Sleater-Kinney reunites, announces new album and tour
Even before some people noticed a mysterious song called “1/20/15” on Sleater-Kinney’s new career-spanning box set, rumors had percolated for a good year that the seminal indie trio was planning to return. The band had an enormously successful run that lasted from the mid-’90s through 2005’s style-changing The Woods, going out as one of the most acclaimed bands of the past 20 years. But the trio—singer-guitarist Carrie Brownstein, singer-guitarist Corin Tucker, and drummer Janet Weiss—were adamant about calling it an “indefinite hiatus,” not a breakup.
On Monday, some eight years after Sleater-Kinney played its last show in its hometown of Portland, Brownstein announced the group’s return on NPR, where she’s an occasional contributor. “Sleater-Kinney isn’t something you can do half-assed or half-heartedly,” she notes. “We had no desire to revisit sounds and styles and paths we had treaded before.”
So fans shouldn’t expect the new No Cities to Love—due Jan. 20 on Sub Pop Records—to hearken back to the group’s ostensible heyday of Dig Me Out, or the overdriven quasi-psychedelia of The Woods. A preview track, “Bury Our Friends,” wouldn’t sound out of place on The Woods, but it’s an exciting preview of what’s to come.
It’s a good time for Sleater-Kinney to return, if only for Brownstein to remind the world that’s come to know her from Portlandia that she is a powerhouse musician and songwriter. Tucker has released a pair of solid solo albums in the past few years, and Weiss has kept busy in a number of other bands, but the three of them are at their best when they’re together. People in several cities will have the chance to see that firsthand when the group hits the road starting in February:
02-08-15 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
02-09-15 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
02-10-15 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
02-12-15 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02-13-15 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
02-14-15 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02-15-15 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
02-17-15 Chicago, IL @ Riviera
02-22-15 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
02-24-15 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
02-26-15 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
02-28-15 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
03-01-15 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
03-18-15 Berlin, Germany @ Postbahnhof
03-19-15 Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Paradiso
03-20-15 Paris, France @ Cigale
03-21-15 Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
03-23-15 London, UK @ Roundhouse
03-24-15 Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
03-25-15 Glasgow, UK @ O2 ABC
03-26-15 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street