Photos by Mike Amico
Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream cover girls Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts discussed reuniting 25 years later for a photo and video shoot to promote the band’s upcoming ‘Shiny and Oh So Bright’ reunion tour in a new Setlist.fm interview. Lysandra discussed her childhood crush on Billy Corgan.
Lysandra said, “Overall I know I was super little girl crushing on Billy – after all, he was a rock star! I remember thinking that it was pretty amazing that I was going to get paid for having that much fun, and wondering if everyone enjoyed their jobs this much. I thought it was pretty neat that it was for a rock band, and I couldn’t wait to hear what their music sounded like.”
They recalled the original cover shoot.
Ali said, “I remember playing dress up with Lysandra and having the ultimate childhood dream day. We ate lemon heads and enjoyed rocket pop popsicles from the ice cream truck that happened to pass by during the shoot all while being dressed up in a cute dress with angel wings of course any 7-year-old would love that.”
Lysandra added, “It was a beautiful Southern California day at the little house where we did the afternoon shoot. There were a handful of outfits that we wore, two little girls basically just playing dress up – who wouldn’t love that? Billy fed us lemonheads, and we were having fun but kind of bouncing off the walls. I remember he told us we were adorable and we could rule the world one day, and I was hooked. The ice cream truck came by, and they bought us rocket pops. They ended up telling us that we could keep the shoes if we’d try to settle down and get back to shooting.”
They also discussed the reunion photoshoot.
Ali said, “Arriving on set I was a little nervous but also so excited to see Lysandra. It was as if we were separated at birth and I was seeing my long-lost sister. I was so curious how our personalities would be compared to then and now. I definitely asked her 21 questions and some.”
Lysandra added, I was so excited about getting to see Ali, and it was no disappointment. She’s honestly a big part of why I wanted to come back and do this in the first place. She’s such a truly sweet spirit, and a joy to work with. It reminded me of being a little girl again.”