All language subtitles for Geddy Lee Asks Ep 03 Melissa Auf Der Maur - English Subtitles

(bass guitar bellows)

(Melissa vocalizes)

(Melissa): I don't know
what's gonna happen.

(bass reverberating)

Need anything else?

(director): Nope!

(theme song)

(Geddy): I'm Geddy Lee.

Bass player in the band Rush
for almost five decades.

But also, a bird photographer,

a wine collector, baseball
aficionado, you know, a nerd!

Which got me wondering whether

my fellow bass folk are more
than just the shadowy figures

we see skulking
around the stage.

I wanna know,
"Are Bass Players Human Too?"

(goat bleats)

(soft string music)

This is Hudson, New York,

in the throes of
a colourful autumn.

We're 120 miles from
the Big Apple,

along the mighty Hudson River.

It's a charming, leafy community

full of old buildings
like this one.

It may look like something
out of a horror movie,

but this converted schoolhouse

is where I'm meeting
today's guest,

fellow Canadian bassist,
Melissa Auf der Maur.

Hello?

Hmm, am I in the right place?

Are there any humans about?

Is there a Canadian bass player
around here somewhere?

Bingo.

- That's right.

Canadian, bass player,

that's what I am, and redhead.
- Canadian bass player.

Hey, hey.
(Melissa chuckles)

I've always wanted
to meet Melissa.

She's a fellow Canadian
bassist to have played

with two of the biggest
bands of the 90s.

(* Celebrity Skin by Hole)

* Oh, make me over

* I'm all I wanna be

(Geddy): Melissa was born
and raised in Montreal.

She'd only played a handful
of shows with her first band,

Tinker, before being
hand-picked by Courtney Love

to be the new bassist for Hole.

- Isn't Melissa just the best
girl rockstar in the world?

Clap.
(crowd applauds, cheers)

(Geddy): Thrust into one of
the most controversial
bands on the planet,

Melissa spent the next
few years in a whirlwind

of grunge celebrity,
before splitting in 1999

to join another legendary band.

- Hi, we're the Backstreet Boys.

(Geddy): Uh, that's
The Smashing Pumpkins.

- You want me to do it again?
(director): Yes.

(* The Everlasting Gaze
by The Smashing Pumpkins)

* You know I'm not dead *

(Geddy): After touring the world
with Smashing Pumpkins,

Melissa embarked
on a solo career.

But just over a decade ago,

she moved to beautiful Hudson
to start a family.

Her musical life has been
pretty quiet since.

Which begs the question: what
exactly has she been up to?

(bass bellows)

(crowd cheering)

Uh, thank you for letting me
into your life.

I've been fortunate that

as I've gotten older,
I've finally started to meet

more people that I wanna meet.
- Mm-hmm.

- You're definitely one of them.
- Okay, good.

- How would you
describe the bass

and its role in a band?
- Yeah. The role.

(gentle guitar music)

My first honour as a bass player
is I won Bass Player of the Year

for the Gibson Guitar Awards
in the late 90s.

In the car on the way,
I wrote down of,

"The bass is the mother
of all instruments

and that she is the one
you can't live without

but you sometimes
don't notice is there."

- Hmm.
- And it's the glue that's...

actually the one that's moving
you and you're feeling the most.

There is a bit of a peacekeeping
component that is

sweet and sensitive to others.

(Melissa laughs)
- Oh, isn't that great.

And then, very Canadian.
- Yes.

- But I love the fact that
you use the word glue.

Because that's a word I use.
- Yeah.

- Our job is to make
each other sound better.
- Yeah.

- And feel more cohesive.

- I ended up having a weird
destiny in music

where I kept on being
the replacement bass player.

Granted, in Hole,
I definitely was

an integral part of the sound
and the chemistry of the music.
(Geddy): Yeah.

- Whereas in The Smashing
Pumpkins, the rules were stated,

"No mistakes, no days off,
and you can't get sick."

And I obliged.

* As you sleep, torn I am

* Weighted down patiently **

(Geddy): Although
a Smashing Pumpkins soundtrack

is completely appropriate
for Halloween in Hudson,

let's go with something
a little different.

(static crackles)

(eerie classical music)

Ah, better.

