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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2005)
MUSIC leater-Kinney’s seventh record, The Woods, is loud. S Consider yourself warned. In the most recent issue of music mag Magnet, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder blames the Portland trio for blowing out the speakers of his home stereo. Even diehard fans on Sleater-Kinney blogs are reporting an invol untarily reflex to stuff cotton in their ears. And this is a Pacific Northwest band who (in the mid-1990s, no less) made grunge irrele vant and left Kurt Cobain looking weak and lame. Hell, Sleater-Kinney made a career screaming their demons out and—maybe just as importantly—creating a place for the audi ence to scream theirs out, too. So you’d expect Sleater-Kinney’s fans to be prepared for this level of sonic disruption. But how could you be? The volume is corporeal and shocking. And, according to guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein, that’s exactly how the band wants it. “The distortion is intense,” she says, calling from her Portland digs. “Live, it is going to be unsettling. We didn’t want to do anything safe.” The Woods marks a turning point for S-K. It’s not only the defining record label upgrade (Sub Pop puts the band into first-class, heavy- duty promotional overdrive, as it bids Olympia’s Kill Rock Stars DIY aesthetic farewell after eight years), it’s also the afore mentioned production aesthetics of the record. So why the dramatic push into the sonic stratosphere? Produced by Dave Fridmann, known to some as the “fifth Flaming Lip” and to others as the bass player for Mercury Re ', The Woods is a 48-minute assault on the status quo. But if sta tus quo renders up images of George W. Bush Babe in The Woods Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein takes it to the limit by C ori T aratoot and the other obvious right-wing tar gets, don’t get too comfortable in your seat. Yes, Sleater-Kinney is a “politi cal” band. Their roots are and always will be in riot-grrl radical feminism. Yes, they have written—and will likely continue to write—protest songs pointing a finger at the Establishment. But perhaps more disturbing is this—the complacency and stasis Sleater-Kinney is out to disassemble? This time the finger is pointing at us. “Dave is a sadist,” Brownstein says. “He would say to us, ‘People won’t notice if we don’t push this to the max.’ This is our seventh album—we want to take those chances. We want to be in the moment.” It’s a swirl of circumstance and tim ing that brings Sleater-Kinney to this moment. They are both comfortable with their archetypal roles—career rock musicians, torchbearers, hero ines—and at a new level of technical proficiency with their instruments and gear. Add to that another Bush in the White House, 9/11, the first Sleater- Kinney baby—from Brownstein’s per spective, returning to the immediacy of loudness and improvisation is not an option, it’s a necessity. From left, Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss and Corin Tucker pump up the “At shows we were giving ourselves volume on The Woods, which hits stores May 24. Sleater-Kinney: A Primer by S arah B urgundy and C ori T aratoot ou know who you are. During the past Olympia, Wash., for their nom de plume. Both 10 or so years, various indie-rocker types attended Evergreen State College in the early have raved to you about a red-hot riot- 1990s. grrl rock band in the Pacific Northwest who sounded pissed and sexy and looked it, The people too. You saw the lesbians queued up for shows wearing “Show Me Your Riffs” and “Sleater- Carrie Brownstein, guitar and vocals. She’s Kinney Is for Lovers” T-shirts. You never the heartthrob who’s usually on the audience bothered to listen to an S-K record, or maybe left side of the stage, with short dark hair, red red lips and a serious look on her face. Keep you listened to a song or two and shrugged an eye on her during the show—she usually them off. shows off a few well-executed rock ’n’ roll And now look at you. On the eve of their moves, circa Who's Next. That’s usually her latest release, you’re finally thinking about when the song features a lower, more matter- hopping