X-FILES FANS TELL FIBS
Georgia Straight - January 16, 1997
Transcribed by Donovan
Despite what the Smashing Pumpkins would have you believe, guitarist James Iha's father didn't spend his youth fishing with X-Files creator Chris Carter. And if Pumpkins' basist D'Arcy has a sister, she isn't a long-lost friend of X-Files star Gillian Anderson. Iha and singer Billy Corgan spun both tall tales between songs when the Pumpkins played GM Place on January 8. Paul Shaver, representative for the Smashing Pumpkins' record label, Virgin, said the band was simply having fun with the audience. "James was just talking and making stories up," Shaver said. "He likes to make people go 'Hmmm, I didn't know that.'"
The Pumpkins weren't lying, however, when they told the crowd tehy'd spent most of the day hanging out on the set of the X-Files. According to Shaver, everyone in the band is a massive fan of the locally shot series, to the extent that they've got every show from the first three seasons on videotape. Aware of that, X-Files creator Chris Carter invited the group to the set. "We all went down to the East Hastings area, where they were shooting on location," Shaver said. "We met the cast and watched them film a bunch of scenes."
Apparently the admiration between artists was mutual: Series star David Duchovny took off his official Fox Mulder watch and gave it to Corgan as a present. "Both Gillian and David are definitely fans," Shaver said. "David told Billy that his favourite song and video of the year was 'Tonight, Tonight'. His words were that 'it moved' him." Because they had to film late, neither Duchovny nor Anderson were able to make it to the Pumpkins show that night. Carter did show up at the concert however--according to Shaver, he stopped by and met the band backstage.