In elementary school, I was obsessed with Hole. I relieved my playground angst wailing on my air guitar and fiercely lip-syncing "Olympia." I treated the booklet of the "Celebrity Skin" album like a mini-bible. I even did a report in sixth grade about Courtney Love and why she is the person I most admire (I'm sure teacher loved that one).

Now a wiser, and somewhat more mature university student, I've come to realize that Miss Love ain't what she used to be. Courtney's grammar-challenged blogs of her late husband's life have left me feeling more than a bit disillusioned.  It's high time to shift my focus to a much less published yet similarly enthralling former member of Hole: bassist Melissa Auf der Maur.

Besides her integral involvement in Hole, the Canadian Auf der Maur, toured with the Smashing Pumpkins (another childhood love of mine) during original bassist D'Arcy Wretzky's time away from the group. In fact, it was Billy Corgan who introduced Melissa to Courtney Love after the untimely death of Kristen Pfaff. From 1994 to 1999, Auf der Maur toured extensively with Hole and contributed heavily to the band's third album, "Celebrity Skin." 

After Hole disbanded and her following stint with the Smashing Pumpkins came to an end, Melissa released an album under her name, Auf der Maur.  Now, Melissa Auf der Maur is back and more ambitious than ever with a new multimedia project.

Calling herself MAdM, a decidedly shorter version of her name, the waifish redhead is gearing up to release "Out of Our Minds," which she refers to as the decidedly shorter "OOOM." "OOOM" is fascinating in that it is not only a full album, but a short movie and comic book as well. Each part of the mega-project is featured on a section of OOOM's cryptic webpage.

http://xmadmx.com/ 

The main page greets you with calm guitar music and five white links on a black background. The top link, which reads "ooom" takes you to another page with "OOOM" written in stylized letters. By clicking on the first "O," you can view the trailer for the movie. The tone of the trailer is set by guitar and bass rock with Melissa's clear voice booming over it, enhancing the creepy fairy tale feel of the woods, Vikings, and bleeding trees shown.

Melissa is also seen in the trailer wearing a dark cloak and driving a car. Choice panels from the comic book appear when you click on the second "O," and the third "O" gives a succinct explanation of the whole project. Finally, the "M" features something called the "eyeshow," which serves to confuse even more. As if all this wasn't enough, the short film features a soundtrack separate from the album!

All of this MAdM goodness sounds just about too good to be true, right? Unfortunately, there's a catch: Auf der Maur has no record deal, as her one with Capitol has ended since her 2004 "Auf der Maur" album. Perhaps this obstacle has only fueled Melissa's drive to explore so many different artistic facets through this project; music, film, comics and a comprehensive website. In any case, I can't wait to go out of my mind over what I'm expecting to become Melissa's masterpiece.

-Lara