10 to the Hour, Every Hour
Tony Belser Atlanta, GA, US
July, 1991. The summer before my Junior year of high school. MTV was on in my room, as usual, one regular Salina, KS Saturday. At 10 to the hour, every hour, Kurt Loder would always let me know what was happening. Well, this particular instance it was a new Chicago, IL based band called Smashing Pumpkins.
“Wow, I was just in Chicago last week for my Dad’s family reunion…and what an awesome name for a band” little 16 yr. old me thought.
After a great news feature where I saw this killer looking group that was multi-racial AND multi-gender, a video called SIVA was aired.
“Woah…who writes a harmonized guitar intro like THAT…who plays the drums like THAT…what a voice…and the bottom drops out in the middle…Who Is THIS…?”
I bought the tape immediately, (I still have it), and, thus, began a long ride with my favorite band of all. Happy Anniversary Gish!
Rhino
Joshua Domínguez Santa Cruz De La Sierra, BO
The first time I heard a song from Gish was in 2015. After going to through a bittersweet year suddenly I was getting into a bad depression without accepting that I was having deeper issues with myself. At that point I hated and felt sorry for me, the first girl that I ever fell in love with just rejected me months prior to 2015 which led me to a serious misbehavior with all my surroundings (I was angry, sad, confused and dazed all the time, I even start to drink more and more every time I got the chance) , I couldn’t find any words or any consolation on anybody or anything until one night in one of many bitter moments at the roof of my house, I listened rhinoceros, a song that along mayonnaise gave me that chilling feeling of knowing how I was doing at that time, it help to canalize some sadness inside that along with a long trip to a place where I felt I was useful it help me get through those times which I will forever be thankful to you smashing pumpkins for been one of the few humans to know how I was.
Gish Poster
Jeremiah Jones US
Gish has always had a special place in my heart. From first listen I
fell in love with the album’s rawness, emotion, and power. It pulled at my
Midwestern teenage heart which at the time was full of yearning to get out and experience
the world and it took me on a journey of inspiration and possibility. It brings
me back to a time when things were not so immediate. There was something
special about those times that cannot be replicated in our new digital existence.
Time moved slower and things had time to breathe and grow. The art for Gish was
mesmerizingly simple yet oozed creativity and swagger. Its playful homage to
the Jimi Hendrix Experience album art, the unique way the band was posed and
dressed, and even the hand-written titles and text convinced me that the album
came from a place of love from a group of people eager to prove themselves to
the world.
A few years later I stumbled upon a huge subway sized poster of the
album cover at a local record shop in Des Moines. I knew that I had to have it.
For many years it graced the wall behind my bed almost taking up the entirety of
the wall. At the time I had a cheap faux-wood mirror that was hung on the opposite
wall of the Gish poster. The mirror was hung at this perfect eye-level where
the fisheye shot of the band would take up the entirety of the oval mirror when
passing by it at a certain angle. Almost like it was meant to fit that way. Each
time I would come and go from my bedroom I would catch a glimpse of the reflected
image in that mirror. The band staring back at me like a group of misfit astronauts
from another astral plan ready to take on the world and beckoning me to join
them for the ride.
Unfortunately, the poster suffered some major damage during a recent
move and I no longer have it. Luckily, I was able to pull up some old photos of
it to help me reminisce about this period and celebrate Gish’s 30th Anniversary.
Congratulations to the band on reaching this milestone and still creating new
music for generations to come!
Spellbound…
Matthew Pashalian Boynton Beach, FL, US
I was maybe 9/10 years old. I woke up to go to the bathroom and heard “Rhinoceros” on the tv in the living room where my brother was watching 120 Minutes on MTV. I quietly ducked down and sat next to the sofa, watched/listened, completely hypnotized. Unbeknownst to me at the time just how important and life changing this bands music would be for me.
School of RAWK!
Bret Figura new lenox, US
I always listened to the radio while going to sleep. 93XRT … the last bit of a tune I caught grabbed my ear and wouldn’t let go. I was a budding drummer, freshman in high school at the time. The announcer said something about ‘smashing pumpkins’ and ‘local’. What was this ‘smashing pumpkins’ – was this a band?
I ran with a few kids who were up on music and my friend Gina’s dad had a great record collection. So I asked her about them … she was hip – she said she thought her dad had that record. Soon I found myself with a duped tape of Gish.
As a young drummer, having just joined the high school drum line, what was happening on this record was so arresting and fresh yet slightly familiar compared to the musical landscape we were leaving behind. Goodbye hair bands … hello new, artful, musical 90s rock! I became enamored and obsessed with Gish and the Smashing Pumpkins. Gish’s dreamy, yet aggressive nature – portions unapologetically rock while others tastefully quiet – the guitars and drums seemed to marry in a way unlike other bands I’d heard at the time. I wanted to learn to play the entire record, top to bottom. The drumming had wonderful references I felt akin to: Mitch Mitchell meets drum corps chops … a loose yet disciplined tight style that suited the songs in a way I’ve never heard before and I wanted to dissect and learn all I could. So, that’s what I did.
I spent hours in my bedroom rewinding tape and woodshedding. The Pumpkins were my teacher in a formative moment where I was taking my hair metal chops to a new musical space along with my school band education.
After I got a good handle on Gish, I waited with bated breath for the next release. Every time I went to Red Tower Records by Orland Mall, I would bother my older brother’s friends Tony or Bob at the counter, “You know when a new Smashing Pumpkins record is coming?” Over, and over, and over again … they must have gotten tired of me asking.
I had to have more of this music. No internet, no inside news, too young for the city … it was a vacuum of information. So I kept honing my Gish skills behind the kit. Then, finally – an EP! Tony or Bob pointed out LULL!
Back at the kit – learn this top to bottom!
Wait some more … I waited in agony for what would become Siamese.
In the meantime, by senior year, my Pumpkins study and admiration had become widely known and my drum line nickname became Jimmy C.
That was praise enough for me.
Smashing Pumpkins was more than just music I loved. It was a new grade level of my own, personal ‘school of rock.’ A study of drumming, a study in arrangement and performance. Gish and that little radio clip (likely from Richard Milne) I heard started me on a new track as a musician and music fan.
Thanks SP!
xoxo
Bret
“Planned a show, trees and balloons..” A three hour rock marathon at The Forum
Marissa Chicago, US
“Planned a show, trees and balloons..” A three hour rock marathon at The Forum
My very best memory of a Gish song by SP was during the Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour, August 2018. My sister and I flew out to California to see them at the Forum, after seeing SP perform in Chicago, we decided one show wasn’t enough, this was such a special tour and had to experience it again! When SP began performing Rhinoceros, with the visual backdrop behind them showing a timeline series of video clips throughout their musical journey, it was then I became so overwhelmed with excitement knowing at that moment what we were about to experience, a performance of a lifetime! No other concert or performance will ever come close to those nights of the Shiny tour! It was pure magic, memories I’ll cherish for a lifetime and hold on to forever! Now when I hear Rhinoceros I’m brought back to those fantastic nights during the Shiny tour, and relive that magical feeling all over again. 💜