Your new album, Out Of Our Minds, is also a comic book, a film, a live performance and a gallery. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
M: It started as a song but expanded into something I always wanted to do – unite visual and conceptual art with music. Something about the climate changing, the magic of the 21st century and the technology – it just felt like this was the time when I could start pushing out of the traditional box.
There's so much nostalgia around music at the moment that you don't often hear people talking about the present time as "magic".
M: I think there are magic opportunities to do things new. I've always had a romantic idea about old and new clashing. I couldn't have made this album 10 years ago. Artists produce great work when technology improves and I realised that I'm living in one of those times. I'm living in this magic moment where you can change everything. And as much as I consider myself an artist in thrall to the Victorian, pre-Raphaelite and renaissance periods, I'm actually a modernist at heart.
Why couldn't you have done it until now?
M: I am a late bloomer. I was the last girl at school to get breasts and her period, so I've always been patient with my development. I'm also a big believer in getting an education to get somewhere. I loved school and have always referred to the Pumpkins and Hole as my university experience. And I think it's important to represent mature women, not just 21-year-olds. I feel proud to be a 37-year-old veteran who continues to grow.
Let's talk about Hole. How did it shape you?
M: It was a definite lesson in being human, co-existing with different people, and watching healing and destruction happen at the same time.
You hadn't done much before you joined the band.
M: No, I was in school and had only played seven shows – all in my hometown. Reading festival was my first proper gig. Luckily I've aways been at ease with the unknown, whether it's aliens, a through-the-looking-glass mentality, or loving hallucinogenics and David Lynch. It didn't freak me out, entering a new planet called Hole. It was just another day, another trip.
How do you feel about this new guise?
M: I know nothing about the new guise. It's complicated, but basically Courtney is an incredibly strong and intelligent woman with a lot of stuff to offer, and she should be releasing records and performing because she is magical at that. But I'm slightly confused. I believe it started as a solo record and ended up being a Hole record. Ultimately, she's someone who's going to do what she wants to do, so it's not worth debating. I want her to be happy and, despite this turn of events, that's still the way I feel. I hope she finds happiness and creative fulfilment.
Has it closed the door on you ever going back?
M: I told her I was concerned it would close the door. Not that any of us were ready to jump into a reunion. I mean I was not going to put the release of my record aside for that at all, but I wasn't closing the door. But it confuses the legacy of Hole. Courtney's the leader, but she and Eric co-founded the band, and they should discuss it more in terms of what it means to the whole ... of Hole.
What's your take on the commercial side of music right now?
M: Well, the best thing that happened to me was Capital Records imploding so I could begin to learn about the music business and take responsibility for all of the mistakes that have been made for all musicians. And if I'm really lucky I'll be able to use all of this learning to help other artists and be able to release other people's projects through my label.
What do you think about artists signing to major labels?
M: Something like 5% of new acts make money. So that seems like a really bad business plan. It's not a system that's going to survive unless you are Beyoncé. In the US, it's going to come down to a bunch of millionaire CEOs and Beyoncés and Jay-Zs. That's fine, but people like us won't be able to exist. I found partners in Canada to help support the release of my album. They are women that love film, art and music and decided to start this company.
Where does the money come from?
M: It's like personal, artistic philanthropy. I think there are plenty of big business people who may choose to do that, and it could be a really great way to save the arts. Anybody out there with some extra money, find an artist as a pet.
We have a handful of high-profile female pop stars here at the moment ...
M: There definitely is a rise of cool women.
But at the same time, the press tends to lump them all together.
M: Unfortunately it just says that women are still far behind in terms of equal representation. I think we've made leaps and bounds since my mother's generation. I have high hopes for the feminine era of 2010. I think the 21st century is going to be incredible. Even as we destroy mother nature, even men's hearts are weeping for the feminine side and the giving of life. A lot of beautiful men are going to step up and represent their feminine side and the world's feminine side.
Is what you do feminine?
M: Definitely. Am I feminine? Yes, although I did look like a boy until I was 25. I was pretty androgynous for as long as a woman can be. Have I become more feminine? Yes. But do I prefer frontmen like Danzig and Morrissey over any woman? Yes. So I think I like androgynous, feminine forces. Ozzy Osbourne and Jimmy Page – they're witchy, feminine men.
Do you think so? A lot of people would say they're sexual, macho men.
M: To me it seems more like magic than sex. Maybe I have an idealistic perspective because I don't see the world through sex glasses, I see them through sensual glasses. So somebody might be incredibly sexual but I see it as this amazing sensual thing!
You sound like a real optimist.
M: It's mainly because I'm really up for the challenge. I really, really am. I won't stop working and most of it is in hope of things like beauty, love and sharing. In the 90s, everyone used to say, 'Melissa's a hippy'. And I feel like in the 21st century I'm a realist. I'm not a hippy. I'm just trying to enter the future with utopia in mind, you know?
Out of Our Minds is out on 3 May, the single OOOM is available as free download now.