James Iha

James Yoshinobu Iha (井葉吉伸) (born March 26, 1968) is a guitarist and the co-founder of The Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years, Iha has been a permanent fixture of A Perfect Circle. He was most recently a member of Tinted Windows, a 1960s/1970s inspired group with members of Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, and Hanson. He rejoined The Smashing Pumpkins in 2018.

Iha has produced songs, contributed guitar and vocals, and produced remixes for a number of artists, including Midnight Movies, Isobel Campbell, Marilyn Manson, Whiskeytown, and Michael Stipe. He co-owns Scratchie Records, an independent record label, with Adam Schlesinger, and a recording studio with Schlesinger and Andy Chase of Ivy called Stratosphere Sound.

James Iha is married to designer Ashley Usich. Her twin sister, photographer Lindsay Usich, is married to Marilyn Manson.

Early life and background
Iha was born in Chicago, Illinois. He 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 bandmate Billy Corgan, Iha has a brother with a disability.

In the early 2000s, Iha had an imposter in the Chicago area, who was arrested.

The Smashing Pumpkins
In 1987 Iha, then playing guitar in 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 sang the band's covers of the Cure's "A Night Like This" and Syd Barrett's "Terrapin". During his time with the Pumpkins, Iha recorded with other bands, including Ivy, to which Adam Schlesinger contributes, and Swedish New Wave band the Sounds.

Billy Corgan has claimed that Iha played very little guitar on the first two Smashing Pumpkins albums, with Corgan himself playing most of the parts in the studio that Iha played live.

Iha was often considered the "quiet one" in Smashing Pumpkins, but he was known to engage in ad-libbed jokes and rap sessions at live performances. His humor was encapsulated in his use of the catchphrase, "I've seen a million faces, and I've rocked them all," originally from the Bon Jovi song "Wanted Dead or Alive".

In 1998, Iha released a moderately successful solo album, Let It Come Down. One music video was produced from this album, for the song "Be Strong Now", which was released as a four-track single.

When his former bandmates Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin revived the "Smashing Pumpkins" name, Iha did not participate, and in fact had not spoken to Corgan in years. Corgan stated in a 2008 blog entry that when he and Chamberlin reunited, the "door was open" for Iha to rejoin, but he declined, and Corgan said that he "can now say definitively that Iha isn't ever coming back." However, in a 2012 interview about the band reformation, Iha stated that he was never even asked back into the band in the first place. Iha also admitted within the interview that he has not heard any of the band's new music since the reformation.

In a March 2013 interview, he was asked about looking back at the band's history and explained that he never really thought about his former success with the band, but did look back with fondness when asked about the 6 studio albums he made with them. He revealed that he and Corgan had not spoken in around ten years, but that he did speak to Wretzky "once in a while".

On March 26, 2016 and March 27, 2016, Iha joined Corgan and Chamberlin on stage unannounced at back to back Smashing Pumpkins shows at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Iha played a third show with the band in their hometown of Chicago at the Civic Opera house on April 14, 2016. In 2017, reunion rumors were leaked through various sources, and in 2018, Iha was spotted with Corgan, Chamberlin, and current Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder in the studio and at a photo shoot, confirming his return to the band.

In 2018 the Smashing Pumpkins announced that both Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin would rejoin the band for their Shiny and Oh So Bright tour in the Summer of 2018. The Pumpkins' first LP with their reunited lineup, Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past, No Future, No Sun, was released on November 16, 2018 to positive reviews.

Discography

 * Solo albums
 * 1998 – Let It Come Down
 * 2012 – Look to the Sky


 * With Smashing Pumpkins
 * 1991 – Gish
 * 1991 – Lull
 * 1993 – Siamese Dream
 * 1994 – Pisces Iscariot
 * 1994 – Earphoria
 * 1995 – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
 * 1996 – The Aeroplane Flies High
 * 1998 – Adore
 * 2000 – Machina/The Machines of God
 * 2000 – Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
 * 2001 – Rotten Apples
 * 2005 – Rarities and B-sides
 * 2018 – Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.
 * 2020 – CYR


 * Guest appearances
 * 2004 – Auf der Maur (with Melissa Auf der Maur)
 * 2017 – Ogilala (Billy Corgan) on "Processional"

Covers sung by Iha

 * Syd Barrett's "Terrapin" from I Am One
 * The Cure's "A Night Like This" from The Aeroplane Flies High
 * Tom Waits's "Ol' '55" (performed live in 1999 at the Bridge School Benefit concerts)
 * The Human League's "Don't You Want Me" (performed live as a duet with Melissa Auf der Maur in 2000 tour)
 * David Bowie's "Kooks" (performed live in 1993)
 * David Bowie's "Rock 'n' Roll with Me" (performed live in 2012)
 * The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love" (performed live in 2018)

Guitars

 * Fender Jazzmaster (as seen on "Zero" video)
 * 1980s Les Paul Custom
 * 1984 Ebony Gibson Les Paul Custom
 * Gibson Flying V (as seen in "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" video)
 * Gibson SG-Custom (1980s)
 * Gibson SG Les Paul Custom 30th Anniversary (1991)
 * Rickenbacker 360
 * Fender Bronco
 * Fernandes Telecaster (used for the Adore tour)
 * 1960s Teisco K2L (as seen in "Rocket" video)

Amplifiers

 * Fender Twin Reverb Amp
 * Marshall JMP-1 Pre-Amp
 * Mesa-Boogie Tri-Axis
 * Orange Overdrive 120 Head & Cab

Effects

 * DigiTech DHP-55 Harmony Processor
 * DigiTech GSP2101 Effects Processor
 * EBow
 * Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress (18v Version)
 * Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man
 * Electro Harmonix Small Stone Phaser
 * Eventide H3000 Harmonizer
 * Boss AW-2
 * DOD FX-17 Wah-Volume Pedal

Other

 * DR Hi-Beam Nickel-Plated Strings
 * Jim Dunlop 1.0 millimeter tortex pics
 * Pedal-cast Extender