Alternative Nation interviewed former Smashing Pumpkins bassist Ginger Pooley a couple of days ago, and we can now bring you a bonus article where Ginger discussed playing shows with Scott Weiland’s supergroup Velvet Revolver and Chris Cornell in 2007 on The Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist tour.
I asked Ginger, “On the 2007 and 2008 tours you played with other big names at festivals, I even saw you play with Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, Perry Farrell, and Chris Cornell at an LA Festival in 2007. Do you have any interesting stories from meeting any big names on tour? I saw you played with Slash, Perry, and Tom Morello as well.”
Ginger responded, “That time was such a whirlwind. The focus at the time was 100% on the music in the Pumpkins. There are so many songs in the catalogue, the setlist changed every night. It was a 3 hour show every night, too. My brain was full! Haha.
There was almost no time to do anything but think about the music. That’s not a bad thing! It’s pretty amazing how focused Billy is. It is a very pure way to be when it comes to music. Anyway, we did play with some amazing artists/bands.
I did end up meeting Tom Morello in the hotel bar that our bands were staying in. Kris, my husband and I hit it off with Tom. He’s obviously amazing. And we played some of his Axis of Justice shows together with Slash and Perry. That was so much fun! Perry’s wife Etty is super sweet, too. We’ve stayed in touch.
That time was so great. I loved seeing the Velvet Revolver guys when we’d be staying at the same hotels around the world. I remember seeing Chris Cornell with his wife in Istanbul when we played a festival there together. The Killers guys were super cool and hung with them a few times on tour as well.”
