Orange County Register

It has been years since Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has described himself as “positive” and “happy” — at best he’s merely been content. He has washed his hands of the record industry as he once knew it and now completely dismisses the idea that the original Pumpkins lineup — including guitarist James Iha, bassist D’arcy Wretzky (or her replacement, Melissa Auf der Maur) and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin — will ever see a stage again.

Yet “this is the most positive energy I’ve had around me in about 15 years,” Corgan says of his new players during a recent phone interview. “It’s fantastic … and I feel it’s earned. I’ve certainly taken the road less traveled to get here but I didn’t sell out, I didn’t run to the hot new producer — I figured these things out on my own, and it feels good.

“The only negative voice I have to deal with is the part of my fan base that wishes the band would get back together and go back to 1993 — that’s not reality. I’ve said to them directly and publicly that it’s not going to happen. But they’re stuck on the Osmonds reunion or something — it’s not in the cards, and the success of this particular lineup only drives that point home even further.”

Corgan says he knew he had something special on his hands back in June when the new band — drummer Mike Byrne, guitarist Jeff Schroeder and bassist Nicole Fiorentino — first appeared at the tiny Viper Room in West Hollywood. From there the group has begun touring the U.S. as well as throughout Europe and Asia, and returns home this weekend to headline the third annual Sunset Strip Music Festival on Saturday, held on closed-off portions of Sunset Boulevard between Doheny Drive and San Vincente Boulevard.

The three-day event kicks off Thursday night at, appropriately enough, House of Blues Sunset Strip with a star-studded salute to guitar hero Slash, who also will appear on one of the two outdoor stages Saturday evening, expectedly with Black Eyed Peas vocalist Fergie joining. The rest of that day’s roster, appearing from 2-9:30 p.m., includes rappers Common, Kid Cudi and Big B, pop acts Travie McCoy and Neon Trees, parody group Steel Panther and Lady Gaga’s favorite opening act, Semi Precious Weapons.

The private Slash celebration will be followed later that night by a free public performance from the Head Cat, the rockabilly trio featuring Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and Lonesome Spurs guitarist Danny B. Harvey. Six other Sunset Strip venues will participate in the festivities that evening, including performances from the Beth Hart Band at the Whisky a Go-Go, Filter at the Roxy, the David George Band at the Cat Club, Purple Melon at the Viper Room, and Y&T at the Key Club.

More gigs take place Friday, when Kix plays HOB Sunset, Unwritten Law headlines the Key Club, P.O.D. turns up at the Whisky, the Expendables appear at the Roxy, the Outline and Golden State join forces at the Cat Club, and Warner Drive rolls into the Viper Room.

Meanwhile, all of those venues will host dozens more acts on Saturday, from early afternoon until well past midnight, all included in the under-$60 general-admission ticket price for the final day of the fest. Patrons can simply wander away from the outdoor bash and check out smaller sets in any of these clubs. More than 50 bands will perform throughout the event.

For his part, Corgan says he’s excited to get in front of a large crowd on the legendary Sunset Strip. These reconstituted Pumpkins have been well-received both critically and by fans so far this tour, and unlike the sometimes erratic, often epic shows Corgan did with Chamberlin in 2007-08, behind the album Zeitgeist – concluding with lengthy back-to-back performances at Gibson Amphitheatre — he’s noticing many more young faces in the crowd these days. With a tour schedule that gives him little time to rest — for some stretches he’s playing 15 shows in 21 days — the 43-year-old is grateful that fans (mostly  new ones) have been so responsive.

That’s especially heartening because like many of his contemporaries — notably Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor — Corgan has now chosen to work independent of the traditional record industry. Given the enormous amount of music available online, he says he had to think of an innovative way to get his songs heard — so instead of releasing a full album through a label, and likely watching it sink into oblivion with little promotional push, he decided to issue individual tracks one-by-one on the Pumpkins’ website as free downloads.

Since last December the band has unveiled five songs, including new radio single “Freak”; the first four have since been issued as the initial EP (subtitled Songs for a Sailor) in an 11-part series under the umbrella banner Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. Corgan boasts that he has as many as 60 new songs written for the project.

“(The internet) is a sea of voices and you certainly can’t shout louder or do anything dumber,” he says. “You just have to trust that what you’re doing will find who it needs to find. I always resented the major-label system, even though at one time I was a beneficiary of it. I resented that at the end of the day it wasn’t about how good you were, and I think there’s plenty of evidence to support that concept now. When you find yourself in a position where 20 years down the road you’re still trying to do this damn song-and-dance to get the guy in between sipping his cappuccino and checking his porn site to pay attention to you – I just didn’t want to be part of it and complain about it. I was willing to put my money where my mouth is and take on the project in this way, and for the most part it’s been very positive. It hasn’t diminished opportunities for me and our relationship with radio is fantastic right now — ‘Freak’ looks like it will be a hit.”

As to why the band didn’t just release the songs on iTunes, he says: “At the end of the day, if the difference between someone listening and not listening is $1 … it’s too small a price to pay to have them just walk away.”

Of course, the thought of throwing up his hands and abandoning music all together has crossed Corgan’s mind several times. He says he questions his sanity weekly since he chose to be in a non-fan-friendly band; running his mouth typically makes him an easy target. But, with renewed energy, Corgan continues to take the stage with an “I don’t give a ….” mindset, playing whatever he wants to play.

“I will never get up on a stage and do what people want me to do,” he says. “Even if someone said I’d make three times as much money and go back to winning Grammy Awards — I don’t see rock ‘n’ roll that way and I never will. In a weird way I see it as a form of priesthood. You take certain vows. Like Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits and the Beatles, I have my own code of ethics, and sometimes you have to hold strong to those, even when the culture is jumping off your ship like rats.

“From the moment we played the Viper Room, it was like flipping a switch and everyone was like ‘Oh, this is gonna work.’ The phone started ringing again. I’m happy because I got here organically, which proves what my heart is telling me, to stay this course. I once had Neil Young tell me: ‘Put your head down and just walk.’ He told me that 10 years ago and that’s been the best advice.

“I’m more than happy to celebrate right now that this has been working, but I’m humble and positive. I’ve been around long enough to know that this might not work tomorrow, and it won’t last forever.”

The finale of the 3rd annual Sunset Strip Music Festival — featuring performances from the Smashing Pumpkins, Slash, Common, Kid Cudi, Travie McCoy, Steel Panther and more — starts at 1 p.m. Saturday on Sunset Boulevard between Doheny Drive and San Vincente Boulevard. Tickets are $58.25 for general admission.

More coming shows:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.