Melissa's taking me on a tour
of the town she loves so much,

which became her home by
a fluke of geography.

(Melissa): My husband's from New
York City and I'm from Montreal,

and this was
our geographical compromise.

I had no idea that
I'd hit the jackpot.

This area is so beautiful
for Halloween, always.

- I think we timed
this visit perfectly.
- I know.

- It's all this beautiful,
autumnal vibe.
- Yeah.

You see that lighthouse
in the middle of the river?

- Do you see that?
- Oh. Okay, yeah, yeah.

- That is most certainly
beautifully haunted by like,

all the former lighthouse
people. I love that.
- Wow.

Uh, let's give the haunted
lighthouse a pass and check out

another eerie-looking place.

(crow caws)

Olana, the eccentric estate
of landscape painter

Frederic Church.

Look at this structure.
(Melissa): I know.

- My God. That's fantastic.

It is such a confluence
of styles.

There's this Byzantine vibe
to it.
- Yep.

- And this Venetian balcony.
- Yep.

(**)

- He was sort of
the Andy Warhol of the time.

- Oh, really?
- Frederic Church.

Very, very progressive.

He moved ponds,
he created views.

- He was a bit of a showman.
- Yes, I believe so.

(chuckling): Yes.
- He was very rock'n'roll.

Of course, the dude
was rock'n'roll.

I mean, look at that 'stache.

(soft acoustic music)

So, Melissa and I have something
in common besides the bass.

We're both avid photographers.

She's exhibited her work
around the world, while me,

I'm just a bird nerd.

For me, it was one of
the great distractions

that took me out of rock'n'roll,

out of work mode, into nature.

- Mm-hmm.
- And before I knew it,

I was an amateur
bird photographer.

(camera shutter snaps)

What, you're surprised
I take bird photographs?

Hey, I'm the guy who once sang
a song about the politics
of trees.

(* The Trees by Rush)

- That makes you cool
in my books. I'm into it.

I wish I had a photo nature,
but mine is so the opposite.

I ended up taking my love
of photography on the road

when I joined the rock bands.

I had foot switches and timers.

I could spend my whole sound
check lining up all my cameras.

So, I like, photographed
constantly.

- I love this. You had
foot switches...
- Yes.

- ...so that you could take
pictures during a show.
- Yes, yes.

- While you performed.
- I have tons of pictures
of me playing.

- Oh, that is just great!
- So, the reoccurring
perspectives are

the bass player on the stage,

making eye contact
with the audience.

Then, there was the bass player
photographing the band leader,

Billy or Courtney, from behind.

- During the show.
- Yeah. Right now,

I'm sitting in this like, wealth
of analog film that I can now

create a new story
and I'm working on a book
to tell a story.

- I'm gonna be the first
in line for that book.
- Oh, good! Yeah.

(soft acoustic music)

(Geddy): Back in 2010, Melissa
made a bold decision,

one that profoundly impacted
her relationship with music.

- So, I walked off stage,
and moved upstate,

and became a mother
at the same time.

I even did the craziest thing
of all, which I don't recommend

to a lifelong musician
bass player,

is I decided
to stop making music.

- Hmm.
- Which was even weirder.

But I had been making
music my entire life.

I had never known
a life without music.

And I wanna know what
another kind of life is.

But the hardest thing,
a decade in, is realizing that

removing my instrument
and removing my relationship to

the frequency of playing on
a regular level,

that was... that was bad.
That actually is.

- It hurt.
- That's why I'm excited
to touch my bass with you.

(laughing)

(Geddy): She's barely picked up
her instrument in a decade.

But that's all about to change.

* And so *

(Geddy): So, yeah, Melissa
and I are gonna jam out.

But where? Well,
how about Basilica Hudson?

I like the windows.

A former industrial factory
turned multimedia art centre,

owned and operated by
Melissa and her husband, Tony.

- I didn't realize the bass
player needed a factory,

but I was getting off
the road and I--

- Every bass player
needs a factory.

- But it was really in tandem
with becoming a mother.

My idea was I could bring
everything I loved

from touring around the world
to a little factory.

(Geddy): The Basilica has played
host to artists such as

The National
and Rufus Wainwright.

But also, experimental music
and performance art.

- This is the main hall,
6,000 square feet.

This is where we have our big
music festivals and shows.

