Q: Why did you choose the title - Machina/the Machines of God?

Billy: "I don't like to talk about album titles. I always feel weird talking about album titles."
James: "At first it was gonna be 'Knee Deep in the Hoopla,' but he came up with that title."

Q: What about 'Heavy metal Machine then'? Is it a homage or are you making fun of the whole genre?

Billy: "I am blessing, cursing, making fun of, destroying and uplifting simultaneously."

Q: Like destroy what you love?

Billy: "Destruction is a true sign of devotion. As I always tell my girlfriend when she threatens to kill me, 'You should kill me and it would tell me that you love me.' " [PRINT] OT00004

*NEW!* On the hiring of Melissa Auf Der Maur

Q.: Were you deliberately looking for a female replacement for D'Arcy?

James: *grins* "No, we met these two fat guys, but.."

Billy: "It didn't work out. Actually we knew these two twin brothers who rock 350 each."

Q: What would that be in kilograms?

James: "It would be a lot."

Billy: "They're about 800 kilos each and they both played bass, so the whole attraction was like they would each stand at both sides of the stage and it would be like a duo of twins at the bass and the one brother takes the two octaves down."

James: "But they kept punching me in the shoulder and it hurt."

Billy: "They keep saying 'hey buddy'."

James: "It was like I'd be out for like an hour and after a while Billy was like, 'Hey, the guy's gotta play guitar, the guys gotta lighten up
on 'im.' "

Billy: "So pretty much the reason she's in is 'cause she is the only
member who can't kick his ass."

James: "Yeah and I like it." [PRINT] OT00004

Billy and James at a recent concert:

James: "Good evening Oakland!"
Billy: "James, we're not in Oakland."
James: "Good evening San Francisco!"
Billy: "We're not in San Fransisco either. (to the crowd) See, there is something many of you may not know about James. He's a robot, and when we're on tour, we kinda forgot to reprogram him sometimes so he gets confused easy. That's also why he smells so bad since we can't give him a shower." [???]

On Michael Jordan:

Interviewer: "Has your tremendous success allowed you to indulge in any guilty pleasures that you weren't able to indulge in before?"

Billy: "Bulls tickets. Michael Jordan is the man. Not only is he the most gifted athlete in sports, he's also the most determined. That's an amazing combination, because usually the two don't go together. It's like pretty girls and brains." [PRINT] OT00001

On a KROQ Radio Interview:

Caller: "Ok, my name is Tyla. Hi BIlly, I'm a really big fan. Ok, my friend told me that she heard the Smashing Pumpkins, the name of your band was based on a joke."

Billy: "Um."

Caller: "I want to know... what is the joke?"

*a few people laugh*

Billy: "Well, I mean thats a slight misrepresentation. The joke was like...I came up with the name, kind of like a... telling some jokes with some friends & I thought oh that would be a stupid band name to have. There was no band, I hadn't even met anybody in the band and people would say, I would say, 'Oh I'm going to start a band.' And they would say, 'Oh what's the name oh it?' I'd say, 'Oh, The Smashing Pumpkins, ha ha.' There was no band. Then when I met the band, they were like, 'What are we going to call it, I was like, 'Why don't we just call it this funny name for a while and we'll just figure out a real name eventually.' Then people would come up, 6 months later. 'Hey how is your band, The Smashing Pumpkins?' It just... people wouldn't forget it. So that was the #1 thing to happen, which is recognition."

KROQ: "Do you plan on changing it to a real one? Or does it suit you just find."

Billy: "On a interesting side note, there was a women in Chicago who used to be like a booker, and she used to book some of our very first shows, and she pulled me to the side and said, 'You know I really like you guys, I think you really need to change the name, because your never going to get anywhere with it.' " [???]

From an Internet Interview:

Q: "Do you think the Internet will become an important medium for bands, for example to show their abilities?"
D'arcy: "Their abilities for..."
Billy: "Typing. (laughter)" [???]

On Scratchie Records:

Q: "What's this about James and D'arcy running a production company?"
James: "We don't have a production company. We have a record label."
D'arcy: "It's called Scratchie Records. Our motto is 'We won't fuck you over.' " [???]

Other Quotes:

James: "The older I get, the more I appreciate [former Rolling Stone] Mick Taylor.
Billy: Yeah, when you're younger you can never appreciate how good a guitar player Mick Taylor was. But when you grow older, you start to appreciate a contribution to a song. You move away from just a solo thing."
Guitar World: "Although live with the Stones, Mick Taylor was always soloing all over the place."
Billy: "Was he?"
James: "Oh yeah, all over the place. On record, it was different."
Billy: "See, I didn't know that. Fuck him, then." [???]

Fan Question: "Hi James. My friend says that you were or are a woman. But then I also read that you were dating D'arcy. So which one was true?"
Billy: "He is a woman, and he was involved with D'arcy."
James: "I'm trying to do a lot of things these days." [???]

Interviewer: "Billy, what's your biggest hope for the album [Mellon Collie]?"
D'arcy: "The biggest hoke?"
Billy: "No, no, this is serious."
D'arcy: "Oh, sorry. "
Billy: "That, uh, the album will create a resolving harmonic in each person and... world peace will be consummated and from that will be born babies.. .who will buy our records."
Interviewer: "And what if that doesn't happen?"
Billy: "Then we'll just have to come find you and kill you!!"
D'arcy: "I'll just be happy as long as people don't use the CD's as frisbees." [???]

"The message is there is no message. One million souls tossing down their hard-earned lettuce for a piece of hot rock indie pie. I've sold out. how about you? Everybody's doing it even if they say they're not. Don't ask me cause I don't know. Rock saves. It's the next big thing. Have you heard the next big thing? I'm part of the revolution. It's all coming down soon. Hope your there." - from a Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt [OFFICIAL] OT00003

The Smashing Pumpkins on The Simpsons:

Billy: "All we have is our music, our legions of fans, our millions of dollars, and our youth ...Woo hoo!"
James: "Let's go buy fur coats." [VIS/AUD] OT00002