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This page contains quotes
from the Virgin Records video release entitled Vieuphoria.
Bibliographical information is at the bottom of this page.
Introduction
by Billy Corgan:
"We used to be a new wave band, but
somehow along the way we turned into a rock band. And I'm not quite sure
how it happened, except for the fact that maybe that we were away from
everything that was going on and the rest of the world allowed us the
time to find what we really wanted to do. I always wanted to be in a
rock band, but I guess maybe at the time that we started the band I was
kind of afraid to play rock music because it wasn't very much en
vogue." - Billy
Pumpkin
Therapy:
Therapist: I hear you've been
having some problems with your band, and I wonder, would you like to
tell me about them?
James: I'm not sure if it's one individual or the band
collectively, but maybe
uh, it's their footwear that really bothers
me. I'm not sure if it's just any one shoe, but maybe just the thought
of it, the thought of what's on their feet at any given moment
distracts me.
Therapist: Tell me if there's any way that you can see of
having an effect on the situation so that you feel able to get close to
them.
James: Well, I have given thought to this, and I suppose in a
practical
practical sense I could maybe ask for different shoes or
socks on their rider. And a rider's something we have at every show.
And, uh
you know, they'll give us a deli tray
uh, you know,
candy, and we can put any sort of footwear we want on it. Maybe if I
were have those different exposed elements to them, maybe they would
lighten up a little.
Therapist: You really lost me there.
*
Therapist: I hear you've been having some problems with your
band, and I wonder, would you like to tell me about them?
D'arcy: I
I'm sorry if
I don't mean to
to be
insulting at all, I just don't think that any amount of therapy is ever
going to help this band. Jimmy is incredibly paranoid all of the time,
and James, it's different thing with him every week. It's, you know
one week he thought that his dog was possessed, and
and Billy flew
off the handle and just couldn't take it anymore, so he said, you know,
"Well fine, let's get a witch doctor, then." So we went to
this witch doctor. And then the next month it was the tarot card reader,
you know
*
Therapist: I hear you've been having some problems with your
band, and I wonder, would you like to tell me about them?
Jimmy: [pause]
Um
[Therapist places a picture of a cat and two small duck figurines on a
chair in front of Jimmy.]
Therapist: I'll put them here. [points to cat picture] That's
D'Arcy, and the other two men. And I'd like to get you to get across to
these people how you feel when you get mocked, knowing that there are no
consequences except you feeling better about yourself, 'cause they're
not in the room.
Jimmy [holding and talking to one of the ducks]: Um, Billy, um,
sometimes when you tell me that my clothes are funny and my hair is too
long it makes me feel really bad.
Therapist: You're getting into blaming and criticizing him for
how he is, and maybe he is that way. What I want you to do is tell him
Jimmy: He's a duck. [laughs]
Therapist:
Tell him how you want
no, but, he is a duck,
but the person that is using him for a symbol is another duck, right?
Jimmy: [laughs] Right.
Therapist: You can just pretend he's in the chair, and take
that away if you like
Jimmy: No, I like him. I like the duck.
Therapist: OK.
Jimmy [to cat picture]: D'arcy, I, uh
I really think you're
a really cool person, and it would really make me happy if you would
just try to appreciate me for who I am, because I, you know, I really go
out of my way to try and be nice to you.
Jimmy [to other duck]: James, um
[sniffs] I
it made me
feel really bad that you cut all of your hair off, right
right as
mine was getting long. I felt that it was kind of a
another ploy of
yours to make me feel, like, distanced from the band.
Jimmy [standing]: I deserve to be respected by you and everyone
else.
*
Therapist: I hear you've been having some problems with your
band, and I wonder, would you like to tell me about them?
Billy: Just let me make this analogy. You wanna go to the
circus, and to get into the circus it costs you five
pence.
Therapist: Yeah.
Billy: So, you stand in line, you don't have five pence, but
you really wanna go to the circus. So someone comes along and says,
"Well, I'll take you in the circus and I'll pay the five pence, but
you gotta pay me back later." So, you go in the circus, they take
you out. "Oh, OK, well, when you gonna pay me back?" "I
don't know. I'll get around to it sooner or later."
That's the
story of the band.
[Therapist shoots look at camera.]
Short History
of the Band:
"The first band that I had was this
band called The Marked. We played in Florida around 1986, and the band
wasn't very good, but it was kind of like the same kind of idea behind
the Pumpkins, which was loud music and quiet music and trying to put it
all together. And my singing wasn't very good, and blah blah blah, so I
kind of came with my tail between my legs to Chicago and moved back in
with my dad, and that's where I kind of hatched the idea for the
Pumpkins. So there I was, like
living with my dad, playing in my
room, and I met, um, this guy named Len, who was a friend of James, and
that's how I met James, and we just kind of started writing these scary
little doomy goth pop songs together, and then, uh, so we just kinda
And we just started talking about, "OK, now we're gonna form this
band." And James was in this other band called The Fads, which
turned out to be another band, I can't remember what their name was now,
but
And then I met D'Arcy on the street one day, and
we started
playing as a three piece with the drum machine, and then somebody saw us
playing and said, 'Oh, I know this drummer,' and that's how I met Jimmy,
and then, we've been together ever since." - Billy
In the Studio:
Manny Chevrolet: Hey there.
Manny Chevrolet here with Butch Vig. Butch, you're producing the
Smashing Pumpkins. That sounds great.
Butch Vig: You are correct, sir.
MC: [laughs]
*
BV [in studio, to Billy]: Billy, you wanna start another one of
these with, uh, just a click reference on the start?
And then do
some
do that guitar thing over it?
Billy: I don't know if that throws them off, though.
Billy [to D'Arcy]: Do a click start.
*
MC: So, tell me a little something about the Pumpkins. You've
worked with them before?
BV: Yeah, I worked with them on
Actually, the first thing I
did was a Sub Pop single.
MC: Uh huh.
BV: And, uh, Jonathan called me up from Sub Pop and said,
"There's this band from Chicago that is awesome, and you gotta work
with them."
*
MC: So what's the name of the new album?
Billy: It's called Siamese Dream.
MC: Siamese Dream.
James: The Search for the Yetti.
[Manny and Billy laugh.]
*
BV: The first record was very sad. There were a lot of sad
songs. This record is very happy. There's a lot of happy songs.
[Cut to band playing and extremely sappy feel-good riff, while Billy
sways back and forth.]
BV: Is this too much bullshit for you to deal with, or
?
*
Billy [pointing to guitar]: This guitar emits sad tones.
BV: Very sad tones.
Billy [pointing to another guitar]: This guitar brings much joy
to everyone that I know. [Gives fake smile to camera.]
*
MC [pointing to object Butch Vig is holding]: And what is this?
BV: This is one of the secrets to our secret sound. This is the
Mutron Biphase. We run everything through it -- everything. It's
fabulous.
[Billy pets Mutron Biphase.]
*
Billy [unlatching instrument case]: This here's my sitar.
MC: Oh. Oh yeah? Are you using that a lot on the record?
Billy: No. We just think it's really cool to show people that
we have a sitar. [Billy has trouble opening case.] So cool that we can't
get open.
*
Billy [gesturing towards mellotron]: This, of course, is the
the mellotron, which is, um, most notably used by the Beatles. Um,
it's a precursor to the sampler that used actual tape
But instead of,
like, the Beatles used, uh, orchestral noises. We use just people
screaming. [Billy hits the keys, producing screaming sounds.]
*
MC [to Butch Vig]: What's this button for?
BV: Uh, actually, I never really took any, uh, classes
MC: You have no schooling or anything, you just kinda
BV:
No schooling. I just kinda learned by the seat of my
pants.
MC: Yeah?
BV: Yeah.
*
MC [with band]: So, why don't you tell me a little more about
Butch?
Billy: He's changed a lot lately.
[Cut to Butch Vig holding a paper.]
BV: Now, we took this one here, we moved it over here, then we
take this here and put that over there, and we
and then we turn it
upside down and ran the whole thing backwards.
[Cut to Billy.]
Billy: He just doesn't seem like his old self.
*
MC [with Billy and Butch Vig]: How do you guys like working
together?
Billy: As much as any two men could like working together.
BV:
Good answer.
MC [turning to camera]: I gotta go. Bye.
*
MC [with band]: One more thing. What do you think keeps a band
together?
[Band laughs.]
Billy [smiling]: All right. End of the charade. Get the fuck
out of here!
MC: Bye!
Jimmy
Chamberlin: Up Close and Personal:
James: And now, a few words
with Jimmy Chamberlin, up close and personal, as asked by James Iha.
James: Tell us something about Chicago, or your home town,
Joliet.
Jimmy: Um, my hometown Joliet is pretty much a crime-ridden
wasteland, full of, uh, people who will stab you in the back at any
opportunity. And those that, um
Now that the band's become popular,
a lot of the people that used to beat me up as a kid, all of a sudden
they're my friends. [laughs] As far as Chicago goes, um, I think it's a
very blue-collar town. I think it's
it's full of a lot of, uh
beer drinkin', 9 to 5 workin', wife beatin' chauvinistic pigs.
James: Hmm. Well, let's
let's figure out some other
questions.
Jimmy: [laughs]
James: What do you think about, Jimmy, when you play music?
Jimmy: Sometimes I think about
nothing at all. Actually, I
try not to think about
about what I'm playing. I just try and pretty
pretty much let my emotions run the game.
James: What do you think your drums sound like?
Jimmy: Besides
Besides for, like, full rich warm tones, I
like them to sound like a small boar-sized drill going through your
skull.
James: Name some of your formative groups.
Jimmy: I was in a band called the Sushi Cowboys. Uh, Stadium
Drive, uh, Eddie Carosa's Polka Party, J. P. and the Cats, Mojo Blues
Band
and the Skittles.
James: When you look back, do you ever cringe?
Jimmy: Yeah, I think, uh, just about every time I look back I
cringe. I think it's an appreciative cringe. I mean, every time you do
something stupid or you do something wrong, or you do something that
doesn't really make sense to you now, in the past it's always been a
learning experience.
James: Any advice to up-and-coming drummers, musicians?
Jimmy: Stay away from the deli tray.
James: Thanks for taking your time out with me today, Jimmy.
Jimmy: I hope this comes out OK. [laughs]
Vieuphoria.
Virgin Music Video, 1994. 89 min.
Copyright 1994 Virgin Records,
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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