Billy Corgan has said he believes the original Smashing Pumpkins line-up, which featured drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, guitarist James Iha and bassist D’arcy Wretzky, will never reform, insisting frictions between the former members since the band began to break up has only made their relationship worse.
“No. That’s just one of those things that are never going to happen,” he told Rolling Stone. “If you don’t see somebody for a while, there’s the old thing, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’. Well, we haven’t had absence.
“The things that have happened between us in the interim haven’t been good. There’s been lawsuits and lots of stupid stuff. It’s only made it worse. If it was bad before, it’s really bad now.”
According to Corgan, his friendship with Jimmy Chamberlin, who returned with him on 2007 album ‘Zeitgeist‘, remains in intact, but he told a different story for his other two ex-bandmates.
“Jimmy and I aren’t enemies – he’s just off doing what he wants to do, as he should,” he continued. “There’s not super bad blood between me and Jimmy that we’d never get on stage again.”
“But I cannot in any way, shape, or form ever envision standing on a stage, playing music again with James and D’arcy. I just don’t see any situation where that would be possible.”
Smashing Pumpkins are set to release new album ‘Oceania‘ this September.