This morning, Janet Weiss announced she is leaving the band Sleater-Kinney. The drummer had been with the Portland-based group—whose other members include guitarist/vocalists Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker—since their 1997 album Dig Me Out and was the fourth and longest-lasting drummer Sleater-Kinney have had since forming in 1994.
In a statement posted to social media, Weiss writes:
After intense deliberation and with heavy sadness, I have decided to leave Sleater-Kinney. The band is heading in a new direction and it is time for me to move on. I will never forget the heights we reached or the magnificent times Corin, Carrie and I shared. We were a force of nature.
To the dearest SK fans—you’re the raddest fans in the universe and I love you. Experiencing the music together has been the honor of a lifetime. Thank you for sustaining me the past 24 years and for proving without a doubt that love and connection are what saves us.
The Drummer,
Janet
The timing of Weiss’ announcement is somewhat surprising. Sleater-Kinney’s 10th album, The Center Won’t Hold, is scheduled to be released on August 16; it’s their second LP since the band reformed in 2014 after a lengthy hiatus. Sleater-Kinney also has a long American tour planned for October and November, and European dates scheduled for February 2020.
The forthcoming The Center Won’t Hold was produced by St. Vincent (AKA Annie Clark) and its two advanced tracks, “Hurry on Home” and “The Future Is Here,” do indeed suggest a new direction for the guitar-oriented group, with more keyboards and synthesizers than previous work.
Weiss is a busy drummer outside of Sleater-Kinney, and also currently plays with the Portland bands Slang, Roseblood, and Quasi. Her lengthy résumé also includes time drumming for Wild Flag, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, the Shins, Bright Eyes, the Go-Betweens, and more.
An announcement has not been made about Weiss’ replacement. Sleater-Kinney are scheduled to play the Crystal Ballroom in Portland on November 19 and 20. Here’s Sleater-Kinney’s final performance with Weiss from the June 20 episode of The Tonight Show.
This really sucks and it sounds like it wasn’t a happy ending. The public statement released by the band wishing her the best sounds like bullshit assholes say when they’ve fired people and her public statement singed, the drummer, makes me believe someone referred to being the drummer in a derogatory manner. There is NO Sleater-Kinney without Janet Weiss and to make this announcement AFTER the album has who knows how many pre-orders and the tour is sold out is fucking bullshit. This is why bands who end their career on a high note should stay retired and not get back together. This is what will be remembered ~ Corin and Carrie fucking over Janet and no matter how all of them spin it, when it smells shitty, it is shitty. RIP S-K.
*signed
How the fuck do you know what the deal is? Their sound and image has changed. Maybe she doesn’t want to be part of a pop band.
I love how saying something is “pop” is still a way of saying it’s bad, as if there weren’t any actual, descriptive words available to describe what you think of the music. If i get what you’re trying to say, @3–that the new SK songs you’ve heard are too “pop” and that Janet wanted no part of that–then you obviously never listened to her excellent work (and Carrie’s) with Wild Flag a few years ago, which was much “poppier” than either of the new SK tunes. If what you suggest is true, then her participation in the creation of the new album and planning for the upcoming tour were done…what, grudgingly? Against her will? Yeah, right, she just looked in the mirror this morning and said, “No more of this pop stuff, I’m outta here!” Bullshit.