Video Of The (Past) Week: Hole

For some reason, I'm still in my Hole trip - it's been a year, these usually last me three or four months at a time, but I'm hearing things I want to hear on every single one of their records these days - well, 1991 (Pretty On The Inside) until 1998 (Celebrity Skin), anyway, I never delve into 2010 (Nobody's Daughter) territory.

This song - Celebrity Skin, the title track off their most commercial release - was co-written by Courtney Love with the band's guitarist Eric Erlandson and Billy Corgan (of The Smashing Pumpkins), whose influence is very distinct (the chord progression is very Siamese Dream, the wordplay very Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness), and the beautifully stylized video was directed by Nancy Bardawil; it's the type of imagery (glowing gowns, bright pink and purple with black) that would also have worked wonders for the band's breakthrough hit Miss World.



The only downer in it is seeing future drummer Samantha Maloney wear a wig to look like Patty Schemel who had not yet been told she wasn't in the band anymore; they didn't even really have to go that route since Deen Castronovo (G/Z/R, Ozzy Osbourne, Bad English, Steve Vai, Paul Rodgers Band) was the actual session drummer they used, but I guess having two men (with Erlandson) appear in the comeback video for what is considered a ''girl band'' - and one that the media put the entire weight of feminism in rock on - may have been seen as a treason of sorts.

Video Of The Week: Hole

I've been on a Hole tear lately, and decided to share with the rest of the class...

The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1989 by Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson, after Love had spent the better part of the decade parlaying her way into and soon getting thrown out of a multitude of bands (Faith No More, Pagan Babies, Babes In Toyland), either because of her personality or the fact that she didn't really know how to play an instrument at the time.

A sweet talker, she convinced Sonic Youth frontwoman Kim Gordon to produce their first independent record, Pretty On The Inside, dated The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, married Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and got signed to Geffen Records, which released their major-label debut Live Through This in 1994.

By the time touring for the record came about, Love had lost her husband, and the band had lost their original drummer as well as four bassists, including the most recent, Kristen Pfaff, to a drug overdose. The line-up with Melissa Auf Der Maur on bass and Patty Schemel on drums (14994-1998) is widely considered the quintessential Hole, though, perhaps because they appeared in the most videos and played more shows as a unit, but I like to think it held the best combination of balls and brawn, grit and softness, fury and beauty. (And I think Auf Der Maur has a lot to do with it).

Rumours have always floated around Hole that their best songs had been ghost-written by either Cobain or Corgan, and for their third album, Celebrity Skin, Corgan's actually credited as a co-songwriter on five separate songs, so at least the ''ghost'' part was eliminated. One of those songs is this one, Malibu, directed by Paul Hunter:

Video Of The Week: Melissa Auf Der Maur

Melissa Auf Der Maur is a favourite of mine, constantly in my mp3 players, and in my dream line-up of people I'd want to play music with. Her live shows are fucking awesome, although she could choose better opening acts...

She has played many roles in life and in music, as the frontwoman of a band she formed herself (Tinker), she played in an almost-all-girl band (Hole) and as the token girl in an egomaniac's (Billy Corgan) pet project (Smashing Pumpkins).

But it's with her own, solo project that she shines brightest, with this video, Out Of Our Minds, also the title of her second record, released in 2010. She had a baby last year, so I don't expect a lot of new music on her part for the next couple of years, but her older material is good enough to tide me until then.

Melissa Auf Der Maur & Final Flash @ Cabaret Juste Pour Rire, November 6th, 2010

First things first: if your band has the word ''final'' in its name, it can't be a very good band. If it's Final Flash, you'd better make sure you either start or end with a bang or show some genitalia on stage, or else you'll be inviting puns and put-downs with open arms.

