Just back in June the alternative rock group Sleater-Kinney announced the release of their new album called The Center Won’t Hold and subsequent tour set to begin in September. However, weeks after the exciting news Sleater-Kinney’s drummer Janet Weiss announced her departure from the group. Weiss released a letter explaining her decision and expressed her need to move on as the band begins to move in a new direction. This week, guitarist and singer of Sleater-Kinney Carrie Brownstein, took to Instagram to further discuss Weiss leaving the band. So far it is unclear who will replace Weiss.
The band has been promoting their new album and tour. So far they’ve released two singles off their album including “Hurry On Home” and “The Future is Here.” After Brownstein posted one of these teaser videos for Sleater-Kinney with Weiss in the video, another Instagram user commented, “Janet’s replacement on the pots and pans I see.” Brownstein took this comment as an opportunity to explain her feelings and thoughts about Weiss’ departure. She wrote in another comment,
“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.”
After this, Brownstein commented one more time saying, “I dip in/out of the comments and social media is a beast for real conversations. But I do care. And your questions were in earnest. Thanks for letting me know how you feel.”
Photo Credit: Owen Ela
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