The Smashing Pumpkins have been an alt-rock taboo for decades. And now the group has a new member who will help them continue for decades to come.
“The news you've been waiting for is finally here,” the group announced on social media last week. “SP is pleased to officially welcome highly accomplished veteran guitarist Kiki Wong. Kiki joins the band's touring lineup of Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha, as well as core players Jack Bates and Katie Cole.”
In January the group said it was looking for a new guitarist after Jeff Schroeder announced his retirement from the group in October.
In January, The Smashing Pumpkins announced a public competition for a new guitarist and in less than two weeks announced that they had received more than 10,000 applications for this job – so many that eight people “worked full time to test everyone.”
Wong's arrival in the group came after she played guitar in the Los Angeles rock band Vigil of War. Her passion for music began when she was just 6 years old, she says of herself. websitewhen she started taking classical piano lessons. At age 13, she got her first acoustic guitar, which her father bought at Costco, and years later she joined “countless garage bands” and also learned to play the drums.
According to Wong, once she received her bachelor's degree in biology from the University of California, Irvine, she decided to pursue music full-time with the Asian-American girl group Nylon Pink. Since then, her career has only blossomed.
“It’s never too early or too late to follow your dreams,” Wong says on his website. “…With the help of music I want to break the barriers of genres and stereotypes. I want to collide styles and make them unified. After all, we only have one world. We might as well bring it together through music.”
Her music has become so popular that Smashing Pumpkins co-founder and vocalist Billy Corgan says he was a fan “before she submitted her name for consideration.”
“It's wonderful to have someone with her insight to be part of our touring family,” Corgan said. “I can’t wait to hit the road with Kiki as part of our crazy circus.”
The group goes to international tour this summer, which will begin in the UK in June and open in the US and Canada from July to September.
Wong said the process of joining the group was “absolutely wild ride”
“I am honored and humbled to be chosen to perform alongside some of the greatest and most influential rock musicians of all time,” she said. “I never thought that a little 15-year-old boy playing a metal guitar in his bedroom would be such a moment. It shows hard work and persistence does pay off if you are willing to overcome challenges, so never give up hope.”
Wong, who is of Korean and Chinese descent, joins The Smashing Pumpkins to kick off Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
“Being an Asian American in the rock and roll and heavy metal industry is not easy,” she said in a 2021 interview. interviews with Asian-American Pacific Islander musicians. “I've received a lot of hate from people who judge me for who I am. While this may seem like a setback, there has been far more positive feedback and support than negative.”
“I grew up in a community that was 92% Caucasian and had very little exposure to other Asians outside of my own family. At such a young age, it was difficult to understand my identity and my place,” she added. “I hope to see more young upcoming AAPI musicians who want to keep rock and roll alive. I hope I can help inspire them to go against what we're told we should do and feel safe expressing themselves creatively through music without feeling judged.”
