trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Just to follow up on the other great answers to your question... I know both James and Jimmy were also asked about it in interviews. The most they ever said though was agreeing that everyone was just at "different points" or that "it was always going to be Jack" on bass.
I think D'arcy also claimed that there was an offer to have her own tour bus and join the band for a certain amount of songs each night. But then when she asked if she could play bass for the entire show, Billy outright told her no. And then things fell apart shortly after that.
Smashing Pumpkins’ Jimmy Chamberlin interviewed: ‘For the first time, the band is in alignment in every way’ - NME
D’Arcy’s absence has been pretty thoroughly explained. Was there ever a conversation to have Melissa Auf Der Maur involved or was it always going to be Jack Bates on bass?
“No, it was always going to be Jack. He’s a great musician and that was the deciding factor. Jack played with Billy and Jeff on the Manson tour. He’s entrenched in the band and knows the songs. The way that Jack plays is very reminiscent of the way that Billy played bass on a lot of the early Pumpkins stuff because he and James were really big Joy Division and New Order fans. A lot of those bass parts were mimicking Peter’s playing.
Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and James Iha and Jeff Schroeder Talk Summer Tour, New Music and Three-Guitar Attack - Guitar World
With a fair amount of fence mending behind them, the two old colleagues did wind up playing together again. Iha turned up on stage at several Pumpkins shows in 2016, and rumors began to circulate that a full-on reunion of the “classic Nineties” lineup was in the cards. Corgan and Iha were game, as was Chamberlin. The only problem was founding bassist D’arcy Wretzky. Her split from the band in 1999 was an acrimonious one, and in the ensuing years her relationship with Corgan remained icy. The two seemed to call something of a truce last year, but then in typical Pumpkins form, varying stories about what happened next emerged. Wretzy claimed in the press that, after exchanging texts with Corgan about a possible reunion, an offer was made to her and then rescinded. Corgan went on record disputing that account.
“I was pretty public about wanting her to be involved,” he stresses. “I think it would been the best for everybody, including her, but it just didn’t work out.” The topic of Wretzky is clearly one he doesn’t wish to belabor, and after a long sigh he concludes, “I’m not in any hurry to throw any more gasoline on the fire. It is what it is. She’s done, and that’s that.” Iha stayed out of the back-and-forth between Corgan and Wretzky, but he offers the view that “Billy tried his best. In the big picture, I think everybody is at different points in their lives, and whoever can work it out and get it together with the band can do it. It’s just one of those things.”
Edit: The messages Billy and D'arcy apparently exchanged...
D’arcy Wretzky shares text messages as proof that Billy Corgan is lying about Smashing Pumpkins reunion offer
I think D'arcy also claimed that there was an offer to have her own tour bus and join the band for a certain amount of songs each night. But then when she asked if she could play bass for the entire show, Billy outright told her no. And then things fell apart shortly after that.
Smashing Pumpkins’ Jimmy Chamberlin interviewed: ‘For the first time, the band is in alignment in every way’ - NME
D’Arcy’s absence has been pretty thoroughly explained. Was there ever a conversation to have Melissa Auf Der Maur involved or was it always going to be Jack Bates on bass?
“No, it was always going to be Jack. He’s a great musician and that was the deciding factor. Jack played with Billy and Jeff on the Manson tour. He’s entrenched in the band and knows the songs. The way that Jack plays is very reminiscent of the way that Billy played bass on a lot of the early Pumpkins stuff because he and James were really big Joy Division and New Order fans. A lot of those bass parts were mimicking Peter’s playing.
Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and James Iha and Jeff Schroeder Talk Summer Tour, New Music and Three-Guitar Attack - Guitar World
With a fair amount of fence mending behind them, the two old colleagues did wind up playing together again. Iha turned up on stage at several Pumpkins shows in 2016, and rumors began to circulate that a full-on reunion of the “classic Nineties” lineup was in the cards. Corgan and Iha were game, as was Chamberlin. The only problem was founding bassist D’arcy Wretzky. Her split from the band in 1999 was an acrimonious one, and in the ensuing years her relationship with Corgan remained icy. The two seemed to call something of a truce last year, but then in typical Pumpkins form, varying stories about what happened next emerged. Wretzy claimed in the press that, after exchanging texts with Corgan about a possible reunion, an offer was made to her and then rescinded. Corgan went on record disputing that account.
“I was pretty public about wanting her to be involved,” he stresses. “I think it would been the best for everybody, including her, but it just didn’t work out.” The topic of Wretzky is clearly one he doesn’t wish to belabor, and after a long sigh he concludes, “I’m not in any hurry to throw any more gasoline on the fire. It is what it is. She’s done, and that’s that.” Iha stayed out of the back-and-forth between Corgan and Wretzky, but he offers the view that “Billy tried his best. In the big picture, I think everybody is at different points in their lives, and whoever can work it out and get it together with the band can do it. It’s just one of those things.”
Edit: The messages Billy and D'arcy apparently exchanged...
D’arcy Wretzky shares text messages as proof that Billy Corgan is lying about Smashing Pumpkins reunion offer
