Carrie Brownstein Says She Didn't Write A Rock Memoir

Many musicians are ambivalent about penning autobiographies — some are superstitious, others wary of disclosure and scrutiny. But Brownstein approached Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, which focuses on the Sleater-Kinney years, as a discursive creative endeavour — not a history or even catharsis. "I don't really think my book falls into the world of a rock memoir — it doesn't really adhere to the tropes of that," Brownstein says, en route to London's Heathrow airport. "It's more of a story about a journey into creativity and using art and music as a means of finding community and a sense of belonging and a feeling of embodiment. The band was a better container for that story than, say, something like Portlandia. But, yeah, to me it doesn't read like a regular rock memoir, and that wasn't really my inspiration for it." Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl is absorbing, incisive, ruminative, poignant, wry and, yes, exquisitely written.

"I don't really think my book falls into the world of a rock memoir — it doesn't really adhere to the tropes of that."

Sleater-Kinney formed in Olympia, Washington in 1994 — with Brownstein, a sociolinguistics student, as main guitarist and Corin Tucker as lead vocalist. The two (briefly) romanced, and Sleater-Kinney's eponymous debut was cut in Melbourne during a random Australian "adventure". Later, they recruited Janet Weiss as their permanent drummer. Sleater-Kinney, associated with the Pacific Northwest's riot grrrl movement, became cult and critical faves, Greil Marcus a champion. Nevertheless, after 2005's bold seventh LP, The Woods, they dispersed. Brownstein, long battling anxiety, had suffered a nervous breakdown on tour. She'd go on to take regular jobs. She explored culture journalism. Most significantly, Brownstein threw herself into sketch comedy with Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen, developing the hipster satire Portlandia, otherwise little featured in Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl. "A lot of the ideas for Portlandia exist in the subtext of this book," Brownstein offers.

Narrating a story that involves loved ones is delicate, necessitating negotiation. Notably, Brownstein doesn't intimately detail her relationship with Tucker. "I feel like I was not trying to write the definitive Sleater-Kinney biography. I think it's my own perspective on the story, and I knew that people would be aware of that, especially the people included in the book. It's also not salacious or tawdry in any way, so I wasn't really concerned about offending anyone."

Brownstein grew up in middle-class surrounds, her father a corporate lawyer. However, her family disconnected. Brownstein chronicles her mother's struggle with anorexia, and ensuing departure, as well as her father's closeted sexuality. Amid it all, their pet dog was distressingly neglected. Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl is punk raw. "It's a story about family and ways that we seek substitutions for a lack thereof and so, if there were instances that helped shape that idea, then I included those," Brownstein says. For this innate performer, music signified liberation, and validation.

In an early Sleater-Kinney profile, Spin uncovered Brownstein's union with Tucker, outing, and "labelling", her (today she identifies as bisexual). "People look for aspects of identity to explain phenomena or to pinpoint a reason behind somebody's motivation or somebody's creativity, and I think that's just one way that people seem to have a way in. But, in general, there's kind of a voracious desire to know everything and a sense of entitlement about what we're allowed to know." In Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl Brownstein also analyses the media's sexist commentary on the band — which she attributes to "a lack of sophistication" and "linguistic deficits".

Brownstein has suggested that, for her, acting is "a mere hobby". Yet recently she scored a role in the Cannes hit Carol, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Price Of Salt, opposite Rooney Mara. "I'm only in that movie for a couple of seconds — a lot of it was cut down, which is a fairly common experience. But I'm a huge fan of [director] Todd Haynes... I just felt very lucky to have a few days on set with him. The audition process was really interesting and good for me to do — I like challenging myself." Meanwhile, Sleater-Kinney have "reassembled", releasing the acclaimed No Cities To Love. "We stayed friends in the intervening years, and I actually played in another band [Wild Flag] with Janet, so in some ways it was seamless," Brownstein says. Next year Sleater-Kinney will tour Australia, headlining Golden Plains' tenth anniversary.

Contemporary artists such as St Vincent and CHVRCHES' Lauren Mayberry laud Sleater-Kinney. And pop acts are embracing feminism, with even Miley Cyrus espousing gender fluidity, although Cyrus' corporeal politics have exposed a generational schism, Sinead O'Connor lambasting her "prostitution". Says Brownstein, "I think one crucial component to feminism is rejecting this kind of universality, the very notion of the universal, that there's one brand of feminism that can suit the needs of women. One thing that is great is that there are some varying and sometimes contradictory versions of feminism that intersect. That's ok. I think to criticise someone for their take on feminism is very counterproductive."