Billy Corgan's New Solo LP Features Reunion With James Iha, David Bowie Tribute | Page 2 | Revolver

Billy Corgan's New Solo LP Features Reunion With James Iha, David Bowie Tribute

Upcoming 'Ogilala' includes pair's first on-record collaboration in nearly two decades
Billy Corgan James Iha MTV Awards Europe Getty, Patrick Ford/Getty Images
Billy Corgan (left) and James Iha at the MTV Europe Music Awards, November 1996
photograph by Patrick Ford/Getty Images

Billy Corgan recently announced Ogilala, his new, Rick Rubin-produced solo album due out October 13th via BMG. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the grunge icon revealed that the LP includes a guest appearance by former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha on a track called "The Processional." It's one of two collaborative cuts the pair recorded during the Ogilala sessions, Corgan says, adding that the other song "will likely be a b-side." As the article points out, "The Processional" marks Corgan and Iha's first on-record collaboration since Smashing Pumpkins' then-final album Machine II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, released in 2000. The tracks arrive in the wake of Corgan and Iha's reunion at a Smashing Pumpkins show in Los Angeles last year – their first time sharing a stage in 16 years.

Elsewhere in the Rolling Stone interview, the Smashing Pumpkins figurehead (who will release the album under his government name, William Corgan, as opposed to his usual "Billy") revealed that the record contains a tribute to David Bowie titled "Zowie." "I was really struck by his passing," he said of the Starman's death early last year. "You almost have to take a step back and be like, 'OK, that's the end of a journey. What does it mean? How do we evaluate this artist now that there's no more?' It sort of closes the circle." Just like Bowie's final album, Blackstar, Ogilala will be accompanied with a short film. Corgan wrote and co-directed the LP's visual counterpart, titled Pillbox. Check out a trailer for the film below.

Since his departure from the Pumpkins in 2000, Iha has pursued numerous projects, from solo albums (the most recent being 2012's Look to the Sky), to collaborations with pop rockers Fountains of Wayne, Chino Moreno's band Team Sleep and REM frontman Michael Stipe, among others — and of course, his work with alternative-metal supergroup A Perfect Circle (who are set to hit the road next month for their first tour in six years.) He's also made a name for himself scoring films and TV shows, such as James Franco's Mother, May I Sleep With Danger remake, and more recently, the E! drama "The Arrangement."