Sleater-Kinney breaks up

Brave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTZXBmRaQtw

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/arts/music/sleater-kinney-st-vincent.html

Hmm. There are some curious red flags in that story. Citing the presence of a Gucci bag, the group crediting a band "designer," Brownstein deciding to put more energy toward the band only after her Hulu pilot didn't get picked up, Clark being really involved with lyrics and writing and arrangements (which is sort of ultimately the biggest complaint someone like Albini has with the concept of a "producer"). I don't know if we'll ever get a straight answer, but I assume one day it will at least be more clear why Weiss left. lol at Brownstein saying they should have called the album "Let's Stay Together."

"They wanted the album to sound “really gross,” Tucker, in contrasting lacy white, said, as her collaborators mmm-hmmmed in affirmation. “Like, disgusting, dirty, gross, dusty.” She went to a Depeche Mode show and got absorbed by synths; Clark and Brownstein saw Nine Inch Nails, and heard industrial."

They succeeded - all the songs so far do sound "really gross"

reading between the lines i'm starting to think they wanted to style the shit out of this tour and janet wasn't into it.

feels like the real story is still under wraps

”She went to a Depeche Mode show and got absorbed by synths; Clark and Brownstein saw Nine Inch Nails, and heard industrial.”

it's wild how Sleater-Kinney sold out by being in the presence of a Gucci bag owned by someone not in the band.

Like, for the first time in their lives? No way could that be the case.

It’s totally possible: the article isn’t saying they’d never heard either band before.

(yes it’s weird framing & might not be at all precise, but eg I actively love hours of music by each band, and have seen a grand total of four minutes combined concerts by both)

Sorry to be unclear; I’m just talking about the phrase “heard industrial.”

Reads pretty clear - that's what they 'heard' in their heads as they headed to the studio.

The new single sounds like they heard "We Are Young" instead of NIN though.

I would love to hear Sleater-Kinney make their Second Annual Report

slimy goth rock, though - it's not right is it

yeah, milo otm

I just re-listened to the album "No Cities To Love", and all that time I've wished for a sequel to Rush's "Grace Under Pressure", the damn thing was right there the whole time. There are obvious commonalities, like the guitars in the intro and post-chorus to "Price Tag" echoing the same sections of "The Body Electric"; the occasional controlled-wailing Geddyisms a la "Red Sector A" ("No-ohh!") in the vocals; the abrasive guitars but better because it's like 2 Lifesons (and the descending riff that opens "Surface Envy" reminds me of Alex's similarly-descending riff in the bridge of "Distant Early Warning"); post-punk/disco rhythms that pop in and out - is Janet Weiss the Neil Peart of our generation?; Anthem Records vs "No Anthems", etc.

But a lot of it, at least to my ears, is a similar essence that I can't quite explain, it's just *there*.

Now I know what I want to listen to right now (hint: not the S-K album).

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/janet-weiss-sleater-kinney-interview-podcast-915033/

“I said, ‘Am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘Can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left.”

Weiss also expressed reluctance to perform songs from The Center Won’t Hold — an album that lacked the drummer’s usual contributions — on a tour in support of the St. Vincent-produced LP; following Weiss’ exit, Angie Boylan has stepped in as Sleater-Kinney’s drummer on tour.

“The new record was made sort of without me and it would have been challenging to get up there on stage and deliver those songs like they were mine, when they weren’t mine at all. It just got real lonely for me,” Weiss said.

This confirms a takeaway I had from the new live show, wherein they're playing the whole album (plus a new A-Side single) making for both 1/3 of the set and something she wouldn't have enjoyed doing night after night.

i skipped out on the show this weekend. I like the album, don't love it, it takes up most of the setlist, and this all left a slightly bad taste in my mouth. saw a youtube vid of an earlier show and it was fine, but , eh.

I love the new record, but skipped the tour. From the clips I've seen, Angie Boylan plays more behind-the-beat than Janet. Songs don't lift off the ground like they used to. There's no agitation anymore. There doesn't have to be, but that was part of why I loved S-K.

This tour's getting a pretty positive reception, overall; so did the Who's first tour without Keith Moon.

A lot of the older songs were very thrashy, very Punk w/Boylan.

