’t clear whether he’s talking about her in the present tense though. He states, “D’Arcy, I think, summed it up the best when she said, when they asked her just an insanely rude and misogynistic question, they said, ‘What’s it like being a girl in the Smashing Pumpkins?’ And she said, ‘It’s like being married to three guys you wouldn’t even date’ [laughs]. So, I think that’s the best answer.”
“Musically, we’ve never been at odds. I mean, I can honestly say that since 1988, I don’t think Billy and I have ever argued about music — not one time. I can’t think of one time where I played something and he was, like, ‘What?’ Or he played something and I was, like, ‘Oh, don’t…’ Our musical relationship is that intact, which is, even when I came back to do the [Marilyn] Manson tour in 2015, we hadn’t played since 2008. I mean, you’re talking about going out and [playing in front of] 18,000 people. We rehearsed for five days — that was it. And after two days, we were ready to rock. I mean, it’s just in your DNA.”
Loudwire reached out to the host of WGN Radio’s The Download, Justin Kaufmann, who conducted the interview to get his thoughts on whether Chamberlin was hinting at a reunion.
“It would be great for the Pumpkins to get back together for [next year’s Siamese Dream 25th] anniversary,” he says. “And in the interview, it sounds like Jimmy is up for it.” Listen to Chamberlin’s interview on WGN Radio below.
