![]() “Some of the sessions were tense, depending on Courtney’s moods,” he explains. I wish I could’ve dug in deeper with them.”Īccording to Erlandson, the final Unplugged set list wasn’t settled until a day before the taping. “As musicians, they were way out of our league, but somehow, the melding of their free jazz-slash-John Zorn training with our ethos worked. “I loved working with Erik, Zeena, and Ralph,” Erlandson recalls. In short order, the arrangements began taking shape, Erlandson reflects, and slowly, “Hal brought in some of the cream of the crop from the New York City’s avant-garde scene to fill things out.” Among them were harpist Zeena Parkins, cellist Erik Friedlander and the late Ralph Carney on “clarinet, tuba and other horn things.” “ I have very fond memories of that performance: It was just as Hole and Live Through This was really getting a lot of traction and success, and we had just found out we’d be headlining Lollapalooza with Sonic Youth, so MTV Unplugged was a musical challenge and an opportunity for us to shine.” We really have to be prepared.’” She says she remembers “having to really - just as a player - to tune it down a little bit, and to just listen … to use my ears and not hit so hard and think about all the delicate parts to the songs.”Īuf der Maur tells Billboard the taping came at an instrumental moment in Hole’s career. “Thinking about taking our songs and really stripping them down … it really shows your musicianship, for one, and so everybody in the band was like, ‘Oh, we’ve gotta bone up here. ![]() Schemel was also excited by the challenge that an Unplugged taping presented for Hole as a group. “The acoustic part was not out of Hole’s comfort zone, as most of the songs were written on an acoustic guitar, but it was the transposing of guitar solos, hard-hitting, punk-infused drum parts, which was the fun part.” “ His assignment was to refine a raw rock band into an acoustic and classy one,” she explains. “You think you know somebody, but they don’t mind the tuba, and you’re surprised by it.”Īuf der Maur has fond memories of working with Willner that week. Schemel even recalls a tuba player coming in for some of the sessions, and being disappointed by Love’s lack of commentary. “I think I was like, ‘You’re all mean and’ … I mean, I really opened up, and it was not the time for that because we really needed to depend on each other for this taping.” “Every band has a dynamic - that family dynamic - and I remember thinking, ‘Should I really be honest here or do I just keep on kind of trudging through the way I know has been kind of OK for me to survive in my band - especially with my drug addiction?’” she explains. Schemel says she “ vaguely remembers” Hole’s therapy sessions that took place early in the week of Unplugged rehearsals, mostly because they were extremely awkward. The bassist adds: “It was a nice idea, but not essential to our survival at that point.” Most of Hole’s experiences during the Live Though This journey were shrouded with drama and emotions, and it was a quaint notion in 1995 for a band of our context - living in the wake of death and drug addiction - that some ‘speech’ group therapy would help our cause.” Cooper - and Patty and I giggled all week long about our session with ‘Agent Cooper,’ my beloved and all-time favorite Twin Peaks character. “To make matters even more melancholy, I remember clearly Hole had its first of only two ever band therapy sessions,” says Auf der Maur. Reflecting back on the experience a quarter of a century later, Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur tells Billboard she distinctly remembers an air of sorrow looming over the Unplugged rehearsals and ultimately, the taping itself. It was a little more than a year after the release of Hole’s second studio album, Live Through This, and less than two weeks after the first anniversary of the death of Love’s husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Hole’s raw, emotional appearance on Unplugged - the beloved MTV series that enlisted top charting musicians for intimate, stripped-down shows - first aired 25 years ago on April 17, 1995.
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