Smashing Pumpkins: Love of a great guitar tech
Kevin Bronson on
12
[Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder continues to chronicle the band’s 20th-anniversary tour:]
Chapter 2 (Washington, D.C.): You can subtitle this one “The First Victim, or, Why It Pays To Have a Really Great Guitar Tech.”
Right before we began rehearsing for this tour in October, I read Alex James’ autobiography, “Bit of a Blur” (2007).” In short, a decent but in no way a great read. If you’re a big Blur fan, you’ll find enough in it to keep you interested throughout the duration of book.” If you are a casual Blur fan, I would probably suggest reading a biography on Damon Albarn, because Alex James doesn’t have too much to say about the musical or artistic side of Blur. As a big Blur fan, I found myself wanting to know more about Graham Coxon than anything else. But I’m a guitar player, so go figure.” So here ends my short book review section.
The reason I was thinking about James’ book was because that’s pretty much how my last week and half felt: blurry.” We started in Columbus, Ohio, and now I’m in Washington D.C., with stops in Cleveland, Toronto, New York, and Atlantic City along the way. Somewhere in there was a meal at a Bob Evans [above]. But rather than putting all those experiences in narrative form, sometimes a simple picture says more.
What you see in this photograph is a repaired headstock on one of my guitars, one that, let’s say, “fell” out of my hands at one point of “United States” during the first of the New York shows. Without getting too existential (or should it be Existential with a capital “E”?) and not asking what happened or why, the happier story is that the guitar is working perfectly and in use every single night. In fact, the guitar didn’t miss a single show, and for this I have thank my guitar tech, Jason Baskin, one of the best techs/tone sculptors out there (and a really good friend). To be honest, he did give me a little grief for giving him some extra work, but I really did deserve it.
So the tune goes something like this: When things get blurry, guitars get broken.
Questions
A few nice people have taken the time to write in and ask questions, and I am very happy to try and answer one or two questions if it is something I can even respond to. Someone sent in question in regards to the extended ensemble.” If you’ve had a chance to see us play on this tour, I think their musical contributions speak for themselves.” But in terms of what they add to playing with the band, I would say that it has been one of the most rewarding musical experiences I have taken part in. Gabrial, Stephen, Gingger Shanker (yes, with two G’s!), and Kris are all fantastic musicians and great people.” With all the nonsense that surrounds being in a band, the two-and-half hours when we actually play are extremely musical, and these four musicians have significantly added to that particular element of the show.
Thanks Jeff for a refreshing look at an artists blog – you really come across as a genuine nice guy, that one would enjoy a beer with after a days work (even if you weren’t in the Pumpkins haha).
As for the guitar, I recall on the Zeitgeist tour you ‘losing’ a guitar on stage, how many is that now in total?
Thank you Jeff for taking the time, during what I am certain is an unbelievably busy time for you, to write these blogs. It’s great to hear from you and I am so very excited and proud of your work since joining The Smashing Pumpkins. I am also certain that entering a situation where the fans are truly possessive of this band, its musical past combined with everyone’s own memories must be daunting. But, you, Ginger and Lisa have stepped up to the proverbial plate with class, style and a musicianship that has taken the band to places that I am not certain the original incarnation could’ve reached. Stay healthy, take care, here’s wishing you get to be included on studio work someday and KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
As I sit on my couch watching your guitar solo going into the second verse of “Heavy Metal Machine” on If All Goes Wrong, I’m proud to call you a Smashing Pumpkin! I wholeheartedly agree with Scott’s statement about that the musicianship that you, Ginger and Lisa possess take the band to very high place; likely higher than the original quartet. I’m going to have to say, Mr. Schroeder, when I saw the Pumpkins in Orem, UT, you made the concert for me. There was talk around me of, “Where’s James?” but when “Zero” rolled along in the set, you proved yourself to the crowd and stuck a big goofy smile on my face because I knew that you were the real deal.
I really hope that you are having a great time on this tour and stay healthy. I’m so excited to see my favorite band on November 29th in Vegas with 4-star VIP tickets.
I’m curious as to which song in the current 48 song set is your favorite. 🙂 If you could get back to me on that, it would make my day.
While there are a series of questions I’d love to ask, could I focus on our mutual appreciation of fine literature for just a moment?
Some of my favourites include: Death in Venice, Paradise Lost, Faust, Hamlet (granted, not a book per se), Beowulf, Tin Drum, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the short narrative “We Are Norsemen” by T.C. Boyle, and the collective poetry of William Blake. Sprinkle that with more Joyce and top it off with a little Orwell, and you’ve got a brief glimpse at my soul.
What stirs your passion? I’d love to know.
Brad Jaeger,
http://www.nachtkabarett.com/smashingpumpkins
Shattering Fast Alchemical Glass
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hey jeff! i had a great time in new york! this alleged “falling” of the guitar… hmmm… looked like you threw it to me! lol!
it seems like you and billy have good musical communication on stage, great ambient guitar riff exchanges going on between the two of you guys.
good luck and thanks for the blog! awesome.
Jeff, you spelled “decent” incorrectly! What would your thesis supervisor say!?
Hey Jeff –
I picked up some of the books you were talking about in those “day in a life of the pumpkins” features last summer.
Can you recommend a few more?
drbenway —
That is obviously the fault of Jeff’s lame copy editor. Apologies, they taught me better in college … all 11 years of it.
Wow Jeff, you clearly have some anger issues.. I’m starting to like you even more lol
A Blur fan? Wicked. What’s your favourite Blur track? I have to agree with the two fellows above me. Any time I’ve heard this new lineup I’ve been blown away. I’m hoping you all stick around for many years to come.
Hey Jeff! Thank you for taking the time to write these blogs! It’s really great to hear about your experiences. A friend and I drove up from Charlotte to see the DC shows, and we especially enjoyed the 2nd night where we were planted in 4th row seats right under you! The concert was the best we’ve been to, and I think that had a lot to do with all the energy we felt from you and the rest of the band! Thank you for all your hard work! I hope you are feeling that it is paying off. 🙂