Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has been residing in Highland Park, Illinois for years now, a Chicago suburb that was recently where the tragic July 4 shooting took place. The singer hosted and played a benefit for victims at his tea house Madame Zuzu’s, and debuted a new Smashing Pumpkins song about the massacre, called “Photograph.”
“It’s tough because the shooting was literally one block away from where we’re at right now,” Corgan said on an interview with CBS Mornings when asked what the benefit meant to him. “Our business was closed for a week by the FBI, so during that time of course we were so shocked by what had happened and of course the damage to our community and not only the carnage that happened but the psychological effects, the mental health effects. 1,200 people a day have been going to the local high school seeking mental health care. So we felt that void and we wanted to step in that void.”
When introducing “Photograph,” he said, “This is my reaction, I guess you could say, to what happened.” On an acoustic guitar, it’s emotionally charged, grappling with mortality and pain.
Watch him perform “Photograph” at 1:37:00, as well as other previously released tracks, here.