Ex-Hole/Pumpkins bassist covers Sabbath

When former Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur launched her "art-karaoke" project Hand Of Doom, she had no way of knowing that pop culture would overtake her.

The Montreal-born musician says she started Hand Of Doom more than a year ago as a tribute to heavy metal gods Black Sabbath. Auf Der Maur sings, a quartet of her musical friends crank out the band's psychedelic heavy rock -- it was all meant for a laugh.

Then Sabbath's singer Ozzy Osbourne became a multi-media phenomenon, via the ratings-grabbing MTV reality show "The Osbournes." And now, what started as an affectionate tribute to one of her favourite bands suddenly seems like a shrewd career move.

"I can't be reactive like that," Auf Der Maur says via telephone from her photography workspace in New York.

"Last year, Sabbath was Sabbath to me. Ozzy was Ozzy from Sabbath. I don't know what is going on now. But there is definitely some new context, and I'm not sure how it is going to affect my little cover band," she says.

"The truth of the matter is, I love Sabbath no matter what is going on ... I would assume everyone would know my love for Sabbath would be bigger than any love for an MTV cashing-in thing," she says.

"Smart people will know that."

Smart people in Canada will get a chance to assess Hand Of Doom next month when the group arrives there for a brace of shows -- June 29 at Montreal's Cafe Campus, July 1 at the Edgefest Concert at Molson Park in Barrie, Ont., on a bill with Nickelback, Cake, Finger Eleven, Sevendust and others, and a second show that same date at Toronto's Tequila Lounge.

"These Canadian shows, it is purely because it is Canada Day," Auf Der Maur says.

"Celebrating Sabbath and Canada Day in one shot makes total sense to me. It is not like I will be going on tour for months at a time. It is just special occasions: weddings and Canada Day."

So how did Auf Der Maur, who has played the consummate side-woman to erratic, larger-than-life figures such as Courtney Love and Billy Corgan, come to front a just-for-kicks, gender-bending homage to a pioneering metal band?

It all started when she gave her friend, Molly R. Stern, a bass, and encouraged her to learn the instrument.

"Last year, she called me up and said she wanted to go further with her bass playing. And I said the best thing you could do is learn Sabbath. Just play Sabbath all the time and you will become the best bass player of all time," Auf Der Maur says.

Stern took up the challenge and signed on drummer Pedro Yanowitz (Natalie Merchant, Wallflowers), guitarist Guy Stevens, and noise manipulator/turntablist Joey Garfield, and gave Auf Der Maur the nod as lead singer.

"I said I had never been a lead singer in a band. She said it was about time. I started making my own album this year, and I knew I was going to have to get out there sooner or later, so I better start with Ozzy," she says.

"They are pretty authentic," she says of the band's covers. "There is nothing you can do to make them better, and it is not like we are going to make them worse. We try to do them to a T. I think we do a pretty good job."

It started off as a fun sideline, and so far, the group has played only a handful of shows: two in New York and four in Los Angeles. Some of the west coast shows have been recorded for a live album due in mid-September from indie label Idaho Music.

"That in itself was this fun, precious novelty," she says of the album.

"Cover bands don't make albums, let alone live albums. Let alone a female singing Ozzy ... It's kind of an art/Spinal Tap novelty of a cover band making a live album on the Sunset Strip."

Auf Der Maur is mostly associated with what used to be called "alternative rock," so was she always a devotee of Sabbath?

"To be honest, I was definitely a girl who grew up on contemporary music of the moment. I actually probably discovered early-'90s and late-'80s hard rock before I discovered Sabbath," she says.

"As a bass player, rediscovering Sabbath from that angle, I realize that holds all the secret keys to all of rock music," she says.

When asked what she admires about the Sabbath oeuvre, she enthuses: "It is psychedelic -- heavy, but beautiful and melodic. Original. And to me, it is the funnest music to play and listen to. It is the most satisfying. It is a feel thing. Some people might prefer hip-hop or whatever. I prefer heavy, groove-oriented rock music.

