Melissa Gaboriau Auf der Maur (; born March 17, 1972) is a Canadian musician.
Auf der Maur began performing in 1993 after forming the indie rock band Tinker while she was a student at Concordia University. She was recruited as the bassist for the American alternative rock band Hole in the summer of 1994 and is included on several Hole releases, including the album Celebrity Skin (1998). Following her departure from Hole in 1999, Auf der Maur briefly joined The Smashing Pumpkins as a touring member for their 2000 tour and began her solo career; her debut studio album Auf der Maur was released in 2004 on Capitol Records and Out of Our Minds, her second studio album, was released in 2010 on her own independent record label, PHI–MAdM Music. She has also collaborated with Indochine, Rufus Wainwright, Ric Ocasek, and Neverending White Lights.
Auf der Maur is also a photographer and occasional actress. Her photographs have been included in National Geographic and exhibited at Sotheby's. She acted in How to Make the Cruelest Month (1998), Beyond Borders (2003), and Collaborator (2011). As part of her 2009 multidisciplinary project Out of Our Minds—which produced an album, a single, a film and a comic book—Auf der Maur acted as a film and record producer, working alongside her husband, filmmaker Tony Stone. Stone and Auf der Maur are the creative directors and owners of Basilica Hudson, an arts and performance center in Hudson, New York.
VH1 placed Auf der Maur at number 68 on its list of 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll in 2007 and her solo albums have received favorable reviews.
Early life Auf der Maur was born in Montreal, Quebec, to journalist and politician Nick Auf der Maur and journalist and literary translator Linda Gaboriau. Auf der Maur's father's family was Swiss-German and her mother's was mixed European-American. Gaboriau was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. As a result, she holds dual Canadian–American citizenship. Auf der Maur's surname translates to English as "on the wall", as "maur" is German for "wall" (die Mauer). She has stated that her grandmother, Theresia Schaelin-Auf der Maur, was "always pounding my heritage down my throat—reminding me that I'm the last one in North America to further the name".
Auf der Maur did not meet her father until she was three years old. Gaboriau called Nick Auf der Maur after her daughter began questioning her about her father's identity. Reflecting on the encounter, Auf der Maur said "[my father] realised my mother Linda was the love of his life because she'd offered the gift of this child without any demands. He fell madly in love with her [and] pursued her for two years". Nick Auf der Maur and Gaboriau married in 1978 when Melissa was six years old. The couple divorced in 1979 after which Auf der Maur traveled worldwide with her mother. A portion of Auf der Maur's childhood was spent living in "a circus caravan in Wales, a red post-office box truck in Morocco, and a hut in Kenya" with her mother. During her time in Kenya, she contracted three bouts of malaria and returned to Montreal.
In Montreal, Auf der Maur attended the Fine Arts Core Education (FACE) School and Moving in New Directions (MIND) High School—both of which are schools of alternative education. At FACE, she was a member of the classical choir and at MIND, she was "part of the small English elite", where she formed friendships with Leonard Cohens daughter Lorca and Rufus Wainwright. At school, she became interested in photography and subsequently attended Concordia University, where she majored in photography in 1994. At Concordia at age 19, Auf der Maur began working part-time as a DJ at Bifteck, a well-known rock club, where she met several musicians including Steve Durand.
Music career
1993–1994: Tinker
During her time as a DJ at Bifteck, Auf der Maur met fellow Concordia University student Steve Durand, with whom she formed Tinker in November 1993. Durand assumed guitar duties and Auf der Maur began playing bass, using a Fender Precision Bass that her father had purchased for her 21st birthday. The duo recruited a second guitarist, Jordon Zadorozny, and a drummer and began performing at Montreal venues.
At a Smashing Pumpkins performance at Les Foufounes Électriques on July 23, 1991, Auf der Maur became friends with vocalist and guitarist Billy Corgan. During the performance, Auf der Maur's roommate heckled the band between songs and threw a beer bottle onstage while the band was performing, leading to "a strangling fist fight" between him and Corgan. Auf der Maur explained:
Auf der Maur and Corgan became pen pals. Following months of no contact, Auf der Maur sent a letter to Corgan requesting that Tinker open for The Smashing Pumpkins during their next tour date in Montreal. Corgan accepted her request and Tinker performed the largest show of their career, to 2,500 people, opening for The Smashing Pumpkins at Métropolis on November 30, 1993. Corgan, Auf der Maur recalled, "patted me on the back. He said, 'You're a really good bass player. You're going to be in my band one day.' It felt like a dream come true – exactly the kind of confidence boost I needed."
