Smashing Pumpkins [ tickets ] may have entered music at a time when heavy rock was considered old hat, but after the lukewarm reception of their last, eletronica-influenced album, their new release "'MACHINA/the machines of God" shows that they have re-committed themselves to the rock idiom--inasmuch as they are free to use whatever they want from it, according to frontman Billy Corgan in a Lawrence, Kansas Q101 radio interview with James VanOsdol.

"We started playing in an era where it was very passé to play hard rock," Corgan said. "People said, 'You're digging up dead bones. Forget about it. There's nothing here.' And three years later, we looked like we were geniuses. I think it's our mantle, or our muse, or our ghost to dig up [hard rock] anytime we want."

On the band's previous release "Adore," the Chicago group had tried to create a quiet, more "private" album whose songs addressed themes like the dissolution of marriage and the death of a mother. Now, as the band continues a series of surprise in-store and club appearances around the U.S., they are finding that their audience isn't the crowd that came up with them, but a younger set, hungry for out-and-out rock.

"The reaction is staggering to us," said Corgan. "Suddenly, we find ourselves right back in the midst of the rock 'n' roll hurricane." At their surprise club shows, the band has created that kind of maelstrom, playing viscerally and announcing from the stage that they are there to "take back rock 'n' roll."

Now that the record is out, the band's immediate plan is to continue with the retail appearances, two of which include performances.