Billy Corgan recently sat down with Wall Of Sound before his appearance at the Good Things Festival, where he shared his thoughts on the band’s creative process and their latest song. Corgan explained that the band’s approach to rock and roll has often confused people, especially due to their reverence for classic bands like Rush, Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and The Cars.
Corgan then described the band’s creative approach as a ‘Frankenstein’ mix, where they combined elements they loved from those bands in a unique way. He said, “‘Well, what if we just take the things we like about those bands and just smash them together in a way that no one would ever think?’ It’s like if The Cars had Tony Iommi on guitar but Dale [Bozzio] from Missing Persons singing. We just did like a weird Frankenstein thing.”
He acknowledged that to outsiders, this blend of genres might have been confusing. “To people outside of our world they find it very confusing because especially in the ’90s if you were in the metal lane you were in the metal lane.”
Although he didn’t have a specific genre in mind when starting out, Corgan admitted he wanted to be like Yngwie Malmsteen, the famous virtuoso guitarist. “Now it’s understood that people are cross genre artists but back then it was like alternative playing heavy guitar with solos, like, heretical. It’s like it’s always the famous Kurt Cobain would play the weird [stuff], he was like taking the piss solos yeah it’s all good because he was a great guitar player. But that’s sort of with the mindset where we were like, ‘I want to be Yngwie, I don’t give a f*ck.’ I didn’t care what any alternative person thought I just wanted to play as fast as Yngwie.”
Corgan also recognized the influence of Malmsteen on the rock world, mentioning him in an earlier interview as one of the most prominent guitarists. He also spoke highly of Ritchie Blackmore. “Ritchie Blackmore, I think, is one of the greatest guitar players of all time. And, what I think what’s amazing about Ritchie Blackmore as a guitar player is his transition from a kind of blues guitar player to a hard rock guitar player to a melodic guitar player. Not only did he influence an entire generation of guitar players, of course, Yngwie Malmsteen being the most prominent among them,” Corgan added.
Before the Good Things Festival, Corgan went on a short tour in Australia, performing three shows.
