The band is looking for a replacement for Jeff Schroeder – now they are spoiled for choice.
At the beginning of the year, Smashing Pumpkins launched a call and explained that they were looking for a replacement for the guitarist following the departure of their long-time member Jeff Schroeder – not only within the industry, but open to everyone. This appeal triggered a wave of applications that the band had not expected. Billy Corgan’s group announced on January 16 that they had already received over 10,000 submissions – and that’s leading to a lot of work.
Eight people are working full-time on the candidacies
On X The Smashing Pumpkins said: “The band has received over 10,000 applications for the position of additional guitarist.” In order to sift through all the contributions, eight people say they work full time to rate each one.
Current Twitter post:
Just eleven days have passed since Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha called for a new talent on Instagram with the words “the application process is open to anyone interested”. Some people seem to have been interested.
The replacement has big shoes to fill
The announcement that Jeff Schroeder’s time with the Pumpkins was over was several months ago. At the time he took to Instagram and wrote: “Although it was a very difficult decision, I have decided to leave the band to make space and take a slightly different path. I would like to thank Billy, Jimmy, James and Jack for being both wonderful bandmates and even better friends. I will really miss sharing the stage with you.” He was part of the group for 16 years and recorded a total of five studio albums with them.