Just a few hours before their show at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of rock band Sleater-Kinney visited The Current studio for a freewheeling conversation with host Mac Wilson. Mystery aircraft, homemade granola, and a one-song setlist were among the topics in this fun and lighthearted chat. Carrie Brownstein also shares an unlikely question she received while eating at Keys Café in downtown St. Paul.

Listen to the complete interview above and read a transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Mac Wilson: It's 5:37 in the afternoon, I'm Mac Wilson, and it's my privilege to welcome Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney to The Current studio. Welcome.

Corin Tucker: Hi, thanks for having us.

Carrie Brownstein: Hello.

Mac Wilson: Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule and making it in. Corin, we were talking just before we went on the air that you were able to make it into town, like between the snowstorms, because we got some snow on Friday, and we're getting another one tomorrow, but your your bus was able to get in. And you're playing at the Palace Theatre tonight. So welcome back.

Corin Tucker: Thanks. We're really looking forward to it.

Mac Wilson: So I was thinking beforehand, like what's the last time that Sleater-Kenny were in town? And I looked down at my shirt, and I'm wearing the Rock The Garden shirt! You were able to join us out at the Walker Art Center in the Sculpture Garden a couple of years back for Rock The Garden, wound up being the final time that we did Rock The Garden.

So when you're playing a festival setting, as opposed to in a theater like this, I just am curious to ask like, where's your head in one space as opposed to the other? I'm guessing that it's different. But how is it different for you?

Corin Tucker: I think that, you know, when you're playing a festival, there's a kind of a rush of, like, I mean, I think we we flew in, right? And we like had to go and run to soundcheck, and I just remember the runner that picked us up was like so nice. But he did, he was making a right on red, and he said, "Oh, I'm gonna do it because it's a cultural emergency." And it was like, I was like, so excited by that. So it's just different. You know, you can take your time inside a theater, whereas at a festival, it's kind of like you're just rushing, rushing rushing. 

Mac Wilson: You've kind of got the ticking clock. Yeah.

Carrie Brownstein: Yeah, for sure. And, you know, there's a whole bunch of bands playing and you have to be respectful of everybody's time. And it's more of a communal setting. And yeah, it feels different. It feels more like a collective experience. And often it's a one-off show. So you know, you're not playing a series of shows like you do on tour. So it's a little trial by fire, flying by the seat of your pants, which has its own kind of adrenaline rush, but I think we prefer being on tour and showing up, and, you know, being tight and rested and kind of doing our own thing.

Mac Wilson: So as a resource for the The Current hosts in the studio, we've got a lineup of a lot of the summer festivals on the wall here, and I didn't see your name on there at all. Are there any of the big festivals that you're playing at any point? Or are you sticking to theater shows for the most part?

Corin Tucker: I think we are working on some stuff. I'm not sure what's been announced yet.

Carrie Brownstein: In Canada and in England, and in Europe.

Corin Tucker: There's a couple of U.S. ones that we're still working on.

Carrie Brownstein: OK, well, Corin is letting me know that now.

Mac Wilson: Well there you have it, if you're listening in and you're over in Europe, your ears are perking up and you're going, "Oh boy, Sleater-Kinney, they'll be making it over at some point soon." So that's exciting. So I was reading an interview with the band The Kills a couple of weeks back, and they were like, "You can ask us about absolutely anything. Don't ask us about our personal life or the pandemic. Anything else goes." I laughed at that. And I'm like, well, that's sort of like, general ground rules for talking to anybody after the last couple of years. But I'm curious, Carrie and Corin, are there any interesting, unique hobbies that specifically you've picked up over the last couple of years? Hobbies or interests?

Corin Tucker: I did learn to make my own granola, which is like maybe the most boring hobby ever during the pandemic. But, you know, we had some time there.

Mac Wilson: Are there multiple schools of thought, like competing ideologies behind the best way to make granola? Or is it a fairly straightforward thing?

Corin Tucker: Oh yeah, it's a real rabbit hole you can go down for sure. 

Mac Wilson: Is it one of those where there's like Facebook groups with thousands people that argue?

Corin Tucker: Of course! (laughs)

Mac Wilson: Oh, wow. I'm sort of being facetious, and at the same time, it's like, you know, I'm sure over the last couple of years, people would actually get into that.

Corin Tucker: Yeah.

Mac Wilson: One interest that I've gotten into is kind of the idea of aviation over the last couple of years, like tracking airplanes. And I don't know whether you noticed in downtown St. Paul, there has been an airplane circling downtown for the entire day. Today I drove in, I'm like, "What is on this? Is this a welcome for Sleater-Kinney?" It turns out it's for Pink Whitney Vodka.

Corin Tucker: I actually did see that when I got off the bus and was walking around this morning. I was like, "Is it some sort of, like, righteous cause?"

Carrie Brownstein: I thought it was a political campaign.

Corin Tucker: Yeah.

Carrie Brownstein: But it's not.

Mac Wilson: I got close enough. I could see the word "shot." And I'm like, "Oh, great. This is gonna be like a conspiracy theory type thing." And then you get closer. It's like, "Take a shot of this vodka." So yeah, it was... 

Carrie Brownstein: By the way, that pilot has been up there for a long time, and I worry that he needs to refuel.

Mac Wilson: Well, I said that I have been tracking it. I think they sent up a second airplane at some point. So I think it was one person circling for a while, then they probably landed the other at the airport. Then they sent up another person. I don't even know of any big events because...

