Melissa Auf der Maur, the veteran bassist whose stints with Hole and Smashing Pumpkins helped make them pillars of Nineties rock and beyond, has announced her debut book, exclusively with Rolling Stone. The musician and photographer will release Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A 90s Rock Memoir on March 17 via Da Capo.
The book will trace Auf der Maur’s upbringing in Montreal through her career as a bassist, first with her band, Tinker. She joined Courtney Love’s band Hole on the Live Through This tour, following the death of bassist Kristen Pfaff and Kurt Cobain, then toured with the Smashing Pumpkins.
© Melissa Auf der Maur
Even the Good Girls Will Cry is described as “part coming-of-age autobiography, part travel diary, part psychedelic scrapbook,” with rare photographs, like the one above of Auf der Maur and Billy Corgan. “I took this selfie side stage on the life-changing night that my little Montreal band opened up for them in 1993, on Siamese Dream tour,” Auf der Maur tells Rolling Stone. “And he told me one day I’d be in his band. He discovered me that night and recommended me to Courtney six months later, when Hole lost their bass player.”
Auf der Maur expanded on the significance of the photo to Rolling Stone:
“Can I take our photo, Billy?” I asked as he walked off the stage, the crowd was still screaming for more. I wrapped my arm around his sweaty, giant frame, and SNAP. I captured the innocence of a 21-year-old, music obsessed woman, side by side with her mentor.
Billy had invited my band, Tinker, to be the local Montreal act on their Siamese Dream tour. I had just played to the biggest crowd of my life as a bass player so far. It was only our sixth show ever. That opening slot changed my life, and had come to be because of a thrown beer bottle, and a fan letter I wrote to the Virgin Records PO Box.
“One day you’ll be in my band,” he said with a big smile. Even if we never saw each other again, that night I was given the confidence I needed, to commit to my bass and the lofty dream, of making music my life.
The memoir, available for preorder now, also includes cameos by Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, Rufus Wainwright, Michael Stipe, Ben Stiller, and more.
Earlier this summer, Auf der Maur reunited with Corgan onstage in Montreal, where she performed “The Everlasting Gaze” alongside his Machines of God band. Though Love is insistent that Hole will not reunite, she’s linked up with Auf der Maur over the years (sadly, their appearance at a Planned Parenthood benefit was cancelled due to the pandemic). Love is also expected to release a memoir soon.
