Kiki Wong

Kiki Wong (born April 15, 1989 ) is an American musician known for being the touring guitarist of alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. In the 2010s she performed with artists such as Taylor Swift and Usher and was a member of girl band Nylon Pink. She also played in She Demons, put together by Jerry Only of Misfits, and Vigil of War, a band started by DragonForce bassist Alicia Vigil.

While in Nylon Pink she started a popular travel blog with bandmate Kaila Yu, which ultimately led to her accumulating over a million TikTok followers. In 2024, Wong was selected from 10,000 applicants to join the Smashing Pumpkins as their live guitarist with Billy Corgan later commenting that he was already a fan before her application. Wong has said that joining the band has forced her to expand her playing style beyond her heavy metal roots.

Early life Kiki Wong was born April 15, 1989. Wong says she started playing piano at age six, guitar at thirteen and drums at age sixteen. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a bachelor's degree in biological science on a pre-medical track.

Career

Early career and session work Wong's first professional gig was as a member of all Asian-American girl band Nylon Pink, whose members she initially met when she took a job on a photoshoot to earn extra money during college. The band played metal and electronic covers of K-pop songs, as well as their own music. playing with Usher at CBS's Fashion Rocks, and playing lead guitar for Bret Michaels of Poison in a Nissan commercial.

Wong subsequently joined the all-girl punk band She Demons (later called Hellfire Heart), The pair also self-published a book, 30-Day Travel Challenge: How To Make Your Travel Dreams A Reality. At this point Wong says she hadn't played guitar for three years and had only a few weeks to practise before the tour, but that it rekindled her love for music. She was announced as the Smashing Pumpkins' new guitarist in April, and played her first show with the band in June, a tour date with Weezer. Billy Corgan has said he was a fan of Wong before she applied to join the band.

Equipment and playing style Before joining Smashing Pumpkins, Wong told Guitar Girl Magazine that she'd played Ibanez and Schecter guitars for years "because of the heavy metal tones and body shapes". At this time, she didn't use many effects pedals, instead dialling in her tone through Marshall or Kemper amps. While Wong has described herself as previously being a one trick pony, she says she now has a more diverse playing style, and has been exposed to new sounds and effects through her work with the Smashing Pumpkins.

Guitar World reported that at her first show with the Smashing Pumpkins she used some guitars especially suited to playing metal, including two Jackson Rhoads models, a PRS Custom, a Yamaha Revstar, and the same Zemaitis with which she auditioned. During Wong's first tour with Smashing Pumpkins, she got a sponsorship deal with PRS Guitars after having been given a contact at the company by Herman Li from DragonForce.