THE HOLE TRUTH: HUB-BOUND BAND RECOVERS AFTER ROCKY ROAD TOUR WITH MARILYN MANSON Melissa Auf Der Maur wanted to call it the Beautiful Monsters tour. "It was the prettiest we could make that tour," the Hole bassist said with a laugh of the doomed-from-the-start joint bill of her band and Marilyn Manson. Of course, that road trip, dubbed Rock Is Dead by Manson, ended in March in ugly fashion, with Hole pulling out after nine shows amid onstage name-calling, half-empty arenas and exorbitant production costs. Then came the Colorado school shooting tragedy, and Manson - whose goth-glam-metal melange was lambasted by association - scrapped the remaining dates. Auf Der Maur figures Hole, a band fronted by Courtney Love, pulled out just in time. But, as the band prepares for its Sunday stop at the Orpheum on its reconfigured theater tour, she'd like to set the record straight as to why. "I hear people say that Manson fans were booing us," she said in a phone interview. "No, that would not drive us off a tour. If anything the arena setting made us work a little harder, because we hadn't ever had to translate everything, from our stage moves to our songs, in such a big space. We hadn't done that often, so it was a challenge, but nobody was booing us. It was just a financial disaster for many reasons." Ticket sales, she said, were "OK, but not great in terms of supporting a very expensive tour." Those expenses were lopsided, as far as Hole was concerned. The L.A.-based hard rockers, who sported a burst of confetti, a modest set, and a single pyro effect to enliven their performance, had to pay for half of Manson's much more elaborate set pieces, neon signs, fireworks and costumes among other things. "It was primarily a business thing," Auf Der Maur said. "And then, on top of it, there was a lot of bratty behavior." One example: Manson giving the tour yet another name - Hole Is Dead. "None of that was too serious," said Auf Der Maur. "They've been our casual social buddies for years, so it wasn't like we took any of that personally." Other aspects of Manson's show did bother her, however. "Overall my gut reaction (to Manson's show) when we first started the tour was, `Hmm, this is a little empty and this is not helping promote the light.' "There were moments when I'd go check out their set and be laughing, saying, `This is so silly, ha ha,' and then once in a while there would be chilling moments where he'd have the entire audience chant, `We love hate, we hate love.' "Kids out there were taking that as their main escape for their frustration at home or their depression, and honestly, I didn't see that as a very progressive escape. I don't know, it just made me a little upset." She hastens to add that neither Manson nor any other musician is to blame for tragedies such as the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. "They have nothing to do with it whatsoever," she said. "Generally it's the parents' need to look at what's driving their kids to such depression and needing that kind of outlet." But Auf Der Maur, a Montreal native who joined Hole in 1994 following the overdose death of original bassist Kristin Pfaff, said she believes musicians should feel some responsibility to teen fans. "I feel like I do have a particular access to young people," she said of her band's success. "I go out of my way to be more supportive, and more open, and I personally would like to go across North America and talk in high schools to kids who are feeling lost or depressed." For now she and her bandmates are pleased to be back out supporting their critically lauded, platinum disc "Celebrity Skin," without the antichrist superstar obscuring their light. - source unknown - - - - - - - - - - - - -