This is the north hall theatre.

You can have a contemporary
dance performance in here,

or a poetry reading, with 50
to 60 to 80, and it's beautiful.

I'm gonna show you
the hidden music studio.

- Wow, it smells like a studio.
- Yes.

Um...
- Amps have a smell.

- I have friends that come
through and use it

to make their records.

And I'm just happy that
I have it in my life,

a music-making little room.

(Geddy): And speaking of
music making,

maybe it's time we got
our ya-ya's out.

(bass guitars singing)

- Did you meet my new bass?
- Yeah.

- You've met my old bass.

- This is your old bass.

I spent a lot of hours
in the clubs

and the high schools
of Ontario...
(Melissa laughs)

...playing this kind
of instrument.

So, tell me about your new love,
the Guild Starfire.

- I wanted to experiment with
a basic and standalone,

and have, like, an interesting
world that doesn't have to worry

about where it fits in
with the drummer
and the guitar player.

(bass sings)

But it also has...

(feedback hums)

exciting feedback options.

(bass feedback echoing)

- Nice.
(feedback stops)

- So, my idea is I'll be a solo
bass player and just play alone!

I don't need a band.

- I like the feedback.

(train whistle toots
in distance)

- The train!
- And there it is.

The most evocative sound
you'll ever hear.

- Always comes in at a good
point and makes you pause.

(train horn bellows)

- But listen to how that sounds

in the Basilica.
- I know. It's the best.

(train rumbling in distance)

She plays the building,
the train.

(train horn echoes)

- Just awesome.

So, you come from a very
different background musically

than I come from.

- I definitely was riding
an arc of a movement

which is, get women on the stage
of a male-dominated landscape.

That's pretty much
the main reason I did it.

To the point that Hole,
their actual...
the band and the music

did not actually
resonate with me.

But I felt a responsibility

that was very heavy
in a weird way.

I mean, I replaced a bass player
who died of a heroin overdose

two weeks after the singer's
husband committed suicide.

- That's tough.
- Yeah.

(crowd cheers)

My seventh show ever was in Hole
at the Reading Festival,

and this was in front of
65,000 people, so I went

from 0 to 100 in a moment.

- How did you feel? Like,

were you crapping
your pants or...
- No.

- What was going on?

(* Asking for It by Hole)

(Melissa): I did not make one
mistake on my first show.

The trick is to go simple.

When in doubt, simple.

* I will make you
tell the truth **

(Melissa): This is like
the secret joke
'cause I feel like

bass playing is so easy
and that I...

(Geddy shushes)
...never tried very hard.

- Don't say that.
(laughing)

(beep)
Okay, that's...

that's incorrect.

The bass is really effin' hard.

Anyway, we finally got
Melissa back making music.

Joyful, noisy music.

(basses singing)

(birds chirping)

As the sound of the Basilica
dissipates,

we head to one of Melissa's
favourite locations.

But along the way,
our conversation

takes an unexpected turn.

- My whole life has evolved

around the questions of
esoteric, mystical feelings.

I come from very secular,
academic, intellectual,

radical 60s and 70s parents

who ran away from
all concept of spirituality.

- Right.
- I found myself growing up
wondering, you know,

what is... is there
these things? Strange...

(director): Melissa, we are
on the walkie-talkie.
Can you hear me?

- It's okay.
- That's the voice of God.
I think.

(classical music)

Maybe not the voice of God
exactly,

just the voice of the director.

But either way, it's got me
thinking about my own take

on the other worldly.

I see spirituality as

an incredibly personal choice.
- Mm-hmm.

- At one point, I'm open
to possibilities.

And the other point,
I'm, uh, realistic

and scientific.

- I've always said that
my father's death was my gateway

to my spiritual expansion,
but as well, artistic expansion.

(Geddy): Melissa's dad,
Nick Auf der Maur,

was a legendary Montreal writer
and local politician,

whose life and death
profoundly influenced her.

- I was 27. I was in Hole,
we were making Celebrity Skin.

I had to fly home as he...
my father was dying.

I had to turn priests away
daily.

(chuckles)
'Cause my father absolutely

refused to have anything.

My question always was,
why is he so against it?

When I gave my eulogy,
I felt so profoundly connected

to the universe
and to my father.

