“There hasn’t been one moment I regretted my decision. It’s allowed me to be creative in ways I would never have imagined if I’d stayed”: Jeff Schroeder takes us inside his first music since leaving the Smashing Pumpkins – and admits it’s a big departure

Jeff Schroeder.

Explaining his decision to leave the Smashing Pumpkins in 2023, guitarist Jeff Schroeder told Guitar World that he’d always known he was “in a situation where you’re joining something that already has a history”. And even though he’d become a chapter of that history by joining in 2007, it felt like the right moment to make a change.

After declaring a desire to “create some space and do something different,” Schroeder has returned with an ambient guitar album titled Metanoia. “Although I love playing in bands, it was powerful to know I could perform completely by myself," he says.