What I witnessed with this band is a very solid rhythm section, with the drummer leading the charge and the bass player following suit; the bassist, however, needs to work on his rock moves, because bobbing your afro-clad head maniacally only goes so far. Perhaps he should take a cue from The Lindbergh Line's Karl Leblanc, who has magical, wonderful poses. But that's where the good stuff ends. The keyboardist doesn't sound like he's part of the live mix at all, and the guitarist's wankey-yet-airy vibes were overshadowed by the boredom of the band's dark-jam-band sound. And then there's the singer... singing clichés and inanities, in this day and age, at least requires a spectacular voice, and not only does this guy not deliver - not even close - but he also does it in the thickest of French Quebecer's accents that demands all the attention and steals it from the rest of the music, pollutes it even. Their record is called 'Homeless', probably as a shitty metaphor for a touring band - but their songs lack so much in sincerity that it's an insult to all those who have actually suffered that plight.

And from there it can only go one of two ways: either the lead act will easily surpass its opener, or the whole evening will have been stained with filth and would have been better left alone.

I'm happy to say Melissa Auf Der Maur more than exceeded my expectations and delivered a major league, top-notch, no-holds-barred barrage of melodic fury showcasing at once a fierce attitude, grace, and the cutest local-girl shyness we weren't sure she still had in her.

Fronting a band of young'uns fresh recruited barely a week earlier - and whose rhythm guitarist looked like and pretty much played the part of Josh Homme - she led the show like a maestro, be it the sounds but also the light show and projections, which she collaborated on; my personal highlight was Meet Me On The Dark Side, which I featured as a Video Of The Week recently, but, in all honesty, every song was a highlight and expanded what the albums had presented as a sonic vision.

The only song I found a bit uncomfortable listening to was Father's Grave, sung live to a backing tape with Glenn Danzig's voice pre-recorded, but the rest of the crowd seemed to go nuts over it. Then again, I was at her father's funeral 12 years ago, so to hear Danzig singing ''I dug your father's grave'' repeatedly might affect me more than others, and I understand that.

All in all, not only did she save the night from being an utter failure, she made it one to remember in a venue that will shut its doors on December 31st. And if I don't end up going to Killing Joke in two weeks, I'm glad this is the last show I'll have seen there.

Word to the promoters, though: even if you are fucking one or more members of Final Flash, the legitimate hometown openers for this should/could/would have been either Priestess, Uncle Bad Touch, or Dead Messenger.

Photos courtesy of Amelia Robitaille/Meet You At The Show

Video Of The Week: Melissa Auf Der Maur

Of all the acts calling Montréal their home town these days, the one with perhaps the most name-drop-able resume has got to be Melissa Auf Der Maur.

After spending the early 90s in local band Tinker, she later joined Hole on Billy Corgan's insistance. She spent 5 years with Hole (apparently on a contract more than as an actual band member), touring (for two albums) and recording Celebrity Skin with them before leaving when her contract was due. She was a key part of making Stevie Nicks' Gold Dust Woman a listenable song on the Crow 2: City Of Angels soundtrack - the backing vocals are among the best I've ever heard - they overshadow the leads, even if they don't appear often.

Her plan was to pursue photography, her other passion - and her major - but Life got in the way, in the form of another Corgan indecent proposal / offer she couldn't refuse: D'Arcy Wretzky had left the Smashing Pumpkins after the recording of 2000's Machina: The Machines Of God, and Corgan needed a trustworthy stand-in for her. She only agreed after it was made clear this would be a one-off and that it would mark the Pumpkins' farewell tour.

She then went on to photography - until 2004's Auf Der Maur, which featured Queens Of The Stone Age members Josh Homme, Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri, Marilyn Manson guitarist Jeordie White, former Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson, former Pumpkin James Iha, Paz Lenchantin (of Zwan and A Perfect Circle fame), Helmet drummer John Stanier, and Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, among others. For those who like their rock heavy and smart.

But this...

Her new record - Out Of Our Minds - is conceptual. It's a record, a graphic novel and a short film, and the videos are to be added to the film for the whole thing to work. There's obviously a ton of work and thought that's gone behind all of this; we're a far cry from the fun, skinny chick who used to hang out at Bifteck's and play pool until 3:30AM - she's a full-fledged, multi-talented artist of epic proportions.

This song is called Meet Me On The Dark Side. And you should.