Billy Corgan says he and potential half-brother Bill Burr have “stumbled into something bigger than us”
Billy Corgan has said that him and Bill Burr revealing that they could potentially be half-brothers has felt like they “stumbled into something bigger than us”.
The revelation that the Smashing Pumpkins frontman and the comedian/actor could be related first arose last year, when Corgan appeared as a guest on Howie Mandel’s Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, and recalled his stepmother telling him as a child: “Do you know who Bill Burr is? Bill Burr might be one of the children that your father sired in his days being a travelling musician”.
Things then escalated shortly afterwards, when Mandel surprised Burr – who was appearing as a guest on his podcast – by bringing the singer onto the show. During the meeting with Corgan, Burr jokingly asked: “What was supposed to happen? Are we going to go play catch? We’re both in our 50s”.
In another interview, The Mandalorian actor shared that he was left frustrated by the surprise “reunion” organised by Mandel. “I did not appreciate what Howie did. Not at all,” he said.
“Howie did what he did because he is a Hollywood whore and he doesn’t care what happens. He could’ve said something and he just brings up all that weirdness”, he added, also questioning Mandell’s motives.
Now, Billy Corgan has again looked back on the possible relation between the two of them, and said that it feels like the original comments have led to something “bigger” than he anticipated.
“It was pretty surreal. First of all, I’d never met Bill Burr. Secondly, he really does look like my father, like in person,” he said, recalling the moment they met on Mandel’s show in a new interview with GQ.
“I’d seen the pictures. Never seen him in person. So it’s the surreal thing of shaking somebody’s hands who you have this kind of physical affinity for. And there’s all these questions, and then you’re thrown into a situation where there’s a camera rolling,” he added. “So what was captured was truly this awkward exchange of, ‘OK, what do we do with this information?’ Bill’s mind is lightning-quick, and he’s viciously funny… So it was a very interesting dynamic.”
Corgan continued: “He was very nice about the whole thing. And he basically left the door open to meet again and let it be known that I was always welcome in his world. But you could even feel, as was happening, that there was this, this meta thing going on. We realized that both of us had stumbled into something bigger than us.”
In other Billy Corgan news, the rock icon recently spoke to NME in a new interview, and opened up about both his new podcast and his upcoming role in the last-ever Black Sabbath show.
“Black Sabbath are my favourite all-time band in my heart. I’ve loved Sabbath since I was a kid. I’ve gotten to work with Tony [Iommi] on a solo album, and I’ve been around Ozzy many times. I’m just in total awe to be involved,” he said of the latter. “It’s going to be magical. There’s so much love out there for Ozzy. It all comes together on this one magical night. It’s what rock’n’roll is supposed to be about.”
He also revealed more details about his upcoming appearance there, saying that he will be performing with Tom Morello and Tool guitarist Adam Jones. “See, Adam, Tom and I all grew up in the same sort of general vicinity. Tom had this idea – what he calls ‘The Illinois Boys’ – that The Illinois Boys would get together and play, so that’s cool. I love it. I’m very fond and love Adam’s music and playing and I’ve known Tom for 30 years or so, so it’s a cool thing.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
