On Tuesday (June 2), Jimmy Chamberlin<\/a> joined Loudwire Nights<\/em><\/a> to celebrate the recent tour announcement for the Smashing Pumpkins<\/a>‘ celebration of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.<\/p>\n “We’re always like, ‘How do we make this different or better,'” Chamberlin shared with Loudwire Nights<\/em>‘ Chuck Armstrong<\/a> about preparing to play Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness<\/em> in full on the upcoming Rats In a Cage<\/em> tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The songs for us never, they’re never really finished. There’s a couple of new leaves over here and there’s a new branch over here and maybe we’re thinking about trimming the tree a little bit. For us, they’re all vehicles of self-expression.”<\/p>\n Chamberlin said one of the things that excites him most about this tour is the fact that he’s a much better musician today than he was when he recorded Mellon Collie<\/em>, so trimming the trees, so to speak, is something he’s looking forward to.<\/p>\n “I still practice a lot,” he admitted.<\/p>\n “I have teachers. I’m still working on becoming a great drummer. That journey has never ended for me. But I’m excited to see what the application of the current wisdom to those compositions will look and sound like. We’re going to celebrate the youthful version of those songs, but we’re going to apply an adult sensibility to them.”<\/p>\n Part of that adult sensibility, as Chamberlin explained, is that the songs will be “super heavy.”<\/p>\n “I think we’re a lot heavier of a band now,” he shared.<\/p>\n “When you get 30-plus years down the road, you have this ability to create density without being rambunctious or without being a bull in a china shop, like maybe we were a little bit with the Mellon Collie<\/em> stuff. I’m looking forward to\u00a0really applying a new sensibility to this stuff and trying to maintain the same audacity that we had when we made the record.”<\/p>\n When he thinks about making Mellon Collie<\/em>, he was quick to recognize what an ambitious endeavor it was for the band.<\/p>\n “We were so insular and we were so insulated and we didn’t really let other people in the studio,” he recalled.<\/p>\n “There was just the four of us and our crew and we worked every day. And then [producers] Flood and Alan [Moulder] would come in and we worked with them for three or four months and they became a huge part of this thing.”<\/p>\n In the midst of celebrations for the tour announcement, Billy Corgan<\/a> shared on social media that the Smashing Pumpkins had also recently recorded a song with producer Butch Vig<\/a>. The band and Vig worked together in the ’90s, but haven’t partnered since the Pumpkins’ second full-length album, 1993’s Siamese Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n “I had actually had a vision and a meditation that we were going to work with Butch again and then somehow it just materialized,” Chamberlin said.<\/p>\n “I’m not taking responsibility for it, I’m just putting it out there.”<\/p>\n Chamberlin shared that they had a chance to record a new song and Vig was at the top of their list when they considered who\u00a0might produce it.<\/p>\n “Billy and I and James [Iha]<\/a> had bene talking about it, we had just talked about working again with Butch weeks before this whole opportunity came about,” he revealed.<\/p>\n “I think we all put it in orbit. We had the intention. We put it out there in the universe and the universe was like, ‘Hey, great idea. Here he is.’ We spent five or six days in the studio in L.A. doing drums and guitars and bass, Billy and James and I and Butch, and it was magical, man.”<\/p>\n He expressed how much fun they had together, something that they did not take for granted in the moment.<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Dogstar \u2014 From the Earliest Days to Today, They’re All In Now \u2014 Exclusive Interview<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n “A lot of this stuff, we’re left to our own devices these days,” he said.<\/p>\n “We have engineers that work on stuff, but generally, we’re the last word on this. To have somebody like Butch, who I trust \u2014 this is one of the few people that I would let babysit my daughter \u2014 I trust this guy implicitly. And to have somebody like that in your corner making suggestions…Butch Vig is responsible for making me a much better drummer than I ever would have been without him. To have him in my corner again and saying, ‘Hey Jimster, why don’t you try this drum groove or maybe leave that hi-hat out’…it was a blast, man. We had so much fun.”<\/p>\n Jimmy Chamberlin joined\u00a0<\/em>Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, June 2;\u00a0the show replays online here<\/a>, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET<\/a> or on the Loudwire app<\/a>; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station<\/a>\u00a0and listen to interviews on-demand<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n These are the biggest rock and metal tours happening in 2026 so far, including Metallica, Iron Maiden, My Chemical Romance and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Loudwire](\"https:\/\/townsquare.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/loudwire.png?w=100\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSmashing Pumpkins Have a New Song Produced by Butch Vig<\/h3>\n
What Else Did Smashing Pumpkins’ Jimmy Chamberlin Discuss on Loudwire Nights<\/em>?<\/h3>\n
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Listen to the Full Interview\u00a0in the Podcast Player Below or the Video at the Top of the Page<\/h3>\n
2026 Rock + Metal Tour Guide<\/h2>\n