Corin Tucker a 1,000 Years after Sleater-Kinney

Riot Grrl's premier singer unleashes her fury on her solo debut

By Eleanor Whitney
Published: October 13th, 2010 | 7:00am

One of the distinctive voices of a generation of musicians, Corin Tucker has returned to making music after her lauded band Sleater-Kinney went on hiatus in 2006. Her new album 1,000 Years (Kill Rock Stars) is a standout rock album that once again showcases Tucker’s powerful voice and compelling songwriting. For this effort, Tucker teamed up with Seth Lorinczi to write and produce the songs—and drummer Sara Lund, of the critically acclaimed post-hardcore outfit Unwound, joins them on percussion to fill out the sound.

Tucker had been in the project Blue Giant since Sleater-Kinney’s hiatus. But when Lorinczi invited her to play with him and his wife Juliana’s group the Golden Bears at a benefit for Portland, Oregon’s small press emporium Reading Frenzy, Tucker felt a “creative click” happen between them. “Seth and I share a musical life,” she explains, pointing out that he came from the same D.C. punk tradition that was closely aligned with the underground rock coming from the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s.

And so they teamed up on what would be Tucker's solo debut. But unlike many bands that record an album under pressure in a studio, Lorinczi and Tucker took their time in making 1,000 Years. “Both of us have kids,” she explains, “So our writing time was morning at his house over coffee.” The rhythms of family life also came under consideration when it was time to find a drummer. “Sara is multitalented,” says Tucker, “And she also has a baby, so we thought that could work in terms of our lifestyles.”

Tucker describes working with Lorinczi as “a really rewarding experience where we came together after having known each other for so long and did something creative that we could chip away at.” An experienced producer with a home studio, Lorinczi helped Tucker develop the record and also encouraged her to try out new ideas. “'Half the World Away' was originally a sad lullaby, and Seth insisted that it was a rock song. I was resistant at first, but finally he won me over and it just took off. In addition, Sara added a rich dimension of percussion and helped with the story I was trying to tell.” Indeed, the song is lavishly textured, full of herky-jerky lead and crunchy rhythm guitars and unconventional percussion.

In comparison to Sleater-Kinney’s lushly produced later works such as The Woods (Sub Pop), the music on 1,000 Years has a rawer, more transparent feel. However, the record is pure and classic Tucker. Songs like “Riley,” “Doubt,” and “Pulling Pieces” have the vocal layering, all-encompassing choruses, dynamic composition, punk rock energy, and syncopated guitar interplay that made Sleater-Kinney so compelling in its heyday. There are plenty of soaring vocals and huge guitar solos, especially on “Big Goodbye,” proving that Tucker has not let her formidable guitar chops diminish. More down-tempo tracks such as “Handed Love,” “Dragon,” and the album’s closer “Miles Away,” feel like rock ballads accented with acoustic guitar and piano.

Each song unwinds like a self-contained narrative and, as such, 1,000 Years feels like a collection of stories bound together with a savvy authorial voice. “Hopefully each song is its own story,” says Tucker, “That’s what makes a good song—it’s a snapshot of an idea you are trying to get across.”

Tucker’s feminist politics are as much of a hallmark of her career as her music. On 1,000 Years, Tucker does not shy away from incorporating serious themes into her songwriting. “I think there’s some more themes that relate to being a little bit older. It’s an intense time in my life right now,” she reflects. Weighing heavily on the songs is the ongoing economic crises, evident on the haunting song “Thrift Store Coats,” about picking up and carrying on when you have almost nothing.

“It’s a really difficult time for our country right now and Oregon has been hit by the recession particularly hard. Being part of the community of people raising kids [in Portland] we saw a lot of people lose their jobs in 2008. That was something I felt compelled to write about. I felt so vulnerable. Especially when you have kids and you are supposed to have it all together."

As she has built her musical career, Tucker’s relationship with feminism has evolved. In the early 1990’s, she points out that, “Being a young activist so involved with feminism and riot grrrl, it felt like we were so desperate to be taken seriously as artists and as cultural workers.” Now she feels like that, while sexism is still a large issue for women in the music world and culture at large, she has seen positive changes. “There has been a surge of women doing music as a career and being serious musicians,” she observes. Personally she notes, “I feel more relaxed now in general as a human being. When you’re older you feel a bit less like ‘I need to change the world today,’ less frantic. There are easy ways to do good things for women every day.”

—

Corin Tucker official site

Sleater-Kinney official site

Kill Rock Stars