Sleater-Kinney has long been at the core of all that is interesting in rock, its bass-less compositions yielding unique arrangements well before MTV proclaimed it the vogue thing to do. Under the divergent melodies and insistent vocals of guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, drummer Janet Weiss has confidently worked at pushing her art forward, inspiring the notion that one of music’s most criminally overlooked roles can in fact become a band’s most communicative device.
Her brand of storytelling was again elevated on the 2002 “One Beat,” perhaps the most complete album of last year that also just happened to be rock’s most cathartic – and self-assured – statement to a nation in newfound turmoil. Ripe with confidence and eager to state its case, the band again cleared a wall that others continue to play straight into.
“I think most importantly it’s that we took time off,” says Weiss, reflecting on a phone, about the honors “One Beat” has gathered since its release. “I played music, but Corin had a baby, and Carrie didn’t play at all. So it’s just kind of stepping away from something we were exhausted from doing, and new ideas always just sort of come up when you take time off – [laughs] it’s probably the most productive time as far as mentally picking up new ideas. A casual way to explore new things.”
The only thing casual surrounding “One Beat,” however, are the modest values Weiss shyly assigns to her own art. In 12 tracks, the album asserts itself immediately, a quality usually left for later as time breeds familiarity. More importantly, it fulfills a space in the industry that, musically, most bands seem unsure of how to satisfy. With three talents capable of running and sharing the boards, it seems natural that the band’s instinct toward a democratic partnership informs the writing and recording process.
“Usually [Carrie and Corrin] will come up with some sort of an idea for the song; it could just be one or two parts, and then we all work on how to link those together,” she says. “The riffs, the bare meat and potatoes of a song will be hashed out by them, and they’ll bring it into practice.”
A similarly generous spirit influences the sound of the album as well. In a way, the band invites audience participation more than ever on “One Beat,” adding new colors to familiar reference points from their own catalogue. For every “Combat Rock,” a bracing song that draws from its own energy, there exists an “Oh!” – highlighting the band’s more intriguing methods of constructing a three-piece harmony. Of “Faraway,” an intimate response to a sweeping tragedy, Weiss says their comfort together as writers allowed for different perspectives during the song’s composition. A patience to allow the song a comfortable evolution. In short, a careful sense of attention they were hoping the audience would invest as well.
“With ‘Faraway’ in particular, I tried to create a drum part that wasn’t the first or second or third thing that came into my head,” says Weiss. “I know [the album] was really sort of deconstructive in the recording process, layering things on top of each other, trying to give it a strained sort of tension.
“There aren’t many times in the studio where you are really sure that was it, that that was the take. I think it’s not really until it’s done that I personally get the feeling of, ‘Oh, we did really good on this one’.”
The road, the true litmus test for any act worth its weight, is the most obvious environment for that conclusion to be drawn. Sleater-Kinney mounted initial dates in support of “One Beat” last year, and the latest leg carries them into Pearl St. in Northampton on Thursday. It’s here, says Weiss, at every point stateside or overseas, where the band can get an honest grasp on if its goal – that of simply playing good music – is being achieved.
“Tours are the best way to gauge how your music is coming across,” she says. “You talk to the kids and see the reactions, the visceral reactions, and not someone who has to meet a deadline or write something they didn’t think about. It’s much more valuable to play.”
(Sleater-Kinney will play this Thursday evening at the Pearl St. Nightclub in Northampton. Blues-based The Black Keys open.)
