James Iha

James Yoshinobu Iha (井葉吉伸, Iha Yoshinobu or ジェームス・イハ born March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is a Japanese American rock musician and runway model. He is most famous as the rhythm guitarist in the highly successful alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. In 1998, Iha released a moderately successful solo album, Let It Come Down, his only solo effort to date. One music video was produced from this album, for the song Be Strong Now, which was also released as a four-track single. Since the Pumpkins' breakup in 2000, Iha has pursued many projects. He continues to contribute to other artists' recordings, such as Don't Be Sad on Whiskeytown's Pneumonia released in 2001 and further guest appearances for Ivy, but made bigger news when he joined rock band A Perfect Circle in July 2003 in time for their Thirteenth Step club tour. He has since appeared on their 2004 album eMOTIVe as well as contributed remixes of Blue and Outsider. In 2003, he formed Vanessa and the O's. The group released an EP Plus Rien in Sweden the same year. Iha also collaborated on two tracks with Japanese musician Chara for her 2001 album MADRIGAL. The tracks are called "Boku ni Utsushite" (ボクにうつして）and "Skirt" (スカート). More recently, Iha has collaborated on musical and fashion design projects in Japan. With the help of longtime friend and manager Isao Izutsu, Iha started the clothing label Vapor in 2001. Iha also scored the Japanese film Linda, Linda, Linda, released in late summer 2005. On March 31st, 2006, Pitchfork Media reported that Iha will be featured on Norwegian pop singer Annie's follow-up to her highly successful debut, Anniemal, which will reportedly be out near the year's end. Iha also remixed "Me Plus One", a track off of Anniemal. James also is the bassist of power pop band Tinted Windows. Other members are Taylor Hanson, Adam Schlesinger and Bun E. Carlos. Their self-titled debut album will be released on April 21, 2009.