CANOE -- JAM! Music: Hole reunion is news to Auf der Maur Hole reunion is news to Auf der Maur By Nick Patch, THE CANADIAN PRESS 
Musician Melissa Auf Der Mar poses for a photo following an interview in Toronto on Saturday, June 20, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
TORONTO - Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur says she has "no clue" about the band's reported reunion.
A recent blog post on British rock mag NME's website said that Hole would reunite and release a new album called "Nobody's Daughter," which the band's frontwoman
Courtney Love had been working on in-studio with the aim of a late 2009/early 2010 release.
The posting said Auf der Maur, a Montreal native, had contributed backing vocals to the record and would play bass with the band when they went out on tour.
But Auf der Maur says she hasn't contributed anything to the record yet and hasn't been asked to join them on tour.
"I actually don't know (about the reunion)," she said in an interview at a downtown Toronto hotel. "I arrived at (the North by Northeast music festival in Toronto) and I heard that Hole were getting back together from people sending me links.
"I am very proud of my time in Hole, I'm very grateful for my 'big sister'
Courtney and the initial door that she opened for me in music and I have literally no comment, other than she and I have been in touch for the first time in a decade, and I know she's in the studio and I'm excited to hear what she makes."
Auf der Maur spent five years with the band, between 1994 and '99, and played on their most recent studio album, 1998's "Celebrity Skin."
The producer of that record, Michael Beinhorn, was at one point helming "Nobody's Daughter." Auf der Maur says Beinhorn asked her to contribute backup vocals to the new album, she said yes, but it never actually happened and he has since left the project.
In fact, Auf der Maur says she's not even sure if the new material will be released as Hole's fourth album or Love's second solo disc.
"Whether it's Hole or
Courtney, that's up to her to decide, I don't know," she said. "I'd say that it's all very new news.
"I need to take a meeting and figure it out," she added with a laugh.
NME also reported that Love had recruited Micko Larkin of London indie rock band Larrikin Love to play guitar.
But Auf der Maur was clear in saying that she wouldn't consider the project a Hole reunion without founding guitarist Eric Erlandson. "There's no Hole without Eric," she said. "I feel very strongly that Eric Erlandson would have to be involved for it to be a Hole reunion."
While Auf der Maur also says that she hasn't been asked to join the band on tour, would she be amenable to the idea?
"Oh, I don't know," she said. "For me, I'm more curious about the legacy of Hole. I'm sort of dying for a best-of Hole. Objectively, as a woman musician, as a fan of the first two records that I wasn't even a part of, I think that every girl in the world needs a best-of Hole.
"I'm interested in making sure that gets tied up in a very classy way, because I think there's a lot to offer young women now and for the future, and that's the only thing I know."
Auf der Maur later added that in their recent conversation, she and Love discussed another new idea - unrelated to Hole.
"Courtney and I did muse about the idea of curating a cool Lollapolooza-style festival together for fun, but it was not based on a Hole reunion," she said. Auf der Maur has a flourishing solo career - she'll release "Out of Our Minds" this fall, an ambitious project that includes a new solo album, a short film and a comic book - that occupies much of her time, but certainly doesn't resent having her name included in the Hole rumours. "I think it was just
Courtney being candid with some ideas she has," she said. "Which is why I like her, she's a very honest, direct individual."
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