Sonic Youth Gossip - Janet Weiss leaves Sleater-Kinney

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- - Janet Weiss leaves Sleater-Kinney (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=119662)

Janet Weiss leaves Sleater-Kinney

In her statement she cites the band moving in a different direction as a primary reason. Which, given what I've heard from the first couple of singles from the new album, I can hear for sure.

I'm still buying the album for sure, but from what I've heard I have to wonder... why would you listen to the music of the last decade and think that we need MORE '80s retro?

https://www.avclub.com/janet-weiss-i...ter-1836014948

If they wanted a female replacement who can handle the drum parts of the back catalogue, they should give Sara Lund a call.

sounds like the center, you know, didn’t hold :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

sounds like the center, you know, didn’t hold :D

The new songs are wack, she made the right decision.

Christ on a stick, I'm having the worst year of my life. And yes, I'm counting annus horribilis 2016, and also the year my waste-of-oxygen father (now dead, thank goodness - I hope the piece of shit suffered) almost killed my mom. Well, NO, that last one was obviously worse, but I was too little... Lookit, let's move on:

I still worship at the altar of Sleater-Kinney. But the band is over. No "indefinite hiatus" this time; OVER. Even though they existed before Janet (and Call The Doctor is a masterpiece), when she joined they entered the pantheon of the greatest of the fucking greatest of all time. They became a UNIT in which no member was replaceable.

You come around looking 1984
You're such a bore, 1984!

Having listened to the two new songs they've so far "shared", as the kids say these days (yes, goddamn kids, get off my lawn,

), I actually don't think the new material is necessarily another retro-'80s number — in fact, if you listen to the performance of "Hurry On Home" on The Tonight Show from last month, the tune sounds like a solid, atemporal Sleater-Kinney single. But even though what matters will always be the music, what on Earth is going on with the image? Janet, a truly attractive woman who's sexy as all hell behind the drums looks... boxed in somehow, like a Lego version of herself. Look at their promo picture: it's like the St. Vincent influence (and I love Annie) not only went beyond the production to extend to fashion design, it did so on cocaine. Corin is sporting a hairdo that should have indeed died a definitive death in 1984.

Nice words aside, Weiss' departure doesn't quite look amicable. It's unfortunate that they will go ahead with the tour as planned anyway without the best, most exquisitely MUSICAL rock drummer alive.

From Paste Magazine:

Carrie Brownstein Opens up About Janet Weiss' Departure from Sleater-Kinney via Instagram

Quote:

Carrie Brownstein posted a video to Instagram on Monday [July 15] in which viewers can hear what appears to be a snippet of a Sleater-Kinney recording as a white circle expands and shrinks in the center of a black screen.

In the video's accompanying caption, Brownstein tagged the band's Instagram account and included the hashtag #sleaterkinney.

Earlier this month, the band's longtime drummer Janet Weiss announced she was leaving Sleater-Kinney, just weeks after the group had announced that their forthcoming, St. Vincent-produced record was set to arrive Aug. 16 via Mom + Pop.

In a comment on Monday's post, an Instagram user asked Brownstein why the other Sleater-Kinney members, i.e. Corin Tucker and herself, did not comment further on Weiss' departure, asking them to elaborate on how they are "moving forward." The user noted in an additional comment that they "saw the initial statement," posted by the band on July 1 in response to Weiss leaving, which is located below.

Brownstein responded to the user on Tuesday [July 16], asking, "What am I supposed to say?" She continued in a candid, paragraph-long answer to the question, writing that Tucker and herself asked Weiss to stay, will continue to "pick up the pieces" after she quit, and will "keep going" because they "believe in themselves." Her full response is below, in which she wrote, "it's a privilege to get to play music for people."

@pinkshyguy666 what am I supposed to say? She left. We asked her to stay. We tried. It's hard and sad. Most people would ask me, "hey are you ok?" That's the human response. She's left us with a job to do, a job we also expected and wanted her to be a part of. Her playing on this record is amazing and she's raved about this album to us and to Annie. But we have to keep looking to the future. Things change, even when those changes are hard and unexpected. Four amazing women worked on this record and we are going to honor that work. So, what's up? The usual….Women picking up the pieces when someone quits, because we have to and want to. We're going to keep going because we believe in ourselves and it's a privilege to get to play music for people. It's a new chapter. And all artistic entities have many chapters, if they're lucky. Either the music will resonate or it won't.

