Corin Tucker | |
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![]() Tucker performing live with Sleater-Kinney in London, 2015 | |
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Birth name | Corin Lisa Tucker |
Born | State College, Pennsylvania, U.S. | November 9, 1972
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Corin Lisa Tucker (born November 9, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for her work with rock band Sleater-Kinney. [1] [2] Tucker is also a member of the alternative rock supergroup Filthy Friends, and previously recorded with the punk band Heavens to Betsy as well as The Corin Tucker Band. [2] [3]
Entertainment Weekly writes, "Corin Tucker’s place in rock history is already set in stone, and her work in the riot grrrl era is pretty much peerless, thanks to the muscular guitar style, otherworldly wail, and knack for punchy, pounding three-minute blasts she brought to such great heights with riot queens Sleater-Kinney." [4] Rolling Stone called her “a punk-rock heroine." [5] In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Tucker at number 155 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. [6]
Tucker was born in State College, Pennsylvania, and spent her childhood in Grand Forks, North Dakota. [1] [2] [7] There, her father was a college professor and her mother was a medical technician. [2] [7] Her father is also a folk singer and musician. [2] [8] She began studying piano when she was twelve. [2] In high school in Eugene, Oregon, she was in a band with friends called This That. [2]
Tucker says she "grew up on the Beatles" but that "her mind was completely blown" when she heard R.E.M.'s album Murmur when she was eleven. [9] Her other musical influences include the Soundtrack from The Wizard of Oz , Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' I Love Rock 'N' Roll , The B-52's, Pat Benatar's Get Nervous, Television's Marquee Moon, and Bikini Kill. [10] [7] Her first concert was to see the band X in Eugene around 1987. [7]
In 1990, Tucker attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where she studied film, political economy, and social change. [2] She was also exposed to the music scene in Olympia. [2] Tucker said, "I was 18 when I went to a show that Bratmobile and Bikini Kill played. It was February 14, 1991...It was the first time I'd seen feminism translated into an emotional language. For young women to be doing that, basically teenagers on stage, to be taking that kind of stance, that kind of power, was blowing people's minds. And it totally blew my mind. I was like, 'OK, that's it. That's it for me — I'm going in a band, right now.'" [2] The result was the band Heavens to Betsy. [2]
In her first year at Evergreen, Tucker made a documentary about women in music. [2] The documentary included footage of early shows by Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, and interviews with Beat Happening and Nirvana. [2] Tucker graduated from college in 1994. [2]
She says her role models are Maya Angelou, Nora Ephron, and Patti Smith. [7] [8] As Tucker puts its, "Women who have had really long careers and done a lot of different things." [7]
Although she later relocated to Portland, Oregon, Tucker still describes herself as "a small-town girl" from Eugene. [11]
Starting in 1991, Tucker has been a singer, guitarist, and songwriter in several rock bands. [8] In 1999, Esquire wrote that Tucker "has been the most interesting singer in pop music since 1991, when she first opened her mouth in public, in a two-woman drums-and-guitar punk band with the wonderful name of Heavens to Betsy." [12]
Tucker is usually the front person and lead singer. One reviewer noted, "Her voice is enormous, with a natural swing--the sort of swing that neither Tina Turner nor Mick Jagger has ever had, the ability to take a note and ring it like a bell in a tower." [12]
Tucker was a founding member of the influential riot grrrl band Heavens to Betsy along with Tracy Sawyer, a longtime friend from Eugene, Oregon. [2] [13] Tucker played the first public show of her career when the band performed at the International Pop Underground Convention in August 1991. [14] [15] Heavens to Betsy recorded a split single with Bratmobile, and several singles for independent record labels. [2] The band released a self-titled demo in 1992, the four-song 7" record These Monsters Are Real in 1992, the album Calculated in 1994, and the 7" four-song Direction in 1994. [13] [2] The band broke up in 1994. [2] Rolling Stone wrote, "Heavens to Betsy [was] one of the standout acts connected to the riot-grrrl movement." [8]
