Billy Corgan on D’arcy Wretzky: ‘Encouraged to Hear That She Is Playing Music’
Smashing Pumpkins wrapped up their In Plainsong tour Sunday, a jaunt that saw frontman Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin reuniting with guitarist James Iha for the first time in 16 years. Corgan penned a tour postmortem on his Facebook Monday, and he subtly left the door open for another former Pumpkins bandmate to potentially reunite with the group in some capacity.
“I see that it’s D’arcy Wretzky’s birthday today: So a big and happy B-Day to her from here! I’m encouraged to hear that she is playing music once more, and writing songs,” Corgan wrote of the band’s former bassist. “As I’ve often said, no one had better musical discernment in our band than she.”
Corgan’s recognition of the bassist comes just days after Wretzky admitted in an interview with BlastEcho that she’d be open to reuniting with Smashing Pumpkins. “Circumstances would have to be a certain way. It’s much too complicated,” Wretzky said, adding that she’s never connected with other musicians like she did with the Smashing Pumpkins. “Over the course of 12 years jamming with people who just clicked, you could just do it forever and ever and ever. For me that doesn’t happen very often and I really miss that.”
Corgan also acknowledged what the original quartet accomplished in their time together. “As I head home, it’s crazy to think that it was nearly 30 years ago that I began this wild and wooly journey, and that meeting James, then D’arcy, then Jimmy would alter all of our lives forever; for the better, I would argue,” Corgan wrote. “Which I suppose makes the hardships that came too, bittersweet.”
Given that Iha had already reunited with Corgan, and that Wretzky appears amenable to a reconciliation, fans have already started wondering if the original lineup might hit the road together next time around. However, Corgan warned, “And as I feel speculation start to swirl about what happens next for [Smashing Pumpkins], I’d like to say quite simply and directly that what matters most to Jeff [Schroeder, current guitarist] and I is the music.”