9. Smashing PumpkinsAdore

I discovered this album a few years after its 1998 release. I think it was just after I graduated high school in 2001, so there was a two or three-year wait on this one. I’d started hanging out with some musicians who were really into Smashing Pumpkins. I borrowed a tape and just fell in love with it. Obviously, I was into their other music as well once I discovered that for myself, but there was something about this one that I’ve always felt drawn to. Just the rawness and the vulnerability to it. There was kind of a tenderness to it. I heard that at that time, Billy [Corgan] was losing his mother, and there were problems in the band. So obviously, that was put into this music, and you can really feel it. I could feel it.

I’ve always loved Smashing Pumpkins since then. We got to play their festival in Mexico City in March 2023. They’re great live. They have so many good songs, and people get so excited when they see them play some of these older ones. When I’d seen them in Sacramento a few years before, it felt like a journey through the years. They were playing a lot of beloved songs from many different albums. Then when I saw them in Mexico City, they would do that a bit, but also play some of the new material, which as an artist, I understand them wanting to do. I got to meet Billy in Sacramento when they played and say hi for a few minutes. He was very nice. He knew of my music and was very supportive of it, which was heartening.