Regarding Montreal

Melissa Auf Der Maur on the music career that almost never was.

From: Hour.ca, 2004-05-20
Date added: 2004-12-14

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A polished voice is giving me instructions on how to live the next 20 minutes of my life. "I'm going to put Melissa on with you," she says. "Then you'll have 20 minutes to talk with her. I'll come on a couple of minutes before the 20 minutes are over to let you know you're coming to the end. So, just give me a second..." All of this to talk to someone I've eaten dinner with.

" ...Dylan, you have Mel-issa," purrs the flack, before clicking off.

There's a little laugh, then a raspy voice comes over the line. "Dylan, you have Mel-issa," she parodies. "I have Dy-lan," she wheezes through a few more chuckles. Then we both laugh for a solid minute.

By now, the Auf Der Maur story is a nicely worn rut in the annals of the contempo-pop canon. Her first brush with celebrity came at her father's hands - words at least - the incorrigible Nick Auf Der Maur, who filled his column inches with anecdotes about his tweening daughter, Melissa. In the early '90s, she became a queen bee of the Main's indie rock set, cutting her rock'n'roll teeth as part of the much-vaunted Tinker. Somewhere in there, she befriended the saccharine-voiced, awkwardly tall Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan.

Through Auf Der Maur's friendship with Corgan, she was invited to become the new bassist of Hole, a job she nearly turned down. "You know that Montreal thing," she says through the filter of the cold she's picked up. "The last thing I wanted to do was hook up with a huge American band. It seemed like the foulest idea possible."

So what changed her mind?

"I guess it was talking with my parents," she admits. "They just kept asking if I really wanted to let the opportunity pass. In the end, I guess I really didn't. It wasn't always easy, though. It was strange being so well recognized for music that actually didn't represent my taste or sensibilities all that much."

After Hole broke up, Auf Der Maur spelled with Smashing Pumpkins, again finding herself a cog in someone else's creative machine. But the sidekicking may be over for good. At the beginning of June, Auf Der Maur's eponymous solo debut hits North American stores (Europe has already been raving it up and down the press halls).

"I can't tell you how amazing it is to finally have something creative that is tangibly me," she explains. "But it was right to have waited. If I hadn't gone with the Hole thing, I might have made an album much sooner. But it wouldn't have been the right album. I needed to see more, learn, contribute to other people's work. The album I've made is a product of experience, of allowing things to fall into place over time."

So there's something to be said for patience.

"Oh yeah. There's a tendency - and this is what held me back in Montreal, what holds a lot of people back - to rush your creative independence, to try to make a statement before you've learnt how to express yourself or even what to express. I was lucky though, I fell into some great places to educate myself."

There's a telling click and a familiar voice comes on the line. "Hi Dylan, I'm sorry to interrupt but we're going to have to wrap it up. Okay?"

"Sure," I say. "It was lovely speaking with you, Melissa."

"Dylan," she says with trumped-up pomp. "It was my duty and esteemed pleasure to speak with you. Give my regards to Montreal."

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