James Iha

James Iha biography

James Yoshinobu Iha (Japanese: 井葉吉伸, Iha Yoshinobu)(Born March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American rock musician. He is best known as having been a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and for his electric musical projects of recent years, most notably being a permanent fixture of A Perfect Circle. He was most recently a member of Tinted Windows, a 1960s/70s inspired group with members of Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne and Hanson.

He also co-owns independent record label Scratchie Records with Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and a recording studio with Schlesinger and Andy Chase of Ivy called Stratosphere Sound in Manhattan. Bands on the Scratchie label include The Sounds, Albert Hammond Jr., and Office.

Iha has produced songs, contributed guitar, sung and made remixes for acts the world over from lesser-knowns like L.A.'s Midnight Movies to the Scottish singer Isobel Campbell to Marilyn Manson and Michael Stipe. Iha currently lives in Manhattan.

Early life and background

Iha attended Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, which he described as "a boring, middle-class suburb of Chicago." Iha received average grades in high school, and, after a successful two-year stint at a local junior college, he majored in graphic design at Loyola University Chicago before dropping out to dedicate himself to the Smashing Pumpkins.

He is a second-generation Japanese-American and is able to speak only a little Japanese.

Like his former bandmate Billy Corgan, Iha has a brother with a disability.

The Smashing Pumpkins

thumb In 1987 Iha, then the guitarist for the Chicago band Snake Train, met Billy Corgan via a friend. Corgan had already been telling people he was in a band called "Smashing Pumpkins," and decided to make it a real band with Iha.

Iha later became romantically involved with the band's bassist D'arcy Wretzky, but the couple broke up just prior to the band's performance at the Reading Festival in 1992. After a brief feud between the two, Iha sustained a friendly and close relationship with Wretzky, citing her as a best friend.

Iha wrote and sang 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", 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 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 Swedish New Wave band The Sounds.

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