Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.06.2006, Qupperneq 19

Sleater-Kinney Interview
by sveinn birkir björnsson
The Riot Grrl threesome of Carrie Brownstein, Janet
Weiss and Corin Tucker, collectively known as Sleater-
Kinney has been touring Europe in support of the latest
release, The Woods. The act will perform at club NASA
in Reykjavík, on the 4th of June. The Grapevine got
in touch wit Janet Weiss and Corin Tucker for a brief
interview.
/// First off, is this looks like you girls are moving up,
you are (or have been) playing a lot big name festivals
(Big Day Out, Coachella, Lollapalooza), and you’ve
signed with a pretty big label... You even get to play in
Iceland... Is this the year Sleater-Kinney finally breaks
through the mainstream barrier?
Janet: It doesn’t look like we’ll be breaking through any
mainstream barrier anytime soon. The barrier is some-
thing we’d rather leave untouched, thank you very much.
Our goals and aspirations remain in the artistic realm.
We have played some bigger festivals, but we usually go
onstage early, before the main acts even hit the site.
Corin: But we’ve really enjoyed playing the larger festi-
vals, and I think we’ve proven ourselves to be a live act
that is worthy of a large crowd. It’s a good accomplish-
ment.
/// You recently moved from small, indie label called
Kill Rock Stars to Sub PobWhat prompted that move?
Especially as you have always taken a fierce pride in
being on a small indie label?
Corin: We wanted to try a different set up and perhaps
put our band into a different context. We wanted to
suprise people a little bit.
Janet: We try and take pride in all our decisions. We left
Kill Rock Stars and for a year we had no label at all. Our
relationship with them had become like an old married
couple, and we wanted to re-energize the bussiness side
of our record making. We still think quite fondly of Kill
Rock Stars though.
/// Your latest album, The Woods, sounds a little less
punk thanearlier releases, perhaps more structurally
complex, was this aconscious decision to move away
from your punk roots, perhaps in aneffort to reach a
wider audience?
Janet: I think we moved away from punk roots on The
Hot Rock album. Our value system is based in DIY and
punk rock, but we have never tried to sound like Black
Flag.
Corin: We wanted to make a more experimental record,
and the music is a bit more complex than some of our
older punk songs. But it wasn’t an effort to be more com-
mercial necessarily, just to push ourselves musically.
Janet: Anyway, I don’t think a 15 minute song with a 5
minute improvisation in the middle would be considered
by anyone alive to be a step in a commercial direction.
/// Sleater-Kinney has been a pretty political band, and
you have been vocal on feminist issues and pro-choice
matters. Where does the political interest come from?
Corin: We’re all just opinionated people, and come from
a music scene where artists are often involved in politics,
or activism.
/// Do you feel any obligation to get a message across to
younger female audience through your music?
Corin: I don’t feel we’re obligated to convey a message,
but I do think we can inspire young women to keep
working at what they love.
Janet: Yes, play your own instruments, write your own
songs, and be fearless when it comes to your music.
/// You hail from the Pacific-Northwest, which has
been sort of an anti-corporate hotbed, which seems
kind of funny, considering some of the big corporations
located in the region, Starbucks, Boeing, Microsoft,
Nike, etc. How can you be so corporate and yet anti-
corporate?
Janet: The region is quite beautiful. I guess being close
with nature might encourage one to protect it.
Corin: Yeah, The Pacific Northwest is very beautiful,
and natural. I think people would like to keep it green up
there, and challenge corporations that pollute the area.
/// I recently saw you perform on the Henry Rollins
Show, did he flex his biceps?
Corin: Henry Rollins is a very charming guy, and I hope
his show does well. We had a great time playing on it.
Janet: I didn’t watch the show. The people who worked
there were awfully nice though, but I don’t really see a
show like that taking off.
/// So what do you guys like to do on tour? Do you have
off days to do some tourist stuff, or do you smash up
hotel rooms or what?
Corin: Recently we had some time in Brussels, which is a
beautiful city. We try to walk around and see as much as
we can. And then we smash up the hotel!
Janet: I think we are the most boring band in the world.
Drive, play, shower, sleep, eat, drive, play, eat... etc.
/// What are you guys listening to on tour? Any good
recommendations?
Janet: We listen separately on headphones in the van, so
I can only speak for myself, but I’ve been listening to The
Cure, Wilco, The Gossip, Joanna Newsom, and some
other stuff.
Corin: My new favorite record is the Bruce Springsteen
Pete Seeger Sessions. It’s so inspiring.
Gunnar Hrafn Jónsson on Reykjavík Dining Photos by Skari
Under ISK 1000
Between ISK 1000
and ISK 2500
Between ISK 2500
and ISK 4000$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Over ISK 4000
DINING, EATING
GRUBBING&
Bankastræti 2
Tel.: 551-4430
$ $
LæKJARBREKKA
$
Bergstaðastræti 37
Tel.: 552-5700
$
HóTEL HOLT
$
Ah, Hótel Holt. A fancy hotel with an even
fancier restaurant and home to what must be
the fanciest art gallery this side of Fancyland.
