Smashing Pumpkins' Jimmy Chamberlin Opens Up About Band Dynamic

Smashing Pumpkins recently got the band back together. Though Billy Corgan has been making music under the moniker since the band's inception in the late '80s, he reunited with founding members guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin for the nostalgic Shiny and Oh So Bright tour, which saw the Pumpkins play music dated from the year 2000 and earlier. The band also announced a new album, SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN., which will be the first Smashing Pumpkins record to feature the three founding members in nearly 20 years.

Chamberlin recently chatted with NME about the reunited band's dynamics.

"Everybody has taken this journey in their own unique way. We all have kids, families, and the shared goals to raise our kids in a positive environment," the drummer explained. "Those kinds of relationships add to the accumulative holistic value of all of that. For the first time, the band is in alignment in every way: musically, socially and familially. The band has come together in a way that’s compassionate. There’s a lot of compassion, grace and appreciation for one another."

Later in the conversation, he spoke on the rumors around touring Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Machina in full.

"We are [talking] about doing select cities with a ‘Gish’ tour, a ‘Siamese Dream’ tour. Then if that works out, yeah we’ll do ‘Mellon Collie’ and I would love to get to the point where we’re doing ‘Machina’ because that’s some of my favourite stuff to play," Chamberlin said. "We’ll see what happens. There’s a lot of interest in the band doing these album retrospectives. Doing ‘Gish’, from a drummer’s perspective, would not only be challenging but a lot of fun."

Read the full interview here and look out for the new album on November 16th.

Photo: Getty Images