She says that even she was taken aback by how well the music suited a female perspective and voice.

"It is emotional. It is men playing with their feminine side. The irony or non-irony of me singing it is, Ozzy wrote those perfectly for a woman. Even his vocal range is perfect for my vocal range. I didn't have to change one key of any song. I can sing it all like it was made for me.

"He is a man, but look at him. He is a unique kind of odd person, not afraid of his own personality, and definitely not afraid of his mystical, spiritual side.

"I've always thought the best rock music -- Smashing Pumpkins or Led Zeppelin -- those guys are always kind of exploring their feminine sides. Look at the way they dress. The lyrical content. The emotion that goes into it. I love it. I love all of it."

While Auf Der Maur's passion for Sabbath predates "The Osbournes" phenomenon, Smashing Pumpkins fans know that there is a tenuous association between the two. For a very brief time late in the band's career, Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon Osbourne was nominally the manager of the Pumpkins, before they parted company in a swirl of acrimony.

During that time, Auf Der Maur did have the occasion to meet Ozzy, Sharon and their children, Jack and Kelly. And she adds that she would love to have Hand Of Doom get Ozzy's stamp of approval; during Hand Of Doom's L.A. run, she came close. Jack Osbourne came backstage to visit with Auf Der Maur after the group's show at the Troubadour.

"He is a real heavy-music lover. He is a good kid who loves heavy music, who is clever and smart and cool," she says of Jack Osbourne.

"After the show, when Jack wanted to come talk to me, there were people holding their breath: Is he going to say bad things?

"He took a moment and said: 'Melissa, I am very impressed. You give my family a good name.'

Act IV 2002: The Machines Resume will occur on July 5th @ Metro. Tickets for the event are $12, and will available through Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com) and the Metro Box Office. The tickets go on sale on June 1st at Noon (12 pm Central Standard Time). Last year, the concert raised over 10,000 dollars for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Illinois (http://www.wishes.org) and additional money was raised through the sale of the popular Ghost Children Smashing Pumpkins tribute CD (http://www.nelifex.co.uk).

The lineup for this year's show is as follows: Ketamine (South Africa),UnderWeb Effect (Vancouver), Straylight (Colorado), Analogue (San Fransisco), Neil Main w/ Glider (England/Chicago), Rob Paterson (Long Island), and Semi-Automatic Love Slave (Indiana/Chicago Area).

Additional funds are currently being raised for Make-A-Wish Foundation, through joint Act 4/Smashing Pumpkins Internet Fan Club charity auctions. Halo Records has donated some original Light Into Dark (http://lightintodark.com) vinyl and some Light Into Dark CDs to help out with the charity auctions. For more information of the auction items and how to participate in the auctions, please go to the Smashing Pumpkins Internet Fan Club website (http://www.spifc.org).

Graceful Swans of Never, the Smashing Pumpkins documentary will follow the next day at the Gene Siskel Memorial Theater. Visit http://www.soundunseen.com/ for details.

For more info about the show, please check out the Act 4 website at http://www.act4.net

Zwan, The Strokes and Tenacious D Save the Day

With previous Jamborees featuring such heavy-hitters as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, Beck, Moby, Foo Fighters, Garbage and Linkin Park it's no wonder the kids are still flocking in droves to this event. It's the fresh caliber of talent that keeps them coming back, and with one of the festival's strongest lineups this year it's no wonder the huge, sterile confines of the Tweeter Center was bursting with music hungry youngsters as well as a smattering of aging hipsters.

This year's Jamboree consisted of two stages. The second smaller stage featured the rock/hip hop sextet Trik Turner, Unwritten Law, Thursday and Dashboard Confessional that had the crowds ebbing and flowing from the main stage like ants at a summer picnic. While much of the crowd frantically ran back and forth to catch as many of the bands as they could, it was the more popular acts on the main stage, however, that kept many planted in their seats.

