Photo courtesy of XMADMX Com

By Thomas Semioli

In a 2004 Amplifier Magazine interview, bassist, photographer, and actress Melissa Auf der Maur revealed to this writer “I’m a pretty in the moment person …I never got to do the in-between stuff, like feel music. I was in a small band in Montreal for less than a year and the next thing I knew I was with a bunch of strangers in Hole playing to 65,000 screaming fans at the Reading Festival…”

Unlike many low-slinging instrument, hit making alternative rock bass players of the 90s, Melissa Auf der Maur (Hole, Smashing Pumpkins) plied her craft with a firm command of melody, rhythm and a penchant for improvisation.

Melissa’s unabashed reverence for metal, experimental and pop were realized on her fine self-titled solo bow (2004) and equally fervent Out of Our Minds (2010).

Nowadays Melissa runs Basilica Hudson, a performance and arts center in Hudson, New York with her husband Tony Stone.

Melissa Auf der Maur Sound & Vision

Hole

“Malibu” https://youtu.be/v0CYB5V9e64

“Celebrity Skin” https://youtu.be/O3dWBLoU–E

Smashing Pumpkins

“Cherub Rock” https://youtu.be/HjkhPg01Vvo

Solo Melissa:

“Followed the Waves” https://youtu.be/K4LObO91WTA

“Taste You” https://youtu.be/SOhCGJ9IKRk