Tinker released two 7-inch singles, "Realalie" and "Green Machine", on the independent record label Bear Records in 1994. The group continued to release music until 1996. In summer 1994, Auf der Maur accepted Courtney Loves invitation to become the bassist for the alternative rock band Hole, a job she initially declined:
1994–1999: Hole
In summer 1994, Hole was in need of a new bassist after the death of Kristen Pfaff. Of her original decision to decline Love's offer to join, Auf der Maur recollected: "I said no because it seemed like a very sad scenario to be going into ... it just seemed like a very sad place", citing Pfaff's death as a "red flag" and a reason to not join the band.Auf der Maur 2011, 45:36–46:05 Upon meeting Love and drummer Patty Schemel, Auf der Maur said she got "a flash of destiny in her eyes" and accepted the offer. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) at Concordia and was recruited as the bassist for Hole two weeks prior to its performance at the 1994 Reading Festival. "Lou Barlow and Evan Dando were watching from the side of the stage," she recalled. "I probably didn't even move. I just thought, 'As long as I get these parts right, it'll be just fine.'"Q, August 2004, p60
From 1994 to 1995, Auf der Maur toured worldwide with Hole in support of its second studio album, Live Through This (1994). On the tour, Auf der Maur was described by guitarist Eric Erlandson as "bringing sunshine to the band" during the "dark and grey" atmosphere of the tour, which was problematic due to the band's recent bereavements—notably the death of Pfaff and Love's husband Kurt Cobain—as well as Love's drug addiction.Erlandson 2011, 47:00–47:11 Auf der Maur befriended Patty Schemel and rented a house with her following the two-year-long tour. The duo began a side project, Constant Comment, and released a split 7-inch single with Red Aunts on Sympathy for the Record Industry featuring the song "Firecrasher". Auf der Maur has since said the friendship and musical compatibility between her and Schemel were based on a "redhead connection"; Schemel has referred to Auf der Maur as her "anchor" during the period following the death of Pfaff and Cobain.Auf der Maur & Schemel 2011, 47:12–48:25
Auf der Maur was featured on various Hole releases, including the 1996 non-album single "Gold Dust Woman" and on various live tracks on My Body, the Hand Grenade (1997). She was featured on the band's third studio album, Celebrity Skin (1998), performing bass and co-composing five of the 12 songs. Celebrity Skin was a major critical and commercial success; it charted at number 9 in the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart and number 3 in the Canadian Albums Chart, as well as its lead single and title track peaking at number 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It has since been certified platinum in both the U.S. and Canada. Following the tour in support of its release, Auf der Maur left Hole in October 1999 as her five-year contract with the band ended and she wished "to grow in many different directions".
In June 2009, NME reported that Hole was reforming. Love claimed that Auf der Maur was rejoining as bassist to record on her upcoming album Nobody's Daughter—which was being rebranded as a Hole album—and performing on the supporting tour. Auf der Maur stated that she was "surprised and disappointed" by the announcement and had no intention of partaking in the reformed band. Despite several legal issues, Nobody's Daughter was released as Hole's fourth studio album in April 2010 with Shawn Dailey replacing Auf der Maur as bassist.
Hole reunited again—with the Celebrity Skin line-up of Love, Erlandson, Auf der Maur and Schemel—for a one-off performance at Public Assembly in Brooklyn, New York on April 12, 2012 at an after-party for Schemel's film Hit So Hard (2011). Originally Auf der Maur, Erlandson and Schemel were performing as a trio until Love arrived for a spontaneous performance of "Miss World" and "Over the Edge". The Quietus reported in April 2014 that the four members had reunited although in subsequent interviews, Love downplayed talk of an imminent reunion. In April 2016, Auf der Maur stated in an interview that she no longer had time or energy for a full-fledged reunion, but would be interested in wrapping up the Hole legacy with a retrospective disc and small set of tour dates.
1999–2000: The Smashing Pumpkins
Original Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'arcy Wretzky left the band in September 1999 during the recording of the band's fifth studio album, Machina/The Machines of God (2000). In October 1999, Auf der Maur was recruited as her replacement by Billy Corgan, with whom she was still friends from her time in Tinker and Hole. "Courtney knew I was leaving to make my solo project," she explained. "But then, coincidentally, the week that I left Hole was the week D'arcy left the Pumpkins. So, within a week, Billy called me and said, 'The stars have aligned: it's time for you to join my band.' I had to do it."
Auf der Maur was featured on neither Machina/The Machines of God nor Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (2000) as Wretzky's remaining bass duties were assumed by Corgan during recording sessions, but she played with the Pumpkins during the Machina tour from December 1999 to December 2000. The tour covered North America, Japan, Europe and South Africa and was described by Auf der Maur as "very ambitious". Reflecting on the tour, she said: "they would always be changing arrangements and keys of songs. The work ethic of the Pumpkins is so full-on and so demanding ... joining [the band] was just intense work, much more about work than about emotional experience". She performed at various shows, including the band's final television performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the band's final show at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago on December 2, 2000, as well as appearing in the band's music videos. Smashing Pumpkins broke up at the end of the year 2000.