With enough unbridled energy to power a small village Hoobastank exploded onto the stage running through a high energy set of numbers from their self-titled debut album. While their onstage antics of baboon's trying to square dance - aping the likes of Linkin Park, Blink 182 and Limp Bizkit - may have helped jump start the crowd, their music, though powerful and expressive enough, lacked any originality and seemed rote for this genre of hard rock.

Enter the first strong act of the day, The Strokes. While the slackly garbed lead singer Julian Casablancas' frozen inanimate stance and deer-in-the-headlights, glazed stare seemed to underscore the band's hopped-up NYC punk-pop - circa '77, it also helped to put the focus on the music, as opposed to the silly primate buffoonery of earlier acts. And the music was definitely something to focus on. Blasting through a vigorous 50-minute set the New York quintet ripped through tight, heart-pounding versions of "The Modern Age," "Last Night," "Soma," Someday" and "Take It or Leave It," while unveiling a few new rockers filled with the same buzzsaw guitars, amphetamine-pumped rhythms and detached Lou Reed "I could give a fuck" attitude that graced their stunning debut. With dingy denims, unruly hair and a musically invigorating set The Strokes showed their young audience that pimples and punk can once again be cool.

While the unfocused attempts at DJ driven hip-hop of the X-Ecutioners was lost on the young white audience, it didn't take long to prick their ears when the two short, fat guys of Tenacious D waddled onto the stage. With just two acoustic guitars along with an outhouse full of scathing humor, Jack Black (the obnoxious but lovable record clerk from the movie Hi Fidelity) and Kyle Gass won the hearts and smiles of their audience with proficient musicianship and raunchy, biting wit. In between songs of psycho fans and telling stories of how hard the road is ("We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and paid $12.99 for a porno movie that didn't even show penetration! Yeah, the road is hard") Black constantly bitch-slapped his bootlicking roadie for a few cheap laughs that worked every time. This may just be a fun-loving novelty act of the day, but with two men able to have thousands eating from their pudgy paws, it's one that deservedly should be around for awhile.

The laughs subsided just in time for hometown hero Billy Corgan to introduce his new band Zwan, consisting of former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, bassist Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle) along with guitarists David Pajo (Slint / Papa M) and Matt Sweeney (Skunk / Chavez). This was the band that the masses were there to see. While Zwan made their Chicago debut just a little over a month ago at the tight confines of the Double Door, their performance here helped further separate Billy from his former band. Not that the songs still didn't have a Pumpkins flavor (these still are Billy's compositions remember), but now, even more than their previous Chicago stint, the band seemed to start taking on a much stronger identity of their own. Smiles abound throughout the bandmembers at different stages of their show, hinting that this is probably more than just a passing fancy for Corgan.

Corgan, clad in a dark engineer's hat, lead his band through crystal clear renditions of "Settle Down," "Glorious," complete with a barrage of shimmering guitars, and the emotional, atmospheric number "For Your Love," which saw Corgan tearing into a soulful guitar lead. When he welcomed surprise guest Marianne Faithfull to join them on a drastically reworked cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" the trio of guitarists weaved Middle Eastern spiced guitars throughout the number, while Faithfull offered a uniquely raspy vocal delivery that infused more passion than her usual love-it-or-leave-it deadpan style. Two of Zwan's crown jewels were the epic "Jesus I," which saw the band lock into a frenzied, hypnotic jam, and their finale "A New Poetry," a highly textured, introspective number which featured Sweeney's glassy guitar tones and a passionate, gut-spilling vocal delivery from Corgan.

The magic carpet ride of The Pumpkins may finally be over, but as Corgan proved last night, he's back at square one with a potentially great band, standing naked, proud and tall.