So, I've always seen death
as a gateway, and like, I'm--

- But that is a super
optimistic path you chose.
- Right.

- As much of a rational
person as I think I am,

I do move towards
positive energy.

The nature of the universe
is all well and good,

but first, a more
earthly concern.

Uh, okay.

- Yup, exactly.

- How would you open
the door of a Tesla?
- Yes.

(curious classical music)

Conversation I really wanna go
with you is

where this, you know,

this process of creation of
music and this channel thing.

- I mean, when I think
about playing...
- Yeah.

- I see that as technical.
I see that as a skill set.

- Yes.
- But that's a very different
thing than writing music.

Writing music, to me, uh,

is from a different
part of your soul.
- Exactly.

- And sometimes it's a struggle,

but sometimes, a song
just comes out of you.
- Flows. It's just...

- And it's like, where the
fuck did that come from?
- Yeah.

- You know? How did I write
that song? Why was it so easy?

And the conditions
just have to be perfect.

So, whether they're spiritual,

however you wanna try to
explain it, they happen.

- I would, objectively speaking,
declare you a very,

very spiritually
connected wizard.
- Ah.

- Witchy-poo man. Because...
(Geddy laughs)

- Well.
- I mean, there's no way
you're not channelling the gods

through your mouth,
your fingers, your bands.

- I don't know what to say.
No one's ever called me
a witchy-poo man before.

- Are you serious?

I mean, you're
the most mystical.

- I've dressed as
a wizard at times.

An invitation to a Halloween
dinner with Melissa,

or anyone for that matter,

means I get to engage in one
of my favourite activities.

Knock, knock. Anybody home?

(Geddy chuckles)
- Welcome.

- Are you Michael?
- Yes, I am.

- I'm Geddy.
- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.
I need to pick some wines

for dinner tonight.
- Sure.

(Geddy): Well, one thing
we do need is bubbly.

- Okay. We have
a Dhondt-Grellet,

I don't know if you've had.
- Ooh, Agrapart.

- Agrapart's amazing.
- Love Agrapart.

Let's pull two of those.

We'll have one of these
and a fine Burgundy.
- Yeah.

- Let's do the Poulet.
- Perfect.

And then, the other thing that
I think you'll be fascinated by

as a wine lover, that is a--
- 16%.

- So, you need--
- So, that's a fighting wine.
(laughs)

- Okay, so this looks good.
- Okay, so we did pretty well.

Now... gentlemen, uh,

my wallet has gone missing.
(production staff laughs)

So, I need the producer
to pay for this wine.

(laughing)

There's a sucker
born every minute.

So, great to meet you.
- Yeah, I really do look forward

to hearing how like these.
So, thank you for coming in.

- This was good fun.

(melancholic guitar music)

We're tucking into
these fine bottles

while feasting
back at the Basilica.

- Can I offer you one of these?
- Please. Please do.

And we're joined by
Melissa's husband, Tony.

Now Tony, do you play
an instrument?

(overlapping chatter)

- Although, my first instrument
I bought was a bass.

But then, I realized
it was a little too hard

to keep rhythm.

- Atonal and arhythmic.
(Tony): Yeah.

- Dude, that's a punk band.

(Tony and Melissa laugh)

(Geddy): Also present is
their daughter, River.

Can I offer you some of
these weird vegetables?

- Sure.
(Melissa laughs)

- That's very
open-minded of you.

And River's friend, Kestrel.

What about you, Kestrel,
would you like some veg?

(laughing)

That's the answer I expect.

This is a theory, if you spin
the wine clockwise,

it will smell and taste better.

If you spin it counterclockwise,

it will smell and taste worse.
(Melissa): What?

- It's all about the phases
of the moon and gravity.

- Okay.

- I'm a very rational person,
generally.

(Melissa laughs)

But I kinda buy this.

I'm gonna toast
the guest of my show.

Melissa, I would say
you are supra-human.
(Melissa): Supra-human.

- Even though you claim
to have stopped playing bass,

you are so involved
in this town and in art

that I think that's just
a temporary thing, so...

- Thank you for being
an inspiration to...

you know, return to parts
of myself that I miss.

- You're what I call
a shapeshifter.

- That's witchy.

Subtitling: difuze