In a recent interview with Revv Amps on YouTube, Kiki Wong of Smashing Pumpkins shared that she’s more than just a TikTok influencer.
The guitarist recalled her audition with the band, saying, “I threw my hat. I put my audition in and I got a call that said ‘There’s a Zoom call.’ Got on the Zoom call with the band and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this real?'” She explained that the audition involved a lot of conversation with Billy Corgan, particularly about Dimebag Darrell. “And ended up talking with Billy a lot about Dimebag Darrell. I was like, ‘This is so cool.'”
Wong further detailed her experience, stating, “There are like so many metal routes and then I got another call saying that you’ll be going to LA. Showed up to LA and at that point, I was just like, I’m just excited to be here to jam even if I just get to jam with them. I don’t even care. The fact that I get to like play with legends. It’s so cool.”
Reflecting on how quickly things happened, she explained, “I just played the audition, did my thing, and literally got a call the next day. It happened so fast. I really didn’t like… A lot of people don’t realize this about me, too. They see that I’ve been on social media. They think like, ‘Oh she’s just like a Tik Tok influencer’ but I’ve been doing music since 2010, playing real holes.”
She continued, “Playing gigs to no one. There was no one there sometimes and you’re still playing your heart out. It’s a full show. So, I’m 35 now. I have a baby, a one-year-old so I was like, ‘There’s no touring, it is not going to be in the books for me’ but having this opportunity… Everyone pulled through. My family pulled through, my boyfriend pulled through. He was so supportive and was like you have to do this.”
Wong was chosen in April 2024 from 10,000 applicants to become the Smashing Pumpkins’ live guitarist. Billy Corgan later revealed that he was already a fan before she applied.
“The truth is that it was a long, arduous road getting here,” Kiki had previously said of her journey. “I’ve experienced far more failures than successes, thousands of rejections for and handful of ‘we’ll sees,’ and even a point where I just gave up and didn’t even touch a guitar for almost three years. Hell, I even gave up on ever touring again, yet here I am.”
In June, Smashing Pumpkins kicked off their UK tour with Weezer in Birmingham, marking Wong’s first full show with the band.
