Billy Corgan and Melissa Auf der Maur Explain the Secret to the Smashing Pumpkins’ Bass Groove
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan’s podcast “The Magnificent Others” features some of the most fascinating music interviews. He’s had several bass players on, including Gene Simmons, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Rudy Sarzo, but his latest episode went deep with a former bandmate.
Corgan explored bass philosophy with former bandmate Melissa Auf der Maur, who played bass with Hole during the peak of the ’90s alternative boom before joining the Smashing Pumpkins for their final tour of the decade.
Auf der Maur, who has a memoir coming out on March 17th, discussed the role of the bass with Corgan on the podcast.
“I taught myself, but I had a great support network,” she explained. “I apologize on behalf of all bass players, but bass is easy. Geddy Lee and all these players I’ve met say it’s not really true, because you have to embody it. So whether it’s the Pisces or emotion, it’s easy for me.”
Corgan clarifies this by noting that she likes to play the bass, prompting Auf der Maur to reflect on the maternal nature of the instrument.
“When I won the Gibson Award for Best Bass Player in 1999, I had to write a speech,” she said. “I wrote an ode to the mother of all instruments. The bass is the instrument that is unnoticed but no one can live without. So there’s a feminine force there.”
The Smashing Pumpkins have always had a female bassist, a point that he has been pressed on many times. When asked if he had a fetish for women on bass, he would reply with the reason why, and it’s an interesting insight into how the Smashing Pumpkins achieve their groove.
“What I always said was that women tend to play with a different pocket than men do,” he said. “In the Smashing Pumpkins, the bass actually has to sit a little bit behind the beat, and that feel worked really well with the women who played bass in the band.”
In rhythmic terms, playing behind the beat means placing your bass note slightly after the kick drum. The technique creates a heavier, more relaxed groove. For the Pumpkins, that subtle delay helps anchor the band’s massive guitar sound. However, he added that Auf der Maur was the “most aggressive in the pocket” of all the Pumpkins bassists, sitting a little ahead of the beat. This would reshape the band’s groove over the year that she played with them, he explains.
“So when we played together in Montreal recently for the first time in 25 years, I was like, ‘Oh, there’s that pocket,'” Corgan said. “What’s interesting about musicians is they tend to have a consistent pocket. So your pocket is unchanged from 25 years ago. You still play in the exact same spot on the beat.”
The laid back bass approach can be heard through the band’s catalog. On songs like “Today” and “1979,” the bass doesn’t push – it floats beneath to add space to the dense guitars.
Watch Billy Corgan and Melissa Auf der Maur discuss bass, groove, and more below:
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
