Corgan says Smashing Pumpkins is not a nostalgiac band…

We’re not a nostalgia band. “It’s not old band versus new band,” he says. “It’s new band or no band.”

“Calling it a 20th-anniversary tour, people expected greatest hits,” he says. “The casual fan who comes in and just wants to see the hits, they were not having it. But we’ve seen a real reactivation in the hard-core fan base.”

Corgan is bothered by the fact that people thought they were done….

No, what bothers me is the notion that we’re done. We didn’t come back for the cash; we came back to be great again. It made me mad that people thought we’re done, that we don’t have a future. Get out. We don’t want you. We’ve never been that band. That happy band. We picked up where we left off. We’re not the retirement band playing our old hits. … I don’t give a [expletive] that most of my heroes got lame when they turned 40. I spent most of the last decade thinking about that. Why do they go from this insanely high level of work to diminished echoes of the past? And I think it’s a coziness thing. You do something amazing, and you don’t want to lose the crowd that tells you that’s amazing. You’re out in the cold. Well, we like to be out in the cold. We’re done with the record business, so we’re free to do whatever I want.

Corgan on the album, the iPod and listening patterns..

We’re done with that. There is no point. People don’t even listen to it all. They put it on their iPod, they drag over the two singles and skip over the rest. The listening patterns have changed, so why are we killing ourselves to do albums, to create balance and do the arty track to set up the single? It’s done.

Corgan still has something to say…

Let me be blunt. When Bruce Springsteen puts out a new album, I pay attention. Same with Neil Young. Because they’re major artists who have something to say. I consider us in that category.

Full interview in the Chicago Tribune.