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Lisa Harriton
A Smash Hit with the Smashing Pumpkins
By Tiffany Schirz and Amanda Whiting
Long before joining one of the biggest, multi-platinum-selling bands of the 1990s, Smashing Pumpkins, Los Angeles native Lisa Harriton had already established herself as a respected jazz pianist and singer. Her jazz background may seem to some an unlikely pairing with the Pumpkins’ sound, but her voice and style on the keyboards caught the ear of bandleader Billy Corgan right away. In 2007, she debuted as the band’s keyboardist and backing vocalist.
With a knack for melody and harmonic textures, Lisa is a key element of Smashing Pumpkins’ experimental style, which ranges from driving, distorted guitar hooks to extended jams and full-on orchestral arrangements. As she embarks on their latest world tour, on the road with her is her essential keyboard—Roland’s RD-700GX Digital Stage Piano.
“The first keyboard that I ever purchased was actually the RD-600 ten years ago. There’s been so many improvements since then! One of the things that drew me to the Roland brand was the touch of their weighted keys. Coming from an acoustic piano background, the touch was really important to me,” says Lisa, “With the RD-700GX, I really love that I can customize a piano sound, which you can’t do with other keyboards in the same way.”
See Lisa in action, and to hear more about how she uses Roland keyboards to amp up Smashing Pumpkins’ sound.
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