James Iha

James Yoshinobu Iha (伊波吉伸, Iha Yoshinobu or ジェームス・イハ, Chicago, March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician, known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of The Smashing Pumpkins and member of the band A Perfect Circle.

Youth and beginnings

Iha, being a second-generation Japanese; He grew up as an average American youth, and attended high school in Elk Grove Village (Illinois), the same town where bandleader Billy Corgan was born. The two met very young in the city where they lived, Chicago.. While Iha worked in a record store, they began to compose songs informally, until the day they met D'arcy Wretzky at a concert by a local band (with whom Iha would later become involved in a loving relationship, although they would break up shortly after without much consequence). After a discussion, they decided to form a band together, with Corgan and Iha on guitars and D'arcy on electric bass. At first they played with a machine that made the percussions, until the owner of the Cabaret Metro introduced them to drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. That was the beginning of Smashing Pumpkins.

In the band

He wrote numerous songs for The Smashing Pumpkins. Among them are “Blew Away” (Pisces Iscariot), “Bugg Superstar” (Vieuphoria), “Take Me Down” (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ), «...Said Sadly, Believe, The Boy and The Bells» (The Airplane Flies High), «Summer» (Perfect Single) and finally «Go» (MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music). On the other hand he wrote together with Billy Corgan "I Am One" by Gish, "Soma" and "Mayonaise" in Siamese Dream, "Plume" in Pisces Iscariot, "Farewell and Goodnight" on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and "Tribute to Johnny" for The Airplane Flies High. In addition to performing some backing vocals, he was also the lead vocal on The Cure's cover of "A Night Like This" and Syd Barrett's "Terrapin".

Soloist

In 1998, he released the moderately successful album Let It Come Down, which represents his only solo effort to date. She produced a music video for the song "Be Strong Now" which was released as a single. The album was a surprise by showing an acoustic and calm facet with melancholic overtones of the guitarist.

Since the breakup of Smashing Pupmkins in 2000, he has joined many other projects, contributing to artists such as Whiskeytown and Ivy, although his biggest news was joining the line-up of A Perfect Circle in July 2003, a band in the one who released the album Emotive in 2004.

He also collaborated on two songs ("Boku ni Utsushite" (ボクにうつして） and "Skirt" (スカート)) with Japan's Chara, for her 2001 album Madrigal.

Most recently, he collaborated on the music and fashion scene in Japan. With the help of his friend and manager Isao Izutsu, she started the clothing brand Vapor in 2001. She also starred in the Japanese film Linda, Linda, Linda in the summer of 2005.

The Smashing Pumpkins reunion

In June 2005, Corgan announced his plans to reunite the band. On April 20, 2006, it was officially announced on the band's website that the band was back together and writing new material. Both Corgan and Chamberlin confirmed their presence, but not Iha and Wretzky, whose relations with the frontman were believed to be stormy..

A decade later, on March 26, 2016, James Iha reappeared with Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin at a concert by The Smashing Pumpkins in Los Angeles. It was the first time in sixteen years that James Iha returned to perform with his first band, also coinciding with his birthday. With Iha on guitar the band performed the songs "Mayonaise", "Soma", "Rocket", "Today", "Disarm" and "Spaceboy" from the album Siamese Dream and "Whir" from the album Pisces Iscariot. James performed in several more shows on this tour. Although there was no official statement confirming James Iha as a permanent member of the band, he did leave the door open for a possible reunion of all the original members.

James Iha is also currently the guitarist for Tinted Windows. And in parallel, James has been rhythm guitar for A Perfect Circle since his first appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on October 27, 2010.

Discography

As a soloist:

• Let It Come Down (1998)
• Be Strong Now (single, 1998)
• Jealousy (United Kingdom, 1998)
• Look To The Sky (2012).

With The Smashing Pumpkins:

• Gish (1991)
• Siamese Dream (1993)
• Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
• Adore (1998)
• Machina/The Machines of God (2000)
• Machina II/The Friends " Enemies of Modern Music (2000)
• Rotten Apples (collective album) (2001)
• Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. (2018)
• Cyr (2020)

With A Perfect Circle:

• eMOTIVe (2004)
• Three Sixty (album compilation) (2013)