SleaterKinney: Reunited and ready to rock

After breaking down so many barriers for women in rock, SleaterKinney are back on the road again, writes Ed Power

CORIN TUCKER laughs wryly. She is contemplating her band Sleater-Kinney’s status as icons of American alternate rock. That isn’t, she would like to point out, what people were saying about the all-female three-piece 20 years ago. The reaction from the mosh-pit was, she recalls, rather lewder.

“There weren’t that many women playing rock at the time,” remembers the guitarist. “People would heckle us. There was a lot of antagonism. We were ready to fight for what we wanted. But we were pushing hard for sure. The idea of women playing guitar was difficult for some to get their heads around.”