In a surprise move earlier this month, Janet Weiss announced that she had left Sleater-Kinney, saying in her announcement, “The band is heading in a new direction and it is time for me to move on.” This came not long after the group announced the upcoming release of their new album, The Center Won’t Hold.
At the time, the remaining members of the band, Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, responded to the statement with one of their own, in which they said, “We are saddened by Janet’s decision to leave Sleater-Kinney. It’s been an incredible privilege to work with such a talent musician and drummer over the course of so many albums, including The Center Won’t Hold.” Now Brownstein has spoken more about Weiss’s departure, and she made it clear that the group tried their best to keep Weiss around.
In the comments of a recent Instagram post from Brownstein, a fan asked, “Why haven’t y’all made a statement about her leaving? People are buying tickets to your tour. Many of us bought them expecting Janet to be a part of it, and we want to know what’s up.” Brownstein shared a lengthy response to the comments, saying that she and Tucker asked Weiss to stay, that her departure is “hard and sad,” and that Weiss “raved about this album to us and to [producer Annie Clark].” Brownstein wrote:
“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.”
Find the original Instagram comment here.
The Center Won’t Hold is out 8/16 via Mom + Pop. Pre-order it here.