I knew something was up! you could just tell

but yeah pulling a Gene Simmons/Paul Stanley move.... gross

I wish they would have asked her about Carrie's bullshit that it was Janet's idea to work with St. Vincent

idk that it was bullshit, i mean it's entirely possible that she suggested it and the dynamic changed in the group independent of that. i still think the speculation remains a bit gross since i don't think a trio of dudes would get the same treatment let alone the weird suggestions about outsiders influencing the band unduly. this seems like pretty normal band shit which is heightened because of their profile and tenure and perhaps gender but it doesn't seem super scandalous imo?

Normal band shit if Janet was "just the drummer" as she mentioned she was demoted to.

idk i feel bad for her since she seems like a fine person and i'm sure CB and CT didn't treat JW as an equal all of a sudden, and it seems uncool, and tbh a number of SK fans feeling bummed about it is understandable. i'm just not sure it really matters much ultimately, the new album is pretty tight and Weiss adapted well to the shift. i think a lot of what plays into this is how people feeling about the other two, there's a lot of hate directed at Carrie especially, at least from certain circles, that seems out of proportion to her life crimes.

idk that it was bullshit, i mean it's entirely possible

a lot of things are possible but not probable

I also just think it's more about how much ppl care about SK and how much each member had an identity....like Minutemen

it would just seem a bit strange for SK to intentionally box her out considering what i'm sure is their self-awareness of their image, but who really knows. Cheap Trick booted Bun E. Carlos so anything's possible.

Carrie and Corin may have just found a way to work together that didn't involve Janet and, as things progressed, they realized they didn't want or need her input. I doubt there was any underhanded scheming, or that Carrie and Corin hatched a sinister plan (something Gene and Paul have made a second career out of). They obviously wanted Janet to stay in the band, and assumed she would, since the tour was booked and announced before she quit. It's possible they just didn't realize how or to what degree she was contributing, beyond her drumming.

Also, Bun E. was a dick, and his complaint about "Why are we scheduling shows around Robin's daughter's kindergarten classes?" was the last straw. From what I understand, it was a long time coming.

I wonder if them saying "no" and that she is "just the drummer" is more of Janet's cumulative takeaway or indeed a somewhat literal recounting of their conversations.

XP In addition to health problems,Bun E. wanted to get off the road and just play Vegas, which Zander & Peterson objected to.

I knew about the internal drama a bit, Robin and Bun were not pals after awhile for sure. I think Bun is cool with Nielsen at least, I know Daxx hangs w/some members of Bun's current band in Rockford at least.

quotes from janet are v sad. i get the sense that they are probably not really friends anymore which i realize is not anyone's business but theirs but still bums me out.

as a drummer i would feel bad if my band transitioned from jam-based songwriting to two members constructing songs in isolation that i was later presented with. the latter approach isn't *wrong*, it's just alienating if you previously felt like an equal partner in the sound and energy of a band. it makes total sense to me why she left, and it sucks, but i can't really fault either party

i'm sure carrie and corin made that shift bc they wanted to do something different that would not only expand the band's sound and longevity, but to make the process more interesting and vital for themselves

exactly!! brad otm. a change of role could mean the difference between wanting to play in that band and not. also the differences in style between JW and New Drummer are interesting and also very normal. i am a sub drummer and had some interesting revelations about differences in style recently. it's all part of the agreement of playing music together imo to negotiate these things; usually, though it's something i think should be done together and not after having to ask "so, am i a creative equal y/n?"

Boylan used to play in a S-K cover band too.

omg no way
lol

that's not a derisive lol, it's a knowing lol
what a great experience!!

on some level this bugs me more just because the idea of "songwriting" always privileges chord changes/lyrics/vox over the rhythm section which I think is really myopic but that's a larger issue than SK and the baggage I'm bringing in

LL, brad, ums OTM.

And ums, yeah, Janet's parts, and the way she played them, are as much a part of the song as any other element.

if carrie and corinn wanted to do something different without janet they could have called it something other than sleater-kinney

that is definitely what they should have done

They could do that in the future, but I doubt it. They did two albums before her, and I can kind of seeing them continuing on without her ala The Who or Stones--as long as the 'core' is there, they'll be Sleater-Kinney.

I'm sorry there's enmity, but bands move on.

I love the record, so I'm sympathetic toward Weiss and Brownstein, and it's Weiss' right to leave if she no longer had a say in the songwriting or direction. I think it worked out for everyone.

It'll work out when we get that sweet new Quasi.

I think it worked out for everyone.

Aside from the car accident.

well, yeah

Saw them in LA last week (won tickets lol)
Don't know any of their songs but it was v v good
That's all