To see Brownstein's response to the user and their original comments, refer to the screenshots of their thread below.

Janet wastes no time. From the Kill Rock Stars newsletter:

Quote:

QUASI ANNOUNCES NEW TOUR DATES

The Portland, OR based indie rock duo, Quasi, featuring the combined musical powers of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss will be touring the West Coast this Fall of 2019. Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 26th at 10 AM PT.

From The New York Times:

Sleater-Kinney Asked St. Vincent for a Creative Spark. The Trio Blew Up.

Quote:

"I'm glad that there's this record that has her immense drumming on it," Brownstein said. "But now Corin and I have to kind of clean up the mess of someone leaving after we announced a tour."

[...]

Weiss declined to comment for this article.

Ouch.

St. Vincent is gonna drum..... maybe?

After hearing the new SK singles, I'm more excited about the prospect of new Quasi music. Quasi fucking rules

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuhb

After hearing the new SK singles, I'm more excited about the prospect of new Quasi music. Quasi fucking rules

Quasi does fucking rule, but as Robert Christgau wrote about Wild Flag's only album, "for some reason [Janet] never sounds like the greatest drummer in the world with anyone else".

From "An Audience With Robert Forster", Uncut 263, April 2019:

Quote:

David Tang, via e-mail: How was it working with Sleater-Kinney on The Friends Of Rachel Worth?

Forster: It was good. It's mainly Janet Weiss who plays on the album; Carrie and Corin are only on one song. I'd been introduced to their music through Dig Me Out. It was the first great rock LP I'd heard in a long time — I loved the energy, the lyrics and the sharpness. They're smart, clever, funny people. I saw they're working with St. Vincent... I think that's a great pairing.

Yow.

lol i didn’t know there was so much drama and passive aggressive shit going on

thanks for the soap opera updates

gonna go check quasi now...

Carrie's statement to the New York Times is the definition of passive aggression. I'm afraid celebrity has made a monster of my heroine.

Anyone who thinks Janet Weiss is the greatest drummer in the world is insane

Janet Weiss Recovering After Car Accident, Cancels Quasi Tour

Quote:

Tonight, Janet Weiss revealed that she’s recovering after being involved in a car accident last weekend that left her with a broken right leg and left collar bone. Her planned upcoming shows with Quasi have been canceled. She says her recovery time is 12 weeks.
“As thoroughly bummed as I am about canceling the shows, I’m also incredibly thankful the accident wasn't worse and so happy to be alive,” she wrote. “I am lucky my injuries will heal and I’ll be back at it in a couple months.” Weiss thanked her surgeon, nurses, and family. “Hug your people and tell them you love them,” she wrote. Read her entire note below.
Earlier this year, Weiss announced her departure from Sleater-Kinney. She contributed to their new album The Center Won’t Hold, which is out this Friday. Following her announcement, she appeared at Newport Folk Festival and played drums for Kermit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

Anyone who thinks Janet Weiss is the greatest drummer in the world is insane

So book me a room at Bellevue ASAP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _tunic_

Janet Weiss Recovering After Car Accident, Cancels Quasi Tour

JESUS MOTHER-FUCK! Hopefully a full recovery will follow. If Carla Azar could do it (see the madness of her fixed elbow below), The Mighty Janet sure can.

Haven't heard the album yet, but check out this gorgeous live piano-and-vocals version of "Broken":

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/sleater-kinney_share_video_of_them_performing_new_song_bro ken_live/

From Grammy.com:

"For all the changes, The Center Won't Hold is still very much a Sleater-Kinney record—bold and feminist and unrelenting. It ends with a gut-punch, the piano ballad 'Broken,' where Tucker sings, 'Me, me too / My body cried out,' inspired in part by the #MeToo movement and the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford. It's a bleak way to leave listeners, but it's an important one."