BILLY CORGAN is using his new-found status as a solo artist to help out US rock outfit TAPROOT.
The band are working on the follow-up to their 2002 debut 'Welcome' and the former Smashing Pumpkin - who last year split his subsequent band [a][/a] - has been acting as mentor.
Taproot drummer Jared Montague told Billbard: "We went to meet Billy hoping to learn how to approach songwriting in a new way. We ended up getting about a year's worth of music and life education in a week's time. Billy works amazingly fast. We would show him some ideas we had for a song and immediately he would suggets a couple of different things for us to try."
Produced by Michael Beinhom, the new album also features collaboration work with Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter. Montague said: "It was a bit intimidating, as we have jammed, coming up with a really cool riff which we then built a song around.
Corgan, meanwhile, is working on his solo debut.
Visit NME Video for the latest music videos and artist interviews
Comments do not always reflect the views of NME, or IPC Media, for guidelines visit our Ts & Cs page