Carrie Brownstein: Sorry to interrupt you.

Mac Wilson: Go ahead. 

Carrie Brownstein: There's a huge event today, which is hockey. There's a huge hockey tournament that's been going on. I had breakfast here in St. Paul at Keys Bakery. And everyone there was talking hockey. They asked if I was in town for the hockey game. So there are actually hordes of fans here in St. Paul, and Minneapolis. And that's probably why they're flying over the city.

Mac Wilson: That's probably it. Yeah, I want to say it's one of the college ones, because the high school one we wrapped up earlier in the month, which is a huge thing. They sell out the arena every time. I think you're right. I think it's one of the maybe what either one of the college ones are the wild playing. So it is hockey. OK. Well, the more you know. Cool. Well, they're also welcoming Sleater-Kinney playing at the Palace Theatre this evening.

Corin Tucker: Our airplane is just going up a little bit later this evening.

Mac Wilson: Well, if you could charter an airplane to fly over any given spot, what spot would you pick? And what would the message be on the airplane? 

Corin Tucker: Um, it might be just over the whole U.S., and it would just say "Vote."

Carrie Brownstein: Oh, really? OK. But not specifically for anyone, just to vote?

Corin Tucker: Yeah.

Carrie Brownstein: I know, but then you can get really get into trouble there. Yeah, I don't know what I would send up. I feel like it's a very old fashioned way of advertising. I do appreciate that. It's old school.

Mac Wilson: We are here in The Current studio with Carrie and Corin from Sleater-Kinney, who are taking the stage later tonight at the Palace Theatre. As this tour has progressed, do you have a pretty set setlist that you've got? Like you've probably got the core songs from the new record Little Rope, and then diving into the back catalogue as well. But if somebody has been following you around, like, for the last several shows, what can they expect on any given night, as you're comparing it, the nights that you're out?

Carrie Brownstein: Well, you're right that we play about nine out of the 10 songs from Little Rope. But that only comprises maybe a third of our set. So, you know, we have 11 albums, we try to go back and play a handful of songs from each of them. And we were tuning into what people were saying on social media on leaving messages on Instagram in terms of what they wanted to hear from the really early records. So we are incorporating songs from self-titled or Call The Doctor, which came out in '95 and '96 respectively. Dig Me Out, The Woods. So yeah, it's kind of a grab bag. We try to pull out some things that are unexpected, and also cater to, you know, the songs that we know people like. We don't want to be punishing; we've all gone to those concerts. I'm not going to name names. I went to a show once, where they improvised for 60 minutes and then played like the one single they'd released off that album. And I just thought, "That's a bold move. We're not doing that."

Mac Wilson: Was it Sonic Youth?

Carrie Brownstein: Yeah, it was, actually.

Mac Wilson: It was?

Carrie Brownstein: Do you remember that?

Mac Wilson: There was an article, a long-form piece that came out a while back about their last U.S. shows and how they were absolutely going back into the vault and just getting really, really bizarre for their final shows. So that was in the mind, and I'm like, "I'm gonna throw it out there. I'm gonna guess, is it Sonic Youth?" And it was.

Carrie Brownstein: It was. Actually, though, it was early, it was Washing Machine, I think was the album. It was a long time ago. Listen, Sonic Youth, they're great improvisers, you know? But it's definitely a move, knowing that, you know, by then they had Goo out, they had Dirty, they had albums that were pretty accessible. But I mean, you know, all of their early stuff. They just have a wide-ranging catalog. And then they were like, "You know what? We're gonna jam. And then at the end, we'll get to the one song." And that's something you can do, but we will not be doing that.

Mac Wilson: I wanted to say, too, congratulations belatedly, on the 25th anniversary of The Hot Rock, we commemorated it on the air a couple of weeks ago. So congratulations on that one, one of the many milestones in the catalog. So it's good to have you back in action. So as we see you out the door, I actually did dial one up from the debut release. The debut, it's something like 22 minutes long, which is something that I forget sometimes, but it's fast and furious. I mean, you keep all of your records fairly concise, but man, it goes by in like 22, 23 minutes. So it's very cool going back to the beginning.

Carrie Brownstein: To be fair, I do think we called it an EP. But that is our shortest album, for sure. We're very concise.

Mac Wilson: There you have it. So Sleater-Kinney, Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker, you're playing tonight at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, thank you again for coming in. Thank you for being longtime friends of The Current. One more note before I finally let you get on your way and do what you do for business, when you played at the Palace Theatre back in 2019, we recorded, we live streamed the show and we recorded it.

I don't know if either of you are active on the Letterboxd platform with movies. You can log that concert on there. Like I was Googling it, and it's on Letterboxd. People are very enthusiastic. They're like, "This is great. Carrie should talk about geography more often and give more speeches about that live," so that's...

Carrie Brownstein: Oh my god, just you even saying the word "speeches" associated with a show makes me want to zip my mouth. But we were interviewed recently on Letterboxd. We love The Current, we love Letterboxd. We're avid supporters of both.

Mac Wilson: I looked it up, the last 10 — I'm watching movies with my kids, were going through it, and the last 10 I've watched have all been rewatches — but maybe I'll go back to the Sleater-Kinney live at the Palace for that one after the show tonight. Carrie and Corin, thank you for stopping by today, and thanks for being longtime friends of The Current.

Corin Tucker: Thanks for your support. We really appreciate it.

Credits

Guests – Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney
Host – Mac Wilson
Producer – Derrick Stevens
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

External Link

Sleater-Kinney – official site