Billy Corgan and the Machines of God Have a Question for You on This Summer's Tour

Billy Corgan and the Machines of God have announced a U.S. Summer tour this June, and are bringing back philosophy and spirituality into the narrative of modern rock and roll.

Coinciding with the re-issue of and recompilation of the profound Smashing Pumpkins album Machina/the machines of God, they will be showcasing music from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Machina, and the newest Smashing Pumpkins album, Aghori Mhori Mei. All of this is as if to highlight the three-in-one avatars of Billy Corgan's stage persona - Zero, Glass, and Shiny, as each of these albums roughly correspond to them.

Joining Corgan as the illustrious Machines of God are red hot Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Kiki Wong, dreamy independent artist and musician Kid Tigrrr (Jenna Fournier) on bass, and drummer extraordinaire Jake Hayden.

But what does it mean to be a "machine of God?"

My first thought is one of the gloriousness and intelligence of the Creators to make our intricate and exquisite bodies in their image, and an acknowledgement of that divine creation and the miracle of it.

But could there be another facet?

A machine can be marvelous and wonderful, but it is (still) just a machine.

It's something that is normally automatic. Programmed. Used for a purpose. And, perhaps, lacking free will.

Which then raises a timeless philosophical question - do we truly have free will?

Are we machines to merely be programmed and used? Or are we machines born to evolve and become something even more?

I, of course, prefer the latter option.

But there are indeed so many that seem to be programmed sheep who are part of a herd. Indeed, it would be too egotistical of me to say that I, myself, am not sometimes part of that. Or that anyone is never a part of it, simply because it's what people do, without even realizing it many times.

There is truly a programmable nature to collective society and the herd mindset is real.

And God, to some, might not exist in the actuality of divine beings, but as a metaphor for the things that control and move us - whether they be organized religions, governments, social media, addictions or other vices - turning us into obedient little robots.

But the human spirit yearns for something more. Is the spirit so robotic? So programmable?

Or is it your divine and sacred flame? The true essence of yourself and your individuality, at once you and yet, perhaps, also One with a transcendent kind of Oversoul, as Emerson and Thoreau called it?

These are the intellectually challenging questions Billy Corgan and the Machines of God are going to ask you - demanding your answer. An answer you can't refuse to give, because the music will move you, compel you to give it.

What kind of machine are you?

Choose now.