This reviewer has fond childhood memories
of running up his grandparents’ credit card
bills by ordering cheese sandwiches from the
Holt’s gourmet kitchen at all kinds of incon-
venient times, crawling all over the expensive
leather furniture and being told not to touch
the Cuban cigars and to stop poking the
antique books.
Coming back for a meal recently, and
on decidedly better behaviour, the experi-
ence was more sober and refined. As soon
as you enter the gallery, which is basically
the interior of the restaurant/lobby, you are
greeted by a large collection of paintings by
all the greats of Icelandic art. It is sometimes
said to be the most valuable single collection
in Iceland, and looking around for a moment
it’s not hard to believe. As an added bonus,
the walls in the cognac room are lined with
shelves of ancient-looking books, the only
one we could see a date on said 1738, and it
clearly wasn’t the oldest.
We were suitably impressed, then, before
the meal even began. Having been told that
an inexperienced person might accidentally
request a 100,000 ISK bottle of wine, we left
the selection to our waiter, and he brought
us back… eh, something good. Probably
French. You can tell we were out of our
element here. Underlining that fact was
our waiter for the evening: Jeeves, Jr. This
was someone who took his job so seriously
you got the feeling he would never forgive
himself if your glass of water went below the
half-empty mark. For all his professionalism
he would have done well to crack a smile,
though, but I suppose that’s forbidden by
contract these days.
The food consisted of modern versions of
French haute cuisine, with foam and delicate
little side dishes much in evidence. It was all
very good, but perhaps not as mind-blowing
as one was expecting from a restaurant with
such an impeccable reputation. It may be that
the Holt is simply a victim of its own success
in that regard, served anywhere else a meal
like that would probably surprise you with its
quality.
Austurstræti 4
Tel.: 551-0292
$ $
SHALIMAR
Shalimar is a restaurant that several mem-
bers of the Grapevine staff like to frequent,
and its friendly service and authentic South
Asian cuisine once earned it our Bezt í Hei-
mi award (you can still see the article posted
in their window). Not wanting anyone to
become complacent, though, we feel that
even the best places need to be re-reviewed
from time to time.
When we checked back in with Shali-
mar, it became apparent that little had
changed except perhaps the place’s popular-
ity. The naan is still great, the dishes spicy
enough to feel like the real deal without
causing permanent injury, and the staff are
some of the most helpful around. The night
we arrived it seemed like just about everyone
else in Reykjavík got the same idea, though,
so it is a real credit to the staff that they
actually got us our food in a timely fashion
while doing the same for dozens of others
on two f loors. Incidentally, on that night we
opted for the vegetable korma, the Punjabi
masala f ish and some garlic and Peshawari
naan. All were predictably good, as was the
mixed rice dish that came with the main
courses.
The only problem a casual diner might
have with the experience is the fact that the
main courses are not all that plentiful. This
stems from the fact that they are designed to
be accompanied by a variety of breads, rice,
chutney and the like. Just order a couple of
side dishes and you will walk away full.
Lastly, you must try the lassi, a yoghurt-like
drink that not only takes the edge off the
spices but tastes great as an after-dinner
treat. We recommend the mango variety.
Situated in one of the older buildings
in downtown Reykjavík (built in 1834),
Lækjarbrekka has been a celebrated institu-
tion of f ine dining since the location was
extensively renovated in the early eighties.
On an interesting historical side note, the
house was originally built as a bakery by the
f irst bread mogul of Iceland: Danish-born
Daniel Bernhöft, who also founded Bern-
höft’s Bakarí, the country’s oldest operating
bakery.
As you would expect, the interior of
Lækjarbrekka is in keeping with the archi-
tecture outside, creating a cosy but elegant
feeling by imitating elements of design from
the period in which the house was originally
built. The service we got immediately upon
our arrival was professional but, thank god,
personal. There is a tendency for some of the
more exclusive restaurants in Iceland to hire
competent but emotionally vacant waitstaff
– as if someone cracking a smile while pour-
ing your wine might ruin the ambiance. Not
so here, our waiter was helpful and cheerful
throughout, which is so much more relax-
ing than being part of some kind of scripted
performance.
When the menus came we opted for a
selection of game and lobster, dubbed Game
Feast and Lobster Feast respectively on the
menu. Considering the ingredients and the
skill with which they were prepared, these
meals were actually very reasonably priced
at just under 6,000 ISK for all three courses.
The puff in, reindeer, lobster, duck and
more lobster were all expertly prepared and
presented, so, once again, we are forced to
sound like a tourist brochure in the res-
taurant review section. From the creamy
lobster soup to the skyr dessert I especially
requested instead of ice cream, there was
hardly a false note, and the wine and cognac
that the waiter recommended f it perfectly.
In a desperate attempt at being critical, we
must admit a post-meal massage from a fair
maiden would have been nice.
$ $
$
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