Melissa Auf der Maur
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After releasing her first solo album last year and touring non-stop all year, Melissa Auf der Maur is getting to work on her sophomore effort and bringing in an old friend to lend a hand. Billy Corgan will write with the Canadian bassist in Chicago. "It's really symbolic for me to have this opportunity with Billy, who is one of my main musical mentors," Auf der Maur tells Rolling Stone. "It's an amazing full circle for me, because his music is directly related to why I picked up a bass. [The Smashing Pumpkins' 1991 album] Gish inspired me to play Rock music, and then I was able to be in his band 10 years later. But in all of this time, I've never actually written a song with him. I've written half the album on my own -- but I'm looking to really be kicked in the ass and whipped into a much better songwriter."Corgan announced earlier this year in a vague statement that he would be bringing back the Pumpkins in some form. Auf der Maur, who was a member of the final incarnation of the group, certainly supports the idea. "I don't think it ever had to end, so I'm all for it starting again. I think Billy is the Smashing Pumpkins, and that is what Billy does best, and he should do it whenever he wants to."
As for her own music, Auf der Maur also hopes to bring in another old friend: prolific songwriter Ryan Adams. "I want this record to be diverse -- the heavier will be heavier, and the lighter will be lighter," she tells Rolling Stone. "I like the idea of someone like Ryan, who is a very gifted songwriter and also open to many musical genres, not just Nineties Rock." Auf der Maur appeared on Adams' Rock N Roll album.
Auf der Maur hopes to have her second record completed by the end of 2006, but will do some touring as well. "Hopefully I'll be jumping on the touring circus wagon by the spring," she says. "I don't want to miss the summer festival season -- it's the best party around!"
