Courtney Love was “angry” when Melissa Auf der Maur left Hole to join The Smashing Pumpkins.
The 54-year-old bassist joined the alt rock group in 1994 and featured on the likes of hit 1998 album Celebrity Skin, but left after five years and spend some time touring with the Tonight, Tonight band which is fronted by Courtney’s ex Billy Corgan.
Revealing her former bandmate’s reaction to her move, Melissa told Uncut magazine: “She was respectful, but angry that I was leaving for her ex-boyfriend
“It was a lot of drama, but I’ve long said that Hole was my Bachelors in humanity and the Pumpkins was my Masters in music.
“I learned in Hole about how society treats women, and then I got to basically go on vacation and be the best bass player I’ve ever been by playing with the best musicians I’ll ever play with in my life.”
Melissa praised the “work ethic” of Billy, and having to rise to meet the high demands of the band’s live shows.
She recalled “The intensity of Billy Corgan and his work ethic, and the radical dexterity I needed to have as a bass player, was insane.
“We were playing up to three hours a night, different setlists every night. It was Olympian-style musicianship.”
Melissa admitted Hole “broke their own hearts along the way” before she left.
She explained: “I had dutifully stayed, trying to do what we set out to do, which is put women in a male-dominated landscape.
“We had a Top 40 hit, we were as big as ever, and Courtney turned away and explored Hollywood and I was p*****.”
However, she understands the struggles Courtney was having in her personal life at the time.
She added: “She was surviving insurmountable pain – not just Kurt [Cobain] and being left alone as a mother and her own struggle with addiction, but a lifetime of not being loved.
“And then it became a public witch trial. The legacy of Hole was in the gutters. No one took care of it because no one took care of her.”
The two musicians will reunite on Courtney’s upcoming new solo album with Melissa singing backing vocals and joining her on tour.
She said: “That is the happy ending of the story of Hole.
“I didn’t realise how much I needed to unify with her until I was in the vocal booth, wrapping myself around her survival call.
“She’s one of a kind in my life, and in the world.”
