Spirits in the Sky, 6 date con Byrne, Spirits in the Sky e altri special guests

Jeff Moehlis: How did this mini-tour come about?

Mark Tulin: The big purpose of this is two-fold, as I understand it. Billy’s working up new material. He likes to demo all of his new songs rather than just playing them to himself and then going into the studio. The other reason is to have a good time, have some friends get together and play music.

JM: Where does the band name The Spirits in the Sky come from?

MT: It came from Sky Saxon’s memorial, inadvertently by the way. Billy wanted to do something with a couple of guys playing behind him, where he wasn’t doing Smashing Pumpkins songs. He said, we’ll do a Sky (Saxon) song, maybe we’ll do a cover song. I love (Norman Greenbaum’s song) “Spirit in the Sky,” so I said, let’s do that. And that’s where the name came from. It didn’t start with Sky (Saxon), but it just worked out perfectly.

JM: Which songs are you going to play?

MT: I can’t tell you what it is, because it should be a surprise. But I know on his Web site Billy said we are not doing any Smashing Pumpkins songs. So as much as I would like to play some of them, just for the adventure of playing them, we’re not. There will be some covers of other people’s stuff.

JM: Anything by The Electric Prunes?

MT: No.

JM: By The Seeds?

MT: Maybe. No Strawberry Alarm Clock stuff, and no Jane’s Addiction. This is Billy’s, and I think what it does really well is present him as an artist that maybe people haven’t seen him as.

JM: Would you describe the new songs as psychedelic?

MT: Some of it is definitively psychedelic, and some of it may be psychedelic in that it’s spiritually expanding. Maybe not mind-trippy — you may not hear a lot of distortion and feedback and all that — but it’s spiritually expanding because there’s a lot of heart in what’s going on.

For me, one of the nicest parts of all this is that I had a completely wrong impression of alternative guitar players. I got them very confused with guys that just thrash away on a guitar. Billy’s really good! So is Dave. And together — marvelous! They’re taking it. I just have to go for the ride with them. I’m very impressed with their musicality.

I think it’s really a cool thing to hear songs in their simpler manner, before you hear them in their produced Pumpkins style. So this is an opportunity to hear the songs themselves, and that’s what stands out — the individual writer, performer and song, not the production.

JM: What is it like working with Billy?

MT: Working with Billy, for me, has been a joy. He is demanding, but in a very positive way. You realize early on that he’s more demanding of himself than he is of you. So I’ll go home, and he’ll stay up working on the middle eight of a song, and make it right for the next day.

I think he’s gotten a really, really bad rap as to who he is. People mistake integrity and discipline for arrogance. He has shown me that he is nothing but fair, very scrupulous and has strong, strong integrity. I’m a fan of the Smashing Pumpkins, but I’m a huge fan of Billy Corgan. Sometimes it sounds like I’m gushing, but I’m that impressed by him. When you get to see him perform intimately, like you will at the show, you’ll see that person.

I’ve learned a lot from him. He’s taught me how to play grunge/alternative bass, that I never knew how to do. And I’m getting pretty good at looking at my shoes while I play [laughs]. I’m going to miss him when he goes back to Chicago. I’ve just loved every moment of it.