Jim DeRogatis talks to former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha about Tinted Windows, his new band that features members of Hanson, Cheap Trick, and Fountains of Wayne:
Well, Adam [Schlesinger] and I are friends, and we have these various businesses together: We have our recording studio in Chelsea, and we had the label together [Scratchie], but we lost the backing from New Line because everyone got fired there. I was talking to him one day and he was friends with Taylor Hanson; they’ve been friends since Fountains of Wayne’s and Hanson’s first records came out and the guy who signed Tinted Windows told Adam in the ’90s, “You should write with these kids from Oklahoma.”
We came up with this idea of Adam and Taylor singing over loud guitars and doing a power-pop record, trying to keep it down and dirty: no keyboards, no three-part harmonies, with references like the Buzzcocks, the Knack and the Ramones–just all things fun and loud. So the three of us all wrote songs that fit that concept; then we figured, “Well, we have to get a drummer.” We had a couple of ideas, one of the references I said was, “He has to play like Bun E. Carlos!” Then we went, “Hey, let’s call Bun E. Carlos! All he can do is say no.” We sent him the demos and he went, “I’m into it!” He came to New York and rocked like no one’s business and we did the record in two days.
MP3: Tinted Windows – “Kind of a Girl” (courtesy of Rolling Stone)