Billy Corgan On Amyl And The Sniffers' Amy Taylor: 'This Is A True Rockstar'

A few days ago, Billy Corgan was interviewed by Apple Music’s Zane Lowe while promoting The Smashing Pumpkins’ 33-song rock opera, ATUM, which is out now.

While he was in the Apple Music radio studio, Corgan shared some details about other artists in alternative rock, including Kurt Cobain, Radiohead, Deftones’ Chino Moreno, and Amyl And The Sniffers’ Amy Taylor.

Discussing Cobain’s passing, Corgan said, “When Kurt died, I cried because I lost my greatest opponent – I want to beat the best. I don’t want to win the championship because it’s just me and a bunch of jabronis — to use a wrestling term.”

Getting into Radiohead, Corgan found the UK rock legends to be derivative on 1995’s The Bends. By the time they released their magnum opus, OK Computer, two years later, the Zero singer found himself “flatfooted”. “I didn’t see that coming,” he admitted. Corgan also called Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno “the real deal”.

However, Corgan saved his highest praises for our very own Amyl And The Sniffers. He said about vocalist Amy Taylor:

“I hear all the hype. ‘She's the new Iggy Pop. She's the female this, she's the blah blah blah.’ And I'm thinking, ‘I've heard this so many times.’ It doesn't mean I was doubtful, but I'll wait until I see with my own eyes. I looked at her for ten seconds on stage and I said, ‘Holy mother of God. This is a true rockstar.’

“Great band. And that's the power of rock and roll. So, somebody asked me after I saw them play, an interview, what do you think? And I said, ‘Wee, this is the problem with comparisons. There's only one of her. There's not... She's not anybody. That's why she's a star.’ There's a... We'll call it one of one. She's one of one. I think that's what people really are after. But we live in this business where it's like, ‘Sounds like…’”

Check out the full interview below.

We commented on Amyl And The Sniffers’ presence at The Smashing Pumpkins The World Is A Vampire festival, “Amy Taylor is a constant attention-grabber on stage. She punches the air, spins around, sticks her tongue out and shows off her flexibility and strength to all.

“She also doesn’t mind a cheeky bit of banter between tracks, finishing with this sage reflection, ‘People who wear less clothes like me are always told off being cheap, but that ain't me.’” Check out our full concert review here.