I mean, it literally was that night I was like, I'm starting a band today. Singer and guitarist Corin Tucker had moved to Olympia to attend the Evergreen State College.ĬORIN TUCKER: I saw right after I got there, Bikini Kill and Bratmobile played their first show, and I was like, that's it. In the early '90s, women in Olympia, Washington, were forming punk bands, printing zines, coming together to make a place for themselves in a mostly male music scene. SCARPELLI: This was the riot-girl attitude. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE") SCARPELLI: Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss make up an all-female rock band that never wanted to be just be an all-female rock band. SLEATER-KINNEY: (Singing) Sharp teeth in a broken jaw. JANET WEISS: I heard Corin's voice through the monitors for the first time in all those years. LEAH SCARPELLI, BYLINE: Drummer Janet Weiss describes the feeling of being back in the studio with Sleater-Kinney after almost a decade apart. It's called "No Cities To Love." NPR's Leah Scarpelli talked to them. And Sleater-Kinney emerged as what some critics deemed one of America's best rock bands. The trio first formed 20 years ago on the wave of the feminist riot girl movement. In the right situation on stage, I feel more like a superhero than any other time in my life."įans of Sleater-Kinney were thrilled last fall when the band released a new song, declaring its eight-year hiatus over.
I'm sort of recreating that in my mind, I think, when I play on a record or when I play at practice. But live, where there is air and there is energy from the crowd, I think that energy can elevate what I do to a new level. The studio can be very difficult - with headphones, and you're sort of trying to make things sound a certain way and it's very challenging. A practice space is just brutal for the people who have to listen to the drummer. "As a drummer, I think it's the best place to be heard. Janet Weiss On The Thrill Of Playing Live People find different ways into this band and different reasons to appreciate it." And Perfume Genius, which is an artist who I love and whose record is one of my favorites of, said he'd seen Sleater-Kinney 13 times. He covered 'I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone,' which is one of our early songs. I think he's a good songwriter and singer, and I like his relationship to his fans.
"Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance is a huge fan of our band, and I think he's awesome. So yeah, there's a lot of howling on those early records."
But because it was the '90s and grunge was ruling the world, I started experimenting with really loud guitar and much more aggressive vocals - just trying to get people's attention with the music. Right after I got there, Bikini Kill and Bratmobile played their first show and I was like, 'That's it, that's what I'm going to do!' I started my first band, Heavens to Betsy, and I had kind of more of a sing-song voice when I first started that band. "I wanted to sing, and I think that I wanted to be in a band, but there just wasn't really the opportunity until I got to Olympia. Hear her piece at the audio link, and read on for a few moments that didn't make the broadcast.Ĭorin Tucker On Finding Her Singing Voice NPR's Leah Scarpelli spoke with the three members on the occasion of the new album No Cities to Love, out today. Sleater-Kinney, the beloved and massively influential punk trio, is back after nearly a decade away.