Heartless Martin, was Tucker's "one-off collaboration" with Becca Albee of Excuse 17. [16] Heartless Martin released a five-song EP, Tonigh. [16]
After Heavens to Betsy split in 1994, Tucker formed Sleater-Kinney with Excuse 17 member Carrie Brownstein and friend Lora McFarlane. Tucker wrote most of the lyrics, sang lead vocals, and played second guitar to Brownstein's lead, with the duo collaborating on music. [17] [8] Janet Weiss eventually replaced McFarlane on drums. [12] In 1999, Esquire said Sleater-Kinney was "the best band in the world." [12] They released seven albums over eleven years before going on hiatus in 2006. [2] On August 12, 2006, the band played what was supposed to be their final show at Crystal Ballroom in Portland. [2] However, the band reunited and recorded No Cities to Love in 2015, followed by The Center Won't Hold in 2019, and Path of Wellness in 2021. [17] [18] [19]
While in Sleater-Kinney, Tucker worked on a side project, Cadallaca, with organist Sarah Dougher and drummer STS of The Lookers. [20] [2] [21] In 1998, Cadallaca released their first album Introducing Cadallaca . [20] [21] They released an EP, Out West, on Kill Rock Stars in 2000. [21] [2]
In April 2010, Tucker announced she was recording a solo album for Kill Rock Stars. [22] Unwound's Sara Lund and Golden Bear's' Circus Lupus and Seth Lorinczi assisted Tucker with this project which was dubbed The Corin Tucker Band. [22] [23] The album 1,000 Years was released on October 5, 2010, and was streamed via NPR. [24] The album's eleven songs were different from other Tucker projects—many of the songs were slower folk and Americana, and Tucker played acoustic guitar. [22] [23] [25] Tucker said the album is "definitely more of a middle-aged mom record, in a way. It's not a record that a young person would write... There's some sadness, some reinvention, some rebirth." [22] She cited post-punk acts like the English Beat, The Raincoats, The Slits, and Sinead O'Connor's The Lion and the Cobra as influences for 1,000 Years. [22] [25]
Most reviews of the album were positive. [26] Rolling Stone wrote, "She's not shredding the awesome vocal cords so much, but she gets fierce in other ways, trying on cellos and piano ballads. When she finally cranks it up Sleater-Kinney-style on 'Doubt,' it feels earned: a cry of self-determination, as inspiring as ever." [26] Pitchfork said, "This album's strengths—its intimacy, its containment, its subtlety—are not the qualities that made Sleater-Kinney great, but it would be ungenerous to dismiss this because it's not as thrilling, confrontational, or exuberant." [26] However, an Entertainment Weekly reviewer wrote that the album's songs "sound scrapbooked from other ’90s-centric acts (Liz Phair, Pavement) but never take on a form of their own." [27] The band toured on both U.S. coasts to support 1,000 Years, in addition to a few festival dates in other parts of the country. [22] [24]
The Corin Tucker Band's second album, Kill My Blues , was released on September 18, 2012, and contained twelve songs. [4] [28] In an interview, Tucker said, "For this record, we really bonded, the four of us, being on tour and playing music together, so in writing this record, we all worked together in the practice space, writing these songs and just enjoying the writing process and everything that came out of it." [5] The resulting songs cover "the finite nature of existence, the stalemate of our political climate, a moment in the transition from girlhood to womanhood…[and] love of different kinds." [5] This album also sounded more like a Sleater-Kinney album than 1,000 Years. [4] One reviewer wrote, "This album harks somewhat to the glory days of the Riot Grrrl Olympia scene of the late ’90s, but it’s by no means retrospective or reactionary." [29] However, another reviewer correctly predicted Kill My Blues "will inevitably go down as one of the most underrated albums of the year." [4] This album was also supported by a nationwide tour. [30]
Alt-rock "supergroup" Filthy Friends is another side project for Tucker, with Tucker on lead vocals and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck on guitar, along with other musician friends rounding out the band. [3] [31] The two met when Tucker's husband worked on a film project with R.E.M. [9] Formed in 2014, Filthy Friends has released two albums: Invitation (2017) and Emerald Valley (2019). [9] [2] On both albums, Tucker wrote the majority of the lyrics to match Buck's music. [31]
On Emerald Valley, she played Buck's Fender Musicmaster guitar. [31] Tucker said, "It's a smaller-sized Fender guitar, and I love it. It's really different, and it makes me play differently in this band, because I usually play a Gibson Les Paul and I'm usually a rhythm guitar player, almost a bass player, in Sleater-Kinney." [31]