As seats started to empty, white-trash rap-rocker Kid Rock ended out the day's festivities. Since photo access wasn't granted to this misplaced headliner, and with the talents of The Strokes, Zwan and Tenacious D to properly fill the bill, we, like so many others, fled the venue to avoid the embarrassment of the future Mr. Pamela Anderson hobbling on his last leg.

Members Of Korn, Pumpkins, Wilco Scoring With Movie Music

Rockers want to act, actors want to rock. What are you gonna do?

For musicians who lack thespian aspirations, though, scoring a movie seems to suffice.

Following in the footsteps of everyone from Bob Dylan and Jon Bon Jovi to Björk and Peter Gabriel, bandleaders Jonathan Davis, Billy Corgan and Jeff Tweedy and solo act Badly Drawn Boy are scoring some points with the Hollywood crowd this summer.

Korn singer Davis teamed up with film scoring veteran and ex-Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs for the soundtrack to "Queen of the Damned," released earlier this year. The pair co-wrote and performed the music for five songs on that album, which, due to contractual obligations that blocked Davis from singing, featured vocals from a number of guest singers.

The instrumental score by the duo, featuring such tracks as "Air Lestat," "Prodigal Sun" and "The Queen is Dead," will be released June 4. Davis credits the project with allowing him to step well outside his role as frontman for Korn.

"Scoring stuff is a good outlet for me because I got to be a character," Davis said of providing music for the vampire Lestat's rock band, Satan's Night Out. "I never got to do that before. I got to write [for] a 600- or 700-year-old vampire. It is something I totally didn't want to do with Korn."

Davis said the project made him want to do more movie scoring both because it helped rest his mind between Korn albums and because it was a welcome respite from the predictability of rock songs. As a bonus, it didn't seem to hinder his work with Korn — and may have even made it better.

"I love [it] because it is difficult," he said of scoring. "You have to paint a picture with sound. ... It is not like a rock song where you have a first chorus [then a verse and another chorus]. ... It made me a way better musician. [I] started reading music again and just getting more technical."

Former Smashing Pumpkins leader Corgan is already a movie music vet courtesy of his instrumental work on the soundtrack to the 1999 supernatural thriller "Stigmata." Corgan will give it another shot on the score to "Spun," the debut feature from controversial music video director Jonas Akerlund (Prodigy, Madonna).

The low-budget black comedy stars actor/Phantom Planet drummer Jason Schwartzman and also features John Leguizamo, Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Mena Suvari and "Almost Famous" star Patrick Fugit. A release date for the "Spun" soundtrack has not been announced yet.

Meanwhile, two neophytes have recently scored impressive soundtrack debuts.

Wilco leader Tweedy teamed with bandmate drummer Glenn Kotche to compile an eclectic, moody soundtrack to actor Ethan Hawke's recently released directorial debut, "Chelsea Walls." The album is a mix of evocative, spooky instrumental pieces and two previously unreleased Wilco songs, including "When the Roses Bloom Again," a collaboration with their Mermaid Avenue cohort, Billy Bragg.

The soundtrack also features a bizarre cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" by jazz man Jimmy Scott and a downbeat cover of Wilco's "The Lonely 1" sung by the movie's stars, Robert Sean Leonard and Steve Zahn.

Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, seems like the obvious choice to be the man behind the scenes for the adaptation of Nick Hornby's "About a Boy," starring perpetually befuddled Englishman Hugh Grant. This is, after all, an adaptation of a book by the same author whose "High Fidelity" was turned into a music connoisseur's dream soundtrack coupled with an acclaimed British musician some think is only for connoisseurs.

The "About a Boy" soundtrack seesaws between playful score pieces in Gough's trademark acousto-electronic style and cheery, organ-driven pop tunes such as "A Peak You Reach," the wistful "Something to Talk About" and the sensual, piano funking "Silent Sigh."

There will always be musicians who don't exactly "Glitter" on the screen and actors whose music is a Dog(star), but as long as those folks keep their ambitions in the studio, there's hope the silver screen will keep rocking.

—Gil Kaufman