James Iha-
Interviewer: You play in a group famous for its melodrama. Why didnt you comment on any of that in your songs?
James Iha: I didnt consciously try to write the record the way it is. I've had some of these songs for a little while. I guess I didnt really feel like commenting on anything else but love.
Int: Are any of the songs about your relationship with D'Arcy?
Iha:[Laughs] Um. I dont know.
Int: Of course you do.
Iha: Songs are seldom about one person. About half the record is might be about one person, and the other half is just about other people and situations.
Int: Will the person know that the songs are about her?
Iha:Well the person was there when I wrote alot of these songs
Int: Not playing bass, by any chance?
Iha: No, [laughs]. Me and D'arcy are just really good friends. Back then I was writing instrumental songs. It took a long time before I could really write and sings.
Int: What's your usual impression when guitarist make their own solo albums?
Iha: It always seems pretty dubious. That's one thing I really wanted to aviod. I didnt want to make a watered-down Pumpkins record.
Int: So how does a Japanese-American kid growning up in a big city end up loving country music so much?
Iha: The older I get, I'm drawn more toward things like Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Neil Young. When the band's on tour, especially last year, its just rock. Twenty-four hours a day. When i get back to my hotel room, I didnt really want to have a Marshall stack.
Int: You're also a big Eagles fan. Did you see any of the reunion shows?
Iha: No. I do have an Eagles-tour T-shirt, though, but I was shunned be the other members for wearing such an atrocity, so I dont wear it much.
Int: Are things fairly stable in the Pumpkins now?
Iha: We dont really have a drummer that's a member of the group. But other than that, were fine. We were joking about it because it actually goes back to the original group. We played our first show ever with a drum machine.
Int: All the band troubles make for good headlines, but is the reality harder than people realiza?
Iha: I dont want to over-romanticize anything that happens in a rock band, but, yeah, its really insane to keep the Pumpkins juggernaut going sometimes. We just thought that we were done for if we didnt carry on and finish the tour.
Int: Did you record a solo album partly to have a fallback for whenever the Pumpkins break up?
Iha: I talked to the band about doing this record, and I knew that last summer was probably the only break I'd have. It was either now or a couple years from now.
Int: You're also part-owner of a label, Scratchie Records, which you and D'Arcy help run. What was the last crisis you had to deal with as VP of A&R?
Iha: There's always a crisis. The alternative-rock world is a hard road. There are so few slots on the radio and Mtv, and in magazines.
Int: Because they're being taken by bands like the Smashing Pumpkins.
Iha: Right. There has to be some new thing to tear us down.
Int: Most of the time, Billy does the interviews. Is there something you've wanted the chance to talk about?
Iha: I guess you write songs so that you don't have to tell people what you're about.
Int: If you end up in a stable, happy relationship, will your songs change?
Iha: Probably....I dont want to talk about my personal life.
Int: But you wrote a very personal album.
Iha: Right. I guess that's why. But I'm in a good relationship [laughs]. It's just weird. I've never had to talk this much about me.
Int: Well, you're a hopeless romantic.
Iha: Sue me. I'm sensitive. -Chris Mundy
Rolling Stone (Febuary 19, 1998)
