THE SMASHING PUMPKINS VERY OFFICIAL E-LETTER VOL I. TODAY'S FEATURE: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SVEN BJORNGOLD TECHNICAL GURU FOR THE PUMPKINS BY FRANCIS FUGUE Q. how long have you worked for the smashing pumpkins, and tell us when and how you first met them? A. I have worked for the band for, um, I guess about 2 years now. I was called in to help on the adore sessions, and stayed on to barbecue after that. actually the way that I met them is strange and slightly complicated my sister knew billy's gardener, and I was having what you would call an adult friendship with him. one day I was working with him, playing beethoven to billy's plants because according to my friend the gardener it helps them grow. billy caught my eye, and the rest is my history I guess. Q. please explain to everyone what a technical guru is? A. it is a little different for every band. with some bands it was all about how clean I could get their bongs, but for the pumpkins it really comes down to “recording, recording, recording”. the pumpkins realize that one day the precious moments between the precious moments might be something that their fans really want. so it is left up to me to record everything I can, and by everything I mean literally every waking sound. we have hundreds of hours of just james snoring. now to some that might sound like a bit of boring overkill, but it is actually quite musical. there's already talk of a box set. Q. do you have any good adore stories? A. the adore sessions were very tense. the band picked on me a lot as their “honorary jimmy” because he obviously was not there. so no, the memories are not good. the best story I have is when they tracked the song pistol and dusty pete they made me wear some sort of cowboy getup and yell h'yah a lot. I recorded that song with them but was later mixed out. Q. many people were surprised by the “electronic” nature of adore, and you had a large part in that. tell us what adore might have sounded without your technical assistance, and what you would say to critics of technology? A. well being one of the few people who has heard the original adore demos I can tell you that it would have been an even darker album. I had to keep saying to billy to lighten it up a bit and encourage him to use the synthesizer, because humans and their emotions make other people sad, whereas machines will always be your friends. to the critics of synthesizers and drum machines I say you're just afraid, machines already do your laundry, why not make your music. Q. everyone is dying to know how the new album is going, and if there a title yet? A. I personally feel the album is going great, but these guys are always depressed and worried. they keep studying charts and graphs of their demographics to try to tailor the album to what people want. it gets a bit silly when the studies come back with suggestions like “more songs about pets” and “you're very big with infants”. I feel it gets in the way of their creativity. but I really like the songs, especially the ones about how having too much money makes you sad. right now I think the album is tentatively titled “uneasy feelings in a no-fly zone”. Q. tell us about a typical recording session with the smashing pumpkins? A. well I usually come in about 6 a.m. to begin preparing the studio. I light candles and incense, and even sometimes chant to clear the bad energy from the day before. I prepare everyone sandwiches and yogurt, and then run a systems check on all my extensive electronic equipment which usually doesn't work and I spend the rest of the morning trying to make it work. the band strolls in around 1 or 2 p.m. after playing tennis and we begin recording right away. everything is done live, so they'll do one take and then watch some t.v. for awhile, then do another take which inevitably leads into some sort of intellectual disagreement. these arguments seem to go on forever with lots of post-modern cultural name dropping. if we do get a good take, they'll leave it with me to create useless noises in the background to feign futuristic ideals and notions. my day ends at 3 or 4 a.m. and I go home to a dirty mattress stained with cat piss and sleep away my dreams of the apocalypse. Q. what is one thing that most people would never know about the band unless they knew them like you do? A. I think the most shocking thing is how much they eat. I would estimate that they eat for almost 2 hours to about every hour they record. I hear people say they spend so much time in the studio, but what people don't realize is that they are just eating. Q. give us some insight on the Arising! tour? A. well the band rehearsed for almost 3 weeks to get ready for that tour, and it was a thrill to watch them playing up close. you realize that it is the combination of everyone playing so poorly that makes that pumpkins sound so together. the tour itself was amazing, the crowds very much behind what the band was doing. I met many nice fans who would come up to my room after the show to listen to my own personal bootlegs. it was then that I realized the true dedication of pumpkin fans to all things pumpkin.