Take a peek inside the diary of a punk rock comedian
Carrie Brownstein mines history of Sleater-Kinney in memoir
Sleater-Kinney’s first album was recorded in a “ratinfested, sawdust-covered” garage. On tour, the band rarely had a crew — they unloaded their own gear from cramped, smelly vans and slept on floors across America. There were no groupies.
In Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, guitarist/ singer Carrie Brownstein details the constant struggle that existed even when Sleater-Kinney was named the best rock band in the United States by Time magazine in 2001.
The 41-year-old is not only a beloved musician but also the co-creator of the Emmy-nominated sketch comedy show Portlandia.
But she’s not your typical musician-turned-actor seeking to prolong her fame. Her pursuits target those on the margins, eventually being embraced by a larger audience than intended.
Her memoir will probably follow suit. She is a talented writer who weaves together her own story in a relatable way — somehow convincing you she grew up feeling just as uncool as you did.
The book begins with Brownstein’s shaky family life in suburban Seattle, something that left her longing for a sense of community. In her teens, she found it in the riot grrrl movement — a feminist reaction to sexism in rock at the time.
Brownstein experimented with a number of bands before forming Sleater-Kinney in 1994.
Although the book focuses on the development of the band, Brownstein provides thoughtful criticism — for instance, on how the media constantly misunder- stood bands like hers (being inaccurately outed by SPIN magazine probably didn’t help nurture any goodwill).
But she also looks inward with her criticism — she grew weary with her own community, finding it exclusionary when it was meant to be a refuge for outsiders.
“Eventually, I started to cringe at the elitism that was paired with punk,” Brownstein writes.
The memoir is required reading for Sleater-Kinney fans who want to understand the band’s creative process, interpersonal relationships and ultimately, its survival.
The band took a hiatus from 2006 until their latest album was released in early 2015. But Brownstein says little about the years in between — for instance, how she went from rocking out to doing comedy sketches such as “put a bird on it.”
This will definitely disappoint Portlandia fans, but her insight into the punk scene in the Pacific Northwest and her vivid prose make it worth reading anyway. Sadiya Ansari is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist based in Toronto.