As proud as I feel that Carrie Brownstein pursued (another) one of her passions and, along with Fred Armisen, created a hit comedy show, I have to force myself not to cringe every time I resort to explaining Sleater-Kinney as the band with the girl from Portlandia. See, I’ve always thought of Portlandia as that new show with Carrie Brownstein from Sleater-Kinney. Sleater-Kinney being on hiatus didn’t help people’s awareness of the seminal punk band and the legwork they did for so many bands who followed, so I’ve been excited to see S-K making headlines in recent months on the heels of new material.
Janet Weiss of Quasi performs at Fun Fun Fun Fest. Photo by Bryan Parker.
In truth, all of the women of Sleater-Kinney have achieved amazing things during Sleater-Kinney’s almost-decade-long hiatus: Janet Weiss continued to play shows with her band Quasi, joined Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and later played in Wild Flag with S-K bandmate Brownstein, while Corin Tucker formed her own band and released a solo album. The hiatus has been a productive time for all three of Sleater-Kinney’s members, but we are truly blessed to have them reunited behind a great album and on the road playing shows.
This week, they’ll play twice in Austin, first on Wednesday at the Moody Theater for an ACL taping and again Friday night at Stubb’s. The bounty of two shows feels particularly generous considering that Sleater-Kinney has only played three times in Austin in the past 15 years and two of those shows have been during the insanity of SXSW (all the way back in 2005 and 2006). Obviously, it’s almost past the point of saying this is a must see show: one requires winning passes and the other has been sold out for weeks. Stubb’s does still have some VIP tickets left, and in the only instance I can recall, I actually think they might be worth the $130; that’s how much this show means. And if I’m not mistaken, you can still stand in line (even without a winning wristband) for an ACL taping and wait for space available seats to open, which will be filled by anyone present. You’d need to show up very early, but it’s definitely worth it. If not, you always have the option of watching the live stream via ACL’s YouTube channel.
With the variety of project each member of Sleater-Kinney has running, who knows when the band will be back through Austin? I sincerely hope all of your Austinites are doing everything you can not to miss these performances from one of rock music’s most vital acts. Stream the band’s video for “A New Wave” below.
