“I wondered if she would fit in, because I knew her as more of a metal guitarist… She just felt like a real breath of fresh air”: Billy Corgan reveals how many guitarists the Smashing Pumpkins auditioned in person – and how they knew Kiki Wong was the one

Billy Corgan performs live, Kiki Wong posed photoshoot with Jackson guitar.

In a new interview, Billy Corgan has discussed the inner workings of the Smashing Pumpkins’ epic guitarist search for the first time – including how many players they auditioned in person, and why the band ultimately went with Instagram shredder Kiki Wong.

“We got 10,000 emails from 10,000 different people,” he told Kerrang! of the exhaustive process, which saw the band recruit eight people full-time to work through every application (including one from this writer).