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EXPLAINED: 8 - The Real Truth

“I wondered if she would fit in, because I knew her as more of a metal guitarist… She just felt like a real breath of fresh air”: Billy Corgan reveals how many guitarists the Smashing Pumpkins auditioned in person – and how they knew Kiki Wong was the one

The band have also finished a guitar record that will make “the old-school fans happy”

Guitar World

“She was very, very honest, almost to a fault. Most singers are actors. Sinéad was not an actor.” Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan recalls Sunday dinners with Sinéad O'Connor while she was holed up in a friend's attic

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan shares his memories of the late Sinéad O'Connor

Louder

“I’m not at peace with the world. I’m frightened of it more so now than ever.” Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan on our “complicated” world, and why wrestling is more honest than the music business

Billy Corgan is tired of playing the victim, and is all about embracing serenity in 2024

Louder

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“I may not be the absolute best player out there – in fact, I know I’m not! But what I have is an undying love for guitar and heavy metal”: Kiki Wong landed the gig of a lifetime with the Smashing Pumpkins – and she knows she has big shoes to fill

The 35-year-old Instagram shredder was chosen from 10,000 applicants after she’d almost given up on her dream. She opens up on the interview and audition process, bonding with Billy Corgan over Dimebag Darrell, and why getting the guitarist spot was as joyful as giving birth

Guitar World

"Don’t call your band Nine Inch Nails when you have a three-inch one": the many, wild feuds of Courtney Love

Swifties came for the Hole singer last month but she is unlikely to have been rattled

Louder

The first trailer for Billy Corgan's new reality TV show is online and it looks pretty wild

"Every day I question my sanity" - Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan

Louder

“My friend called me: ‘You won’t believe this, and it’s probably not gonna happen, but I gave Billy Corgan your number. He might call you, he might not…’” Ginger Pooley reflects on her time with the Smashing Pumpkins – and why she had to give it up

Before she returns to action with Garbage, Ginger Pooley reveals how she went from teenage Pumpkins obsessive to landing the bassist spot alongside Billy Corgan, the challenge of quitting the band she loved, and what she learned along the way

Guitar World

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"In a way, I can hear that song now as the end of an era": Billy Corgan on the Smashing Pumpkins classic that put a stop to one era of the band

Corgan said one Mellon Collie... cut was written to bid farewell to one aspect of the grunge giants' sound

Louder

“It made me realize how grateful I am to have the guitar in my life”: I applied to be the new Smashing Pumpkins guitarist – I didn’t get the gig, but it was one of the most life-affirming experiences of my musical career

Kiki Wong deservedly landed the touring guitarist spot, but applying to join one of my all-time favorite bands reignited my teenage dreams – and Billy Corgan should be commended for offering the opportunity to so many players

Guitar World

“Are these your questions?” When Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan interviewed Nick Cave for MTV at Lollapalooza 1994, it did not go well

Interviewing Nick Cave for MTV in Las Vegas in 1994, Billy Corgan made the mistake of calling the Bad Seeds an English band. It would get worse

Louder

"It’s great that someone of her acumen will be part of our touring family": The Smashing Pumpkins unveil their new guitarist

Billy Corgan's crew put out an open call for a new member in January and they've found the latest addition to their line-up

Metal Hammer

“I never thought little ol’ 15-year-old me playing metal guitar in my bedroom would amount to this moment”: Smashing Pumpkins name social media shredder Kiki Wong as new guitarist after 10,000 applications

Guitar World

"I never thought little ole 15-year-old me playing metal guitar in my bedroom would amount to this moment": Kiki Wong named as new Smashing Pumpkins guitarist

Vigil Of War guitarist joins the Chicago band after an open audition process that attracted 10,000 applications

MusicRadar

"I'm thrilled to share an inside look into our family's wild life through the world of wrestling and rock'n'roll": A Billy Corgan reality TV show is coming to a small screen near you

Billy Corgan's Adventures in Carnyland premieres next month, and it's unscripted

Louder

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"Adore weaves its dark spell a little bit deeper. It's brooding, gothic and hypnotic in spades": Smashing Pumpkins embrace the sadness but lose fans on Adore

After Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness there was nowhere to go but up for Smashing Pumpkins: Then bad things began to happen

Louder

"We were young and crazy. We were trying to do all the things that Led Zeppelin did": What happened when Billy Corgan interviewed Eddie Van Halen

In 1996, Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan collared his hero Eddie Van Halen to hear tales of parachutes, parties and, er, practising

Louder

"He was drunk out of his mind and he asked me to make out with him": Billy Corgan on how he became a fan of The Cure... and the first time he met Robert Smith

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman and Cure leader went on to become fast friends

Louder

"Get the **** off my stage before I punch you in the ****ing face": Ten times a band stopped a gig to lambast a member of their own crowd

Shoe-throwing, stopping fights, people chatting, stage invaders... it's tough up there for your heroes

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Louder

Ten times Billy Corgan collaborated with his heroes

The Smashing Pumpkins leader has racked up some impressive guest spots over the years

Guitar World

“He had an acoustic guitar and he started playing this little melody for the bridge… It felt magical – like classic Smashing Pumpkins”: Code Orange on their spellbinding Billy Corgan collaboration and how simplification brought honesty to their playing

Reba Meyers and Dom Landolina pull back the curtain and take us behind the making of their adventurous and aggressively iconoclastic new album, The Above – and explain why recording with Steve Albini isn’t like working with any other producer

Metal Hammer

Every The Smashing Pumpkins album ranked from worst to best

The collected studio works of Billy Corgan and company rated and ranked, from the so-so to the smashing

Guitar World

“I have that Eddie Van Halen mentality of ‘it doesn’t really matter what it looks like – I wish someone would teach me, because it’s just been me destroying stuff!” David Pajo on modding guitars, Gang of Four and the launch of his lost folk-rock album

The Fender fan, who plays bass and drums on a new ‘lost album’ by Children’s Hour, didn’t realize what an influence Andy Gill had been until he filled the late guitarist’s space

Guitar World

“It's a disgrace to the bass player in me, but it's hard to write on the bass. Playing power chords on a guitar is much easier”: Melissa Auf der Maur looks back on a life in rock

As the bass player for Hole and Smashing Pumpkins Melissa Auf Der Maur helped define the sounds of alternative music in the 90s

Guitar World

“Before me it was classic Fender Jazz, but I showed up with a bunch of Yamaha basses. Billy Corgan was totally cool with that… it’s never been, ‘Do what I say or else’”: How Jack Bates splits his loyalties between Smashing Pumpkins and his dad, Peter Hook

Joy Division’s unique bassist wasn’t originally much of an influence to his son, who doesn’t use pedals with the Pumpkins – but needs to use ancient, unreliable ones with The Light

Guitar World

NAMM 2024: “A sonic odyssey for drop tunings”: Reverend unveils its latest Billy Corgan signature guitar – and it’s precision-engineered for aggressive drop-tuned riffage

The Drop Z pairs Corgan's Railhammer pickups with an extended scale length to eradicate the flop when tuning Zero low

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