Rolling Stone
February 1998 - Issue 780
(Thanks to Siva for sending this to us)
James Iha plays guitar in one of the world's most operatically rockin' bands, and all he really wanted to do was hole up in his basement in Chicago and record an album of sweet pop and spare country tunes. Go figure. The job of Smashing Pumpkins guitarist might be all about rage and rats in cages, but Iha's first moonlighting gig, Let It Come Down, confines itself strictly to the wonders of the L word, as in "Lover, Lover" and "Sound Of Love." At the moment, Iha is in a Los Angeles studio, recording a new Pumpkins album with band mates Billy Corgan and D'arcy - "Billy was talking about a full-on electronic record, but this is more of a hybrid of acoustic and some electronic elements, " says Iha - but he's happy to take a break to talk about his solo outing. After all, it provides a little peace and quiet.
You play in a group famous for its melodrama. Why didn't you comment on any of that in your songs? Are any of the songs about your relationship with D'arcy? Of course you do. Will the person know the songs are about her? Not playing bass, by any chance? What's your usual impression when guitarists make their own solo albums? So how does a Japanese-American kid growing up in a big-city end up loving country music so much? You're also a big Eagles fan. Did you see any of the reunion shows? Are things fairly stable in the Pumpkins now? All the band troubles make for good headlines, but is the reality harder than people realize? Did you record a solo album partly to have a fallback for whenever the Pumpkins break up? You're also part-owner of a label, Scratchie Records, which you and D'arcy help run. What was the last crisis you had to deal with as VP of A&R? Because they're being taken by bands like the Smashing Pumpkins. Most of the time, Billy does the interviews. Is there something you've wanted the chance to talk about? If you end up in a stable, happy relationship will your songs change? But you wrote a very personal album. Well, you're a hopeless romantic.
I didn't consciously try to write the record the way it is. I've had some of these songs for a little while. I guess I didn't really feel like commenting on anything else but love.
[Laughs] Um, I don't know.
Songs are seldom about one person. About half the record might be about one person, and the other half is just about other people and situations.
Well, the person was there when I wrote a lot of the songs.
No [laughs]. Me and D'arcy are just really good friends. Back then I was writing instrumental songs. It took a long time before I could really write and sing.
It always seems pretty dubious. That's one thing I really wanted to avoid. I didn't want to make a watered-down Pumpkins record.
The older I get, I'm drawn more toward things like Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Neil Young. When the band's on tour, especially last year, it's just rock. Twenty-four hours a day. When I went back to my hotel room, I didn't really want to have a Marshall stack.
No. I do have an Eagles-tour T-shirt, though, but I was shunned by the other members for wearing such an atrocity, so I don't wear it much.
We don't really have a drummer that's a member of the group, but other than that, we're fine. We were joking about it because it actually goes back to the original group. We played our first show ever with a drum machine.
I don't want to over-romanticize anything that happens in a rock band, but, yeah, it's really insane to keep the Pumpkin juggernaut going sometimes. We just thought that we were done for if we didn't carry on and finish our tour.
I talked to the band about doing this record, and I knew that last summer was probably the only break I'd have. It was either now or a couple years from now.
There's always crises. The alternative-rock world is a hard road. There are so few slots on the radio and MTV, and in magazines .
Right. There has to be some new thing to tear us down.
I guess you write songs so that you don't have to tell people what you're about.
Probably...I don't want to talk about my personal life.
Right. I guess that's why. But I'm in a good relatonship [laughs]. It's just weird. I've never had to talk this much just about me.
Sue me. I'm sensitive.