Original Smashing Pumpkins bassist D’arcy Wretzky criticized Billy Corgan for allegedly excluding her from the band’s still-unannounced reunion tour in a new interview with Alternative Nation.
“Everyone said [Corgan] changed since he had a kid, and he can be very charming, and fun. He’s fun to talk to; I enjoy mental sparring with him,” Wretzky said. “I just was so out of that world for the longest time, I wasn’t aware of a lot of the crazy stuff, like he supports Trump. What? The shapeshifting thing, I honestly think he may have a brain tumor. He’s always been insufferable.”
According to Wretzky, after exchanging text messages with Corgan regarding a reunion tour, she learned that Corgan had already hired Jack Bates, the bassist son of Peter Hook, to play bass full-time alongside Corgan, Iha, Chamberlin and guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Unbeknownst to Wretzky, Corgan allegedly planned on her participation as more of a “special appearance” situation akin to drummer Steven Adler’s sporadic cameos with the classic Guns N’ Roses lineup in recent years.
“That was apparently the plan all along. He had Jack Bates already, it was just unbelievable, really just disgusting,” Wretzky said. “The fucking nerve, and then for him to come back and say, ‘Well, we haven’t seen you in this long, and you haven’t done this, and you couldn’t even make it to this. Everyone has shown up, and you didn’t?’ How could I, I didn’t even know you were there?”
Earlier this week, Smashing Pumpkins issued a statement claiming they tried to include Wretzky in reunion tour plans, but she repeatedly declined the invitations. The band’s statement came after Wretzky, in a series of social media posts and brief statements to Blast Echo, said that Corgan offered her a contract to rejoin Smashing Pumpkins, only to pull the agreement.
“He’s not going to forgive me. He wanted me to do what he wanted me to do, and he’s furious at me for telling the truth,” Wretzky said after the back-and-forth. “He calls it ‘your’ truth: ‘You should have told people within the context of the band.’ What the fuck does that mean? I know what it means, toe the party line. ‘We have to be on the same page.’ Just fucking come out and say it, you don’t want me to tell people that I’m not going to be the bass player.”
In the latest interview, Wretzky also accused Corgan – who in the past has criticized “greatest hits” tours – of coordinating the reunion because his venture into the world of wrestling left him “a bit into a bit of a hole.”
“It took me a long time to not care, and not hate him,” Wretzky said of Corgan. “Now I don’t hate him, I’m back to where I was at the beginning. I laugh at his antics, and I’m going to go about my own life, but I don’t feel sorry for him. I do think he needs to get an MRI though.”
Smashing Pumpkins are expected to announce their “classic lineup” reunion on February 15th.
From miscommunications with original bassist D’arcy Wretzky to rumors of new original material, here are the biggest mysteries behind upcoming tour. Watch below.
