James Iha
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| James Iha | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 March, 1968 Image:Flag of the United States.svg Chicago, Illinois, USA |
James Yoshinobu Iha (Japanese: 井葉吉伸, Iha Yoshinobu or ジェームス・イハ born March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is a Japanese American rock musician and runway model. He is most famous as a guitarist in the highly successful alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and his eclectic musical projects of recent years, including A Perfect Circle. He and Billy Corgan are the founding members of the Smashing Pumpkins.
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[edit] Early life and brief background
Iha attended Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, the same town in which Pumpkins' singer and lead guitarist Billy Corgan was born. Just like Billy, he too had to look after a mentally disabled brother. He currently lives in Manhattan, New York and co-owns independent record label Scratchie Records with ex-girlfriend (and ex-Smashing Pumpkins bassist) D'arcy Wretzky, and Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne. Bands on the Scratchie label include Fountains of Wayne, The Frogs, and Fulflej.
[edit] In The Smashing Pumpkins
Iha wrote or co-wrote a number of Smashing Pumpkins' songs, such as, "Blew Away" on Pisces Iscariot, "Bugg Superstar" on Vieuphoria, "Take Me Down" on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, "...Said Sadly", "Believe", "The Boy", "Tribute to Johnny" and "The Bells" on The Aeroplane Flies High, "Summer" on the "Perfect" single and "Go" on MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. He co-wrote with Billy Corgan "I Am One" on Gish, " Soma" and "Mayonaise" on Siamese Dream, "Plume" on Pisces Iscariot and "Farewell and Goodnight" on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. He also sang "Take Me Down", as well as the band's covers of The Cure's "A Night Like This" and Syd Barrett's "Terrapin". During his time with the Pumpkins, James also appeared on recordings with other bands, including Ivy, to which Adam Schlesinger also contributes, and Fulflej.
Although Iha was often considered the "quiet one" in the Smashing Pumpkins, he was known to be very obscene while on-stage, as well as engaging in ad-libbed jokes and rap sessions.
In 1998, Iha released a moderately successful solo album, Let It Come Down, his only solo effort to date. One music video was produced from this album, for the song Be Strong Now, which was also released as a four-track single.
[edit] Post Pumpkins Work
Since the Pumpkins' breakup in 2000, Iha has pursued many projects. He continues to contribute to other artists' recordings, such as Don't Be Sad on Whiskeytown's Pneumonia released in 2001 and further guest appearances for Ivy, but made bigger news when he joined rock band A Perfect Circle in July 2003 in time for their Thirteenth Step club tour. He has since appeared on their 2004 album eMOTIVe as well as contributed remixes of Blue and Outsider. In 2003, he formed Vanessa and the O's. The group released an EP Plus Rien in Sweden the same year.
Iha also collaborated on two tracks with Japanese musician Chara for her 2001 album MADRIGAL. The tracks are called "Boku ni Utsushite" (ボクにうつして）and "Skirt" (スカート).
More recently, Iha has collaborated on musical and fashion design projects in Japan. With the help of longtime friend and manager Isao Izutsu, Iha started the clothing label Vapor in 2001. Iha also scored the Japanese film Linda, Linda, Linda, released in late summer 2005.
On March 31st, 2006, Pitchfork Media reported that Iha will be featured on Norwegian pop singer Annie's follow-up to her highly successful debut, Anniemal, which will reportedly be out near the year's end. [1] Iha also remixed "Me Plus One", a track off of Anniemal. [2]
Iha recently appeared on the track "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" from the tribute album to Serge Gainsbourg entitled Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited. Singer Kazu Makino duets with him.
Also in 2006, Iha teamed up with Adam Schlesinger (of Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy) to co-produce America's comeback album, Here & Now.
[edit] Smashing Pumpkins Re-unite
In June 2005, Corgan announced plans to reunite the Smashing Pumpkins. On February 2 2006, MTV.com reported that Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin had signed a new management deal with the Front Line Management.[3] And as of April 20th, 2006, it was officially announced on www.smashingpumpkins.com that the band was back together writing material for their first album since 2000. While currently in the studio, Corgan and Chamberlin are the only verified members of the band. Neither Iha nor Wretzky have responded to the announcement.
[edit] Discography
- Let It Come Down (album) (1998)
- Be Strong Now (single) (1998)
- Jealousy (UK promo-only single) (1998)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- James Iha Dot Org (fan site)
- Scratchie Records site
- Japanese site
- James Iha forum on the blamonet
- The Smashing Pumpkins - The Smashing Pumpkins official website.
- Netphoria.org - Smashing Pumpkins Fan Site.
- Siva - Smashing Pumpkins Fan Site
- Spfc.org
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