Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and James Iha and Jeff Schroeder Talk Summer Tour, New Music and Three-Guitar Attack

(From left)Jeff Schroeder,Billy Corganand James Iha

(From left)Jeff Schroeder,Billy Corganand James Iha (Image credit: Jen Rosenstein)

It’s a mid-spring morning, and Billy Corgan is feeling blissed out. Just yesterday, the reformed, nearly all-original Smashing Pumpkins hosted their first rehearsal for their hotly anticipated “Shiny and Oh So Bright” summer reunion tour, and in the chief Pumpkin’s assessment, things went…well, smashingly. “We fell right back into the groove,” he marvels. “It was a little surprising to me, because you never know what to expect. And it was rewarding, too. You realize that all that work meant something. We worked very hard in our time, and it shows. We play really well together, and more important, the relationships are intact. I couldn’t ask for more than that.”

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Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar World, Guitar Player, MusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.