See the Music: Smashing Pumpkins' Frontman Billy Corgan Talks "Oceania" Tour, the Orb and More

Billy Corgan has made many albums by different names--with his legendary band Smashing Pumpkins and more recently with the short-lived but acclaimed Zwan. As a writer, producer, player and singer, he�s contributed to recordings by the likes of Cheap Trick, Ric Ocasek, New Order and Hole, among others. Yet until now with the hauntingly beautiful TheFutureEmbrace, Corgan has never released an album under his own name.

�I always thought the solo thing was so egoistic, and believe it or not, I didn�t want that,� Corgan says with a grin. �I didn�t feel it needed to all be about me. Overall, I always thought bands were better than solo artists--David Bowie being one of those rare exceptions. But shit happens. I was on top of the world with the Pumpkins when my band blew up. I went from being in one of the best bands in the world into some nightmare. All you can do is keep going, and keep on making records you believe in.�

With TheFutureEmbrace, Corgan has made an album worth believing in-- one that is very much his own. �This is probably the first record where I wasn�t being somewhat reactive to what was going on around me,� he says. �The early work of the Pumpkins was influenced by the fact that we would go play in Chicago and people would just talk. We found the louder we played, the more people would listen. . .or leave. Then you move into the indie ranks and you start hearing you�re not cool enough or loud enough. You could even say Zwan was a reaction against the Pumpkins.� For Corgan, however, �This is the first time I said, `Okay, I don�t care what the trends are. I don�t care what the modern marketplace says. I�m just going to make the record I want to make.� That�s it. Every time I came to a fork in the road, I just kept repeating, `I�m gonna do my thing.��

Describing his mission for TheFutureEmbrace, Corgan says: �I just wanted this to be beautiful--though I suppose it�s my own definition of beauty. I didn�t want to be shocking or loud or provocative just for the sake of it. I wanted it all to emanate from a place of beauty.�Towards that end, Corgan began working in his beloved hometown Chicago with Bjorn Thorsrud, a musical associate since the Smashing Pumpkins� 1998 Adore album and Bon Harris of Nitzer Ebb fame who Corgan describes as �like the Jimi Hendrix of synth land.� Later in the process, Corgan brought in Brian Liesegang, formerly of Filter, and Matt Walker, of both Filter and briefly the Smashing Pumpkins as �great tastemakers and knob-turners.� Jimmy Chamberlin--Corgan�s bandmate in the Pumpkins and Zwan--plays drums on �DIA.� Last but not least, Robert Smith of the Cure sings backing vocals on a gorgeously heartbreaking if unlikely version of the Bee Gees� �To Love Somebody.�

�We worked a long time on making this feel like a real album,� says Corgan of making TheFutureEmbrace, which