Quotes by James Iha

About James Iha:

James Yoshinobu Iha is an American rock musician. He is best known as former 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/1970s inspired group with members of Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, and Hanson.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

So there was something of a learning curve with doing your own thing and people seeing you outside of the band. I mean, people have never really heard my voice before - or heard a whole record of mine before. So it was a completely new experience.

James Iha

You know, it's going to be a really long tour, and well, I guess I'll see what happens with A Perfect Circle, 'cause they do other projects too, and I don't know. I hope I can always do a lot of different things, do 'em well.

James Iha

Well, I always hope that I'm a role model.

James Iha

But, yeah, as far as Asian Americans go, I hope they know they can look at me and see that they can do music on their own, within a band or just on their own, and not feel like there's any barriers. I've never felt any particular barriers myself, bei...

James Iha

Well, we didn't have our original drummer on our last record. And most of that album was not played as a band in the studio. It was mostly the world of computers and overdubs. There was very few things played live or worked out as a band.

James Iha

At some point, I had to make a decision: I could practice more and become a really great guitar player or I could work on writing better songs. There are only so many hours in the day, and I found writing songs more fulfilling than working on becomin...

James Iha

It's hard enough to make a good song and a good recording of that song. But to try to tailor it to some outside force is just like - It's never been a factor in what I've done or what the band's done.

James Iha

I love a lot of the New York bands, but Patti Smith stands out. I just read 'Just Kids' and it's an inspirational, well-written account of an emerging New York artist in the late seventies.

James Iha

Yeah, I'm sure there are stereotypes of Asian people.

James Iha

We have a partnership deal with New Line Records, which is part of New Line Cinema, and... I worked on that.

James Iha

The band set up in January and just started rehearsing. If there was a song, we'd just rehearse it as a band, and it would get arranged as a band, and it got changed around a lot.

James Iha

No, I've heard over the years that it's nice for them to see somebody who's like, you know, a well-known successful musician who's Asian. I've heard it from a few musicians, too.

James Iha

Musicians always come off sounding a little bit pretentious, and a little bit... I don't know, hypocritical, from what they do, talking about strong issues.

James Iha

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.

James Iha

If you put all the songs together that I've written on band records, and put it up next to my solo record, there's definitely a different kind of feel than Billy's songs.

James Iha

And they kind of left to find a guitar player at the very end, so you know, I don't really take it as any slight that I wasn't able to play on the record. It's flattering just to play with them period.

James Iha

I like the challenges of doing different things. It keeps things fresh for me.

James Iha

I started a recording studio. I started producing people and doing remixes.

James Iha

My first job in NYC was playing a gig in the early nineties at CBGBs.

James Iha

All the bands I've played with have had dynamic front men.

James Iha

Author Bio

  • NameJames Iha
  • Descriptionmusician (guitarist, producer, writer, singer)
  • BornMarch 26, 1968
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionGuitarist