Former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss has opened up about her exit from the group, revealing an inability to be considered a “creative equal” led to her final decision.
Back in July, the world of alt-rock was devastated to learn that after 20 years in the band, Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss had announced her decision to leave the group.
While Weiss noted that “the band is heading in a new direction and it is time for me to move on,” the group themselves issues a statement explaining that while they are “saddened” be Weiss’ departure, they described it as an “incredible privilege to work with such a talented musician and drummer over the course of so many albums.”
Although Carrie Brownstein summed up the situation by stating “She left. We asked her to stay. We tried. It’s hard and sad,” Weiss was still to discuss the reasons that led up to her recent departure.
Speaking to The Trap Set With Joe Wong podcast (via Rolling Stone), Weiss explained that she began to feel as though her role within the band was being lessened by bandmates Brownstein and Corin Tucker.
“The roles changed within the band, and they told me the roles changed,” Weiss explained. “I said, ‘Am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘Can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left.”
“We went to counselling and tried to talk it out, which had helped before. Like in 1998, we went to counselling. We still couldn’t get on the same page.”
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Check out Janet Weiss’ interview on The Trap Set With Joe Wong:
Ultimately though, Weiss explained that the group were unable to work through their issues, resulting in her announcement that she was leaving the band, just weeks after releasing ‘Hurry On Home’, the first single from the band’s latest album, The Center Won’t Hold.
“I thought about it a lot. I mean, I will never play with two people like that again,” Janet Weiss continued. “They are totally unique, incredible, intuitive players.
“It’s a lot to walk away from. It’s my sisters, my family. But I couldn’t be in that band and have it not be equal, especially with what it represents to me. It represents equality… How can we be fighting for equality and not have it in our band; it just became a disconnect.
“I don’t think [Brownstein and Tucker] saw it like that. They’re not evil people, I just think the two of them are so connected and they really agree on almost everything, they just thought, ‘We’re gonna take this band somewhere and we want to be in charge of that, the two of us.’
“I think I was a threat to where they wanted the band to go, and who I am, and that felt bad to me.”
While Angie Boylan has been serving as Sleater-Kinney’s drummer following the departure of Janet Weiss, there’s been no confirmation as to when the group might bring their live show down to Australia in the future.
Check out ‘Hurry On Home’ by Sleater-Kinney:
