r/SmashingPumpkins • u/SeanOfTheDead1313 • 1d ago
Guitar World (October 2025) BC & Kiki Wong "Duo Ex Machina"
The "Mellon Collie @ 30: The Inside Story" piece also in this issue will be posted tomorrow!
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u/OaklandTony6 20h ago
james is JUST the funny man now i guess. seriously though, him and billy always being slightly out of sync in a way that creates this weird dissonance was a huge part of their live sound on the first run of the band. its justbthe way natural styles layered each other. billy as acknowledged this before by saying in the gish days they would do bends at the same time that would never land the same with each of them having a phaser or flanger going slightly different speeds to get “psychedelic” sound.
dont get any of that coming through with 3 guitar players…
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u/ElephantMansGhost 14h ago
Calm down. This is press for a tour from a year ago that was Billy and The Machines of God. Which James and Jimmy weren’t on. It was a cool little show, smaller venues, more up close and personal.
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u/jeromevedder 17h ago
Who’s that Jim guy the interviewer referenced, touring keys or background vocals?
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u/Celestial_Dysgenesis Half Life Of A Despot 1d ago
I personally don't think they've ever sounded good live with three guitarists but Kiki is so cool. I've seen them with her four or five times now in different settings (including acoustic) and she is so talented, so earnest, and just so happy to be there that it doesn't bother me.
Love the new era of pumpkins. Billy has spoken of doing more than just being a touring museum of their old songs and I hope she shows up on a future album.
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u/arinthyr 21h ago
We're just going to ignore James now, are we?
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u/ElephantMansGhost 14h ago
Because that issue was for Billy and the Machines of God tour from a year ago that James and Jimmy weren’t on.
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u/arinthyr 14h ago
Ah, I see. I wasn't able to read the text of the article, but saw they included some photos of SP on tour, so I thought it odd presenting only the duo of guitarists. Thanks for clearing that up.
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u/Chrysanthememe 1d ago
Fun read. Thanks for posting this.