"On the Main" Interview
Auf Der Maur on the Main Jamie O'Meara Auf Der Maur (in keeping with last week's barnyard theme) on the right No need to introduce Melissa Auf Der Maur, one-time bass player for Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins and now a successful solo artist in her own right. She is one of Montreal's most celebrated daughters - the offspring of Montreal writer, politician, renowned boulevardier and occasional drinking buddy Nick Auf Der Maur, who passed away from cancer seven years ago last April - and a prodigal daughter in a more recent sense. Though Auf Der Maur literally grew up on the Main, she has spent the last 10 years in New York and L.A. and on the road. Returned, she is now a resident again and engaged in the therapeutic process of reconnecting with the first love of her life, Montreal. It is appropriate, then, that Melissa "I grew up on this boulevard" Auf Der Maur will host a day of events, under the auspices of Pop Montreal, feting the 100-year anniversary of Montreal's most storied street. On the afternoon of Oct. 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Main Hall (5390 St-Laurent), she will host a rock music workshop for teenagers, "where I'm able to show them just how easy and simple and fun it is to play rock music, a Q&A, show and tell," she enthuses. "I want to invite all adolescents to the teenage workshop for anything about rock'n'roll I can try to tell you." And then at 8 p.m. at Main Hall next door (5390 St-Laurent) she will present the Main event, her much-laboured-over "homage to St-Laurent Blvd. crazy cabaret experience." This will feature performances by scene luminaries such as Vince Peake from Groovy Aardvark, Patrick Watson, Josh "Socalled" Dolgin and his klezmer cohorts, "and Murray Lightburn from The Dears if he doesn't have his baby this week." Also Steve Durand and Ariel Engle from Moufette, and "Priestess's Italian drummer, Vince - he's going to do an Italian tune." Lesbians On Ecstasy will DJ afterward. This is also a free show. I caught up with Auf Der Maur at her former (and formative) place of employ on the Main, rock romper room Bifteck... On what to expect from the show "I decided to do a loose cabaret, musical collective, rotating mic, sort of MCed by me, Melissa. And instead of doing originals it's going to be covers from Leonard Cohen to immigrant songs, themes that are loosely representative of the history and culture of the Main over the last 100 years." On Nick's contribution "I dug up this amazing footage from my father's TV show from the '60s and '70s, the best avant-garde TV show, and we're going to do a little video montage. My father was so ahead of the curve in terms of interactive reality TV. They would just plant themselves in the city of Montreal in a park on a hot day and talk to people. And it was actually that which got him into politics, because he spent two or three summers on the streets of Montreal and discovered that these passionate people were not being represented whatsoever." On how much time she actually spends on the Main "The first month I was back, it was dance until 6 at and I was so excited. And then after a month it was like, 'My God, no wonder nobody ever fucking gets out of town - everybody drinks so much.' And then I got into that exciting but weird, slow-motion Montreal mode for the whole summer, and I'm writing my new album supposedly... But I'm not on this block so much . It's a little too crowded down here." On growing up publicly "It definitely enhanced my identity. My father's relationship to this city was so intense. This city was his mistress, muse, wife, full-time obsession. So not only growing up in public with him but also in the shadow of his relationship with this city really made me try to figure out what this thing is that my father loves so much. It's probably why I'm so active within the city now." On our former stomping ground, Bifteck "I worked at this place from 17-years-old on, my formative years, until 22, until the week I joined Hole. Oh yeah, when everyone met me I was in high school!" On her best pre-rock star Main memories "I just told MusiquePlus it was the same long night for five or six years . It's weird, really weird. And you know what's funny? Not only is my love and obsession with the city of Montreal equal to my love and obsession with alternative rock music of the '90s, the thing that sticks out - I mean, there were momentous happenings like meeting Billy Corgan at Foufounes - the only life-changing thing that happened was when I DJed here at Bifteck when I got an advance copy of Nevermind. I remember getting it and playing it from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., sitting in the back on my stool knowing the face of music was going to change forever." On what if she had been told back then that one day she would have a love relationship with Nirvana that extended beyond her record collection? "Right. That's weird too. Me being in the Smashing Pumpkins was far more mind-blowing than me dating Dave , in terms of a historical, musical destiny thing. Although Dave was my first love, and a really important young adult relationship, it felt like a young adult/teen rock novel; it was very sweet with lots of travelling around the globe. Yeah, it's pretty funny. But I do have to say that if I had been playing Gish back there and you came and you told me that I was going to be in The Smashing Pumpkins one day? For that I would have fainted. My relationship to music is far more dramatic than my relationship to love, I think." On getting out of the rock rat race "I came back here to live, that was my idea: I want to live life. I want to remember what sitting on my couch and then going for coffee and just running into friends was like. I wanted to slow my lifestyle down. It was almost pure survival... I aged five years in a year, for sure. For the last six or eight months I've been sleeping 12 hours a night. Your body does weird things." On how she relates to the Main now "I feel closer to it now than I did five years ago. In the years after I left, after '94, my relationship to this city and street was very twisted and weird... I felt like it was just packed with ghosts and weird crumbling pita pocket restaurants. I didn't see the beauty, it seemed a little weird on every level. It also probably has to do with the fact that every time I was coming back either my father was sick or it was a weird show with a dramatic band . Everything was kind of dark at that time, whereas now my life is a much brighter place, and it's really affected my relationship to the street. Almost like a return to innocence." On her favourite part of the Main (R.I.P.) "I really wish the St-Laurent bakery was still there instead of that hipster fuckin' ... at least they still have the tile entry." On what's changed the most "The thing I'm most afraid of, all over the world now, is the homogenization of everything, the fucking Pharmaprixs, the Provigos, the taking away the mom-and-pop-run thing. For that to happen on this street kills me, because that to me is the real magic to this street... and I don't like the idea that Warshaw's is gone. I spent a half hour with Simcha yesterday and he is the oldest living worker on this street now. The problem is we can't keep those guys alive, but if we don't keep their spirit alive, well...."