| Melissa's Homecoming |
| March 10, 2000, 11:00 pm |
Source: The Gazette The universal healing daughter: Auf der Maur set for smashing homecoming with Pumpkins; [Final Edition] MARK LEPAGE. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: Mar 11, 2000. pg. G.4 Abstract (Document Summary) We are reminded that Montreal is the only city in the world where her surname pushes Courtney, Corgan, Pumpkins and Hole into the supporting cast. [Melissa Auf der Maur] has made the high-profile switch from bassist and calm foil to Courtney Love's celebrity bloodsport, to bassist in the Smashing Pumpkins, who have had their own emotional issues to work through. Those who knew of her late father, Nick, who died in 1998, can read what they wish into the above. In the complex and habitually maladjusted relationship road show of the rock'n'roll band, Auf der Maur plays more than bass: she plays stabilizer. Another Pumpkin, guitarist James Iha, is slouched in an overstuffed chair next to her. Whether Iha politely understands Auf der Maur's currency in Montreal or whether he's just that blase, he watches as the questions are aimed her way. Whether Corgan was prowling for Net rumours or simply got lucky with timing, he called Auf der Maur when Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky was outbound. Corgan and Auf der Maur's friendship predates her membership in Hole - indeed, he recommended her to Love. Full Text (803 words) Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Mar 11, 2000 For a woman who recently left the most conflicted band in rock for one of the most famous, Melissa Auf der Maur is cheery, voluble and almost ethereally composed as she enters the windowless room in the Hotel Vogue and sees the Gazette notepad. "Omigod, those remind of me my father like crazy, those pads." And we are reminded that Montreal is the only city in the world where her surname pushes Courtney, Corgan, Pumpkins and Hole into the supporting cast. Auf der Maur has made the high-profile switch from bassist and calm foil to Courtney Love's celebrity bloodsport, to bassist in the Smashing Pumpkins, who have had their own emotional issues to work through. The transition suits her. "This is the second time I've joined a set family that has gone through a lot of stuff together," Auf der Maur says, "and I seem to be very good at adapting to difficult personal structures. I think it even reflects why I'm a bass player, because bass players have that role musically in a band. "It reflects my personality that I can slide my way into a complex structure and adapt and be sensitive to who's standing there before me. It's like I'm a stepchild all of a sudden." Those who knew of her late father, Nick, who died in 1998, can read what they wish into the above. In the complex and habitually maladjusted relationship road show of the rock'n'roll band, Auf der Maur plays more than bass: she plays stabilizer. Another Pumpkin, guitarist James Iha, is slouched in an overstuffed chair next to her. Whether Iha politely understands Auf der Maur's currency in Montreal or whether he's just that blase, he watches as the questions are aimed her way. In town for a promotional jaunt that included visits to MusiquePlus and HMV yesterday and a surprise Spectrum show tonight, the Pumpkins have just released a 70-plus-minute album, Machina/The Machines of God. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, exiled in '96 after relapsing into heroin use and being present when sideman keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin fatally overdosed, is back in the band. Alongside the personal, there is the business matter of the Pumpkins' place on an ever-wavering rock graph. Auf der Maur is well aware of her situation - leaving a band with an emotionally volatile history of drug overdoses, personnel changes and controversy for one with a history of drug overdose, personnel changes and emotional volatility. "Believe me, I've reviewed my strange destiny in rock music, in terms of `Why do I find myself in this role?' " Just helping out, I guess. After playing Edgefest in Vancouver, Auf der Maur realized she had exhausted her creative potential as a member of Hole. "(That) band, for me in lots of ways, is something I'm very proud of, as a female in music. There was a lot of political charge in it that really appealed to me. And I participated so much more in that band vocally - harmonizing like the pretty angel behind Courtney's rants." Whether Corgan was prowling for Net rumours or simply got lucky with timing, he called Auf der Maur when Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky was outbound. Corgan and Auf der Maur's friendship predates her membership in Hole - indeed, he recommended her to Love. Furthermore, Auf der Maur was a Pumpkins fan before the Gish album ('91). Into this family of hypercreative attention-getter (Corgan), imploded shy boy (Iha) and prodigal son (Chamberlin) comes the healing daughter, prepared to take on the emotional load. "Being a girl who first fell in love with the Smiths and the Cure and Tears for Fears, I realized I've always liked the melancholy, the sad music." A recent promo gig in Albany (and aren't they all promotional, gigs?) took place in the airless banality of a shopping mall: Sears and Payless Shoes signs, clueless passers-by skirting the screaming throng of fans. After some brief and understandable self- consciousness - here I am, gone from fan to band member, playing the soundtrack to my own past - she got down to business. "As a bass player, working with Jim Chamberlin is a dream come true. (And) musically this carries me a lot deeper and quicker (than Hole)." The brief "homecoming" still makes her "feel very proud and sentimental. I don't live here any more and everytime I come back I say, `When will I live in Montreal and have access to all this wonderful food and culture again?' " "That's strange," Iha says. "Because in America, we play Chicago, that's our homecoming, but I don't think any Americans have that sense of community unless they're living in a really small town." [Table] - The Smashing Pumpkins perform tonight in the Spectrum. [Illustration] Photo: MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER, GAZETTE / Auf der Maur and the Smashing Pumpkins play the Spectrum tonight. ; Credit: MARK LEPAGE |