this train, but sigh: You’re so far behind. So many albums to listen to, Web of-fact voice or overlay. She’s a big reader and the band’s youngest member, this year turning sites to review, back issues of Spin and Rolling the big 3-0. Stone to peruse—how will you ever catch up? Corin Tucker, guitar and vocals. You’re Welcome, Just Out readers, to Sleater- usually hearing her voice singing lead: It’s dis Kinney 101. tinctive, higher-pitched, powerful and some times shaky. She usually stands audience-right. The name She has wavy, shoulder-length, copper hair and big eyes and is the most femme of the three. In Sleater-Kinney (pronounced SLAY-ter). between 2000’s All Hands on the Bad One and Mocked by the locals for naming themselves after an Interstate 5 exit, band founders Carrie 2OO2’s One Beat, Corin and husband Lance Brownstein and Corin Tucker picked a road in Bangs had a baby boy. Y 9LEATEM KINNEY o<a mb out the r<x)m to make things up and keep things somewhat unstructured and free. We needed that given everything that’s going on in the world. We didn’t feel the same pressure in the studio to present a structured song with form intact. Some of those guitar moments are defi nitely unscripted. For me, it does symbolize the time we are living in and our need to push things as far as we can.” When asked if she still views Sleater-Kinney as a vehicle for self-expression, Brownstein is quick to reply: “Oh god, yes. I think this record shows that, even more than [1996’s] Call the Doctor. Sleater-Kinney saved our lives, and we rec ognize that. And it still does.” JF! Janet Weiss, drumming bad-ass and vocals. She splits her time between Sleater-Kinney and Quasi, a dynamic experimental rock proj ect with ex-husband Sam Coomes. She joined S-K in 1996, replacing drummer Lora McFar lane. (The band has had a grand total of five drummers in its lifetime.) Janet lives in Port land—look for the dark, Cleopatra-style hair cut walking the streets of Southeast. Prior to her full-time music gigs, she worked for the man at Willamette Week and Wieden + Kennedy. Which S-K girl are you? Find out here: www.shemadethis.com/skquiz . The rumors • • Carrie and Corin once dated briefly. (True.) • Carrie once ate food off of Nicole Kidman’s stomach. (Maybe not true, but fun to think about.) • Corin named her son after The Marshall Tucker Band. (True: Marshall Tucker Bangs.) The songs “Dig Me Out” from 1997’s Dig Me Out: So much to love. There’s Carrie’s power riffs, Janet’s big boom drumming, Corin’s vixrals, which seem at first unable to keep up, but then build in intensity for the rest of the song. Oh, S leater -K inney is throwing a record release autograph party 6 p.m. May 24 at Music Millennium, 801 N.W. 23rd Ave. The band performs with Mary Timony of Helium 9 p.m. June 1 and 2 at Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside St. Tickets are $15 from the box office or Ticketmaster. C ori T aratoot is a Portland free-lance writer, a PDX-POP Now! organizer, a recovering Southerner and a newly converted Fiery Furnaces fangirl. and for fun, they throw in a handful of hooks that hint at three more great kick-ass songs. “The End of You” from 1999’s The Hot Rock: A quintessential S-K song. Carrie’s terse, angular riffs start us off, Corin’s vocals launch, there’s a pause, then Carrie joins in. The bridge leads to Janet’s rapid-fire buildup on the drums. Heaven. “You’re No Rock ’n’ Roll Fun” from 2000’s All Hands on the Bad One: Any song that references Christmas socks, whiskey drinks, chocolate bars and girl bands gets my vote. Plus, Carrie and Corin’s biting humor makes ya wartna! “Combat Rock” from 2OO2’s One Beat: A Clash reference and a fair lyrical inquiry— “Since when is skepticism un-American?” Our heroes, one of the first bands to speak up post- 9/11. Here here. “Rollercoaster” from 2OO5’s The Woods: Oh, rhe distortion. Oh, the guitar h<x>ks. We haven’t been this excited about an S-K song since their 1995 self-titled debut on Chainsaw Records. Congratulations! You’ve made it this far, so now you can pass yourself off as a longtime S-K fan and buy the T-shirt and the rest of it. Check out the official site, www.sleater-kinney.com, and the fan site, www.sleater-kinney.org. jH
