Openly-lesbian drummer Patty Schemel rocked the female grunge band Hole to worldwide success, but she almost killed herself in the process with a serious drug addiction. Far from being a cautionary tale of how fame kills, the new rockumentary Hit So Hard shows the emotional effect that the band’s behind-the-scenes drama took on Schemel and her bandmates. Schemel’s wife helped create the doc alongside the husband-husband team of P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes. In the video above, Queerty‘s Daniel Villarreal speaks with Schemel and the husband duo about how the film came together, the use of drugs in the film, and whether working with your spouse on a creative project makes you want to kill them.
LIVE THROUGH THIS
Hole’s Lesbian Drummer Patty Schemel Almost Died. Now It’s On Film For Everyone To See
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T-in-Cali
so want to see this. Hole remains one of my fave bands of all time.
Allen D.
“worshipped by countless teenage girls” ?! What about all of us MALE Hole worshippers????
Long live Hole.
Ted C.
The film was scored by Roddy Bottum, the openly gay member of Faith No More!
Jeffree
Score one for Daniel V. on the interview.
Looking forward to seeing the documentary. My parents used to, and probably still do, play Hole at their wildasss parties. Yessiree, just because we’re hicks doesn’t mean it’s all C/W music all the time in the flyover states.
And since I’ll never be as cool as my folks, I didn’t even know Patty S is lesbian.
eliz
oh, i remember being a teenage dyke in like 1994 with pictures of patty schemel (and kate schellenbach, and molly neuman, and all the other dyke drummers i could find) all over my walls. her being queer, and visible, was such a touchstone for me and so many of the other queer kids i knew who didn’t have models of queer adults to look at in real life. i am excited to see this movie.
beloved
What a bunch of BS. Kurt wanted to be an actor from an early age. If the camera was rolling, he was acting. Courtney Love is not even her real name. I have the obit for the real Courtney Love who died Jan 1985 before the actress made her debut. I knew Kurt from 1983 and Courtney started hanging around in late 84 wanting a role in a movie (Sid & Nancy) that Kurt had been working on with Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) and Joe Elliott (Def Leppard). Tommy knew the punk band Circle Jerks which is how he got involved. Kurt was in a long relationship with another girl (a redhead) from 1983 until his death. At the time she did not want the public eye. She is now writing her autobiography and why this documentary is coming out.
Musician Frank Zappa wrote about Hilter’s “Big Lie Theory” in reference to the music industry. Basically, if you are going to tell a lie, tell a big lie, and never stop telling the lie even if it makes you look ridiculous.
This is why they are flooding the market with biographies and documentaries that somehow involve Kurt. Kurt was not even a heroin addict. Joe Elliott was born Aug 1st. His birth flower is the poppy. Heroin is derived from the opium poppy. Kurt used red poppies in a music video. He supposedly developed an obsession about the actress Frances Farmer, this was because she died on Aug. 1st which not only is Joe’s birthday but also MTV’s.
huh?
@beloved:
whatever you’re on, i want some