‘Monuments to an
Elegy’ is the first of two albums that you’ve said will be released within a
one-year period. What is inspiring this output of music in a relatively short
amount of time? “My goal was having the impetus for a double record. But
thinking of how it would be consumed in a surface-level culture made me want to
split the work apart: which in itself has changed the process, writing, and
review.”
‘Monuments to an
Elegy’ seems to sonically encompass the different eras of Smashing Pumpkins,
definitely underlining the majestic and hard guitar sounds as well as
keyboard/synth textures. What were you
hoping to musically achieve with this album? “I rarely go into an album
thinking what it 'has to be.' Albums, as a way of coalescing songs, are just an
organizing principle, and each is different given what's going on within at
that moment, and without. So if there was any sense here it was bringing all
I'm interested in musically to the table at one go.”
What inspired you to
ask Tommy Lee to play drums on ‘Monuments to an Elegy’? What do you feel he has
brought to the music? “The songs, in demo form, had a strut, and so the
suggestion was made that we ought to get someone who 'plays like' Tommy. Jeff
Schroeder, Pumpkins' guitarist said, ‘why not get the real deal?’ [On MTAE]
Tommy brings the power and grace he's known for, which gives the music a
vibrancy that is both immediate and unmistakable.”
Can you talk about
the contributions of guitarist Jeff Schroeder, who’s now been in the band since
2007, to ‘Monuments to an Elegy’? “To Jeff's own admittance, it's taken him
some years to find his place within a sound that was uniquely formed before he
came on board. For that he's turned to playing more melodically so his voice so
to speak is additive. And it's that triumvirate between he, Tommy, and I that
you hear most keenly on the record. Plus, Jeff's just a natural producer in a
recording situation, and really pushed me to be my best in a way that most
wouldn't understand how to: through patience, and encouragement.”
What do you feel
producer Howard Willing, who you first worked with on the Adore sessions, has
brought to ‘Monuments to an Elegy? The sound has grandeur and intimacy, always
a trademark of Smashing Pumpkins. “Howard lives in the real world, unlike
me. And so it was his task to be the traffic cop. To point out where the
Pumpkins’ sound needed to come forward, and for that I'm appreciative, because
it was never the idea of the band as conceived to live in the past, or to
become a machine of sentiment. And like all good rock and roll scythes, we're
back to chopping forward.”
Thematically, how
would you describe the songs on ‘Monuments to an Elegy’? Your singer-songwriter
introspective sensibility is in full effect here. There’s the
directness/vulnernability of “Run2me,”the fractured romance of “Being Beige,”
and in “Drum + Fife,” there’s the repeated line, “I will bang this drum until
my dying day.” “That I can't speak to. We honestly just tried to pick the
best songs, of which there were about 80 ideas to choose from. And in that,
Howard Willing was attracted to those with strong identities more so than just
a good riff.”
How will the second
album, Day for Night, be different from ‘Monuments to an Elegy’? “We're at
work on it already, and it literally is the other side of the sonic moon. At
this early stage it appears to be a deeper work: less shiny, and more personal;
which is always a quizzical thing to bring out into the open.”
(Interview &
images courtesy of David Gresham Records)
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