BILLY CORGAN: Why RICK RUBIN Was Right Person To Produce SMASHING PUMPKINS' Latest Album

Billy Corgan and James Iha of SMASHING PUMPKINS were interviewed by KROQ DJ Stryker prior to the band's appearance at the KROQ Absolut Almost Acoustic Christmas on Saturday, December 8 at the Forum in Inglewood, California. You can now watch the chat below.

Asked why Rick Rubin was the right person to produce SMASHING PUMPKINS' new album, "Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.", Billy said: "I think Rick's shown a great ability to get to the heart of what an artist with a certain length of career, sort of what the heart of the matter is. And he's done it for everyone from Neil Diamond to Neil Young to… there's just so many people. Johnny Cash, obviously, is a great example where Johnny Cash, in his 70s, was having hits with Rick Rubin. Rick just has a way of getting to the heart of the matter. And the thing about Rick is he says things where if somebody else said it, I don't think I would listen, but I'll listen from Rick. And he has such a warm heart about the thing; he really does want the best. And so I think we were willing to trust Rick to kind of guide us back into a place where… Me particularly, I'm a big second and third guesser, and with Rick, we just didn't second-guess; it was, like, 'Okay. It's good. Let's just do it.' And we did it really quickly. We did eight songs in four weeks, which, for us, is, like, light speed. And I think the music is not just about being evocative of a time, whether it's this time or another time. I think it got us back to a place in the early days when we actually made music really quickly. Some of the songs that KROQ still plays we made really quickly — we didn't sit there and ponder and think, 'Well, what about this?' and, 'Maybe somebody's not gonna like it.' And I think it kind of brought us back to, 'Maybe that's a good approach for us.' Instead of overthinking, you just do what you do, and it works or it doesn't."

"Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun." was released last month. The disc is the first SMASHING PUMPKINS LP in over 18 years to feature founding members Corgan, Iha and Jimmy Chamberlain, with longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

The group recently wrapped the "Shiny And Oh So Bright Tour", which sold over 300,000 tickets across North America and saw them playing sold-out arena shows at venues including The Forum, United Center and Madison Square Garden. Produced by Live Nation, the tour was the band's first in nearly two decades to feature Corgan, Chamberlin and Iha, alongside Schroeder, bassist Jack Bates and keyboardist Katie Cole.