Tucker has worked on a variety of other musical projects. She sang back-up vocals on two of Peter Buck's solo albums, including Peter Buck (2013). [32] [9] She sang a duet with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam for the title track of John Doe's EP The Golden State in 2008. [33] [2] She also provided vocals for the song "Hard Sun" on Vedder's soundtrack for the 2007 film Into the Wild . [2] In 2013, she covered the title track "Shine On," for the album released by The Jim Henson Company as part of the Fraggle Rock's 30th anniversary celebration. [34]
Tucker has also dabbled in television and film. She appeared in two episodes of bandmate Carrie Brownstein's television show Portlandia, portraying a member of the fictional band Echo Echo. [35] [2] [36] In addition, Portlandia was first filmed at Tucker's house and she was the camera crew. [7]
Tucker is in the following films portraying herself: The Punk Singer (2013), Burn to Shine 03: Portland, OR (2006), and Don't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl (2005), as well as an episode of the television show The L Word (2006) and the web series Sound Advice (2015). [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]
Tucker previously identified as a lesbian, but now identifies as bisexual. [42] [43] [25] She came out to her family when she was nineteen years old. [44] She briefly dated bandmate Carrie Brownstein at the beginning of Sleater-Kinney in May 1994, a fact that was revealed to the world in a now-infamous Spin article. [2] [44] Tucker called the article a "pain in the ass." [44] She said, "We weren't asked about our personal lives in the interview. We talked about things we thought were really important, and what they printed was that we dated. It just came out as being gossip." [44] Tucker wrote the Sleater-Kinney song "One More Hour" about her breakup with Brownstein. [45] [46]
Tucker has been outspoken in her support of the pro-choice movement. [2] [7] An ardent feminist, she believes it is more important than ever for women to fight for equality. [25] She also spoke against the Iraq War, despite offending audiences. [2] In her songs with Filthy Friends, she has protested deforestation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and oil pipelines. [31]
She got her only tattoo when she was eighteen—it's the name “Heavens to Betsy” in cursive with a star on either side, on her ankle. [7]
Tucker married filmmaker Lance Bangs in June 2000 in Iceland. [2] They have a son, Marshall Tucker Bangs (born March 8, 2001), and a daughter, Glory Bangs (born 2008). [47] [48] [2] Marshall was born prematurely. [2]
Outside of music, she is in web development and interactive media for a healthcare company. [7] In addition, she makes training and informational videos for the healthcare company. [7] She also designed and ran a website for her father's business. [23]
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Sleater-Kinney is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's lineup features Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, following the departure of longtime member Janet Weiss in 2019. Sleater-Kinney originated as part of the riot grrrl movement and has become a key part of the American indie rock scene. The band is also known for its feminist and progressive politics.
The port city of Olympia, Washington, has been a center of post-hardcore, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since the late 1970s. Before this period, Olympia's The Fleetwoods had several Billboard chart successes between 1959 and 1963. Olympia saw a rise in feminism in the music industry, where artists commonly addressed rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism, and female empowerment in their songs. It was a center for the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s, which featured Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.
Heavens to Betsy was an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1991 with vocalist and guitarist Corin Tucker and drummer Tracy Sawyer. The duo were part of the DIY riot grrrl, punk rock underground, and were Tucker's first band before she co-formed Sleater-Kinney.
Carrie Rachel Brownstein is an American musician, actress, writer, director, and comedian. She first came to prominence as a member of the band Excuse 17 before forming the rock trio Sleater-Kinney.
Excuse 17 was a punk rock band from Olympia, Washington, US, that performed and recorded from 1993 