Is Courtney Love Reuniting Hole?
Are Courtney Love and Hole ready to live through another reunion? A new photo suggests they are.
The alt-rockers led by Love – who rose to fame in the early Nineties with their debut, Pretty on the Inside, and their hit follow-up Live Through This – haven’t recorded with their most famous lineup since 1998’s Celebrity Skin, which sold over 1.4 million copies. Drummer Patty Schemel left the group that year, and bassist Melissa Auf der Maur departed for the Smashing Pumpkins in 1999. Three years later, Love and founding guitarist Eric Erlandson officially disbanded the group in an online statement. Hole reunited for one set in New York in 2012, in celebration of a documentary about Schemel, but have been dormant since.
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Love reformed Hole with new members in 2009 and released Nobody’s Daughter the following year, to Erlandson’s dismay. “The band’s a business. We have a contract,” he told Spin, insinuating that she had broken that agreement. “The way I look at it, there is no Hole without me . . . I’m open to discussions regarding the real Hole, and if she has a solo album together, I think that’s great. I think she should finish it and put it out and do that.” As Consequence of Sound points out, they’ve also feuded more recently; this summer, Love accused Erlandson of stealing guitars once owned by her late husband Kurt Cobain.
He and Love seem to have mended fences, though, if a new photo Love posted on Facebook this weekend is any indication. The blurry image shows the two bandmates and ex-lovers hugging above a caption that reads, “And this just happened. 2014 going to be a very interesting year” and includes Twitter handles for Auf der Maur and manager Peter Mensch.
The timing works well for a classic-lineup Hole reunion. Love has long teased a second solo album, but has given few updates of its status this year. A rumored memoir also seems to have lost momentum, with her publicist frequently denying details as they arise. Erlandson released Letters to Kurt, a book of poetry dedicated to Cobain, last year; Schemel joined Upset, a new rock group, this year and they released their debut record on Don Giovanni Records in October. Auf der Maur’s last studio effort, the solo album Out of Our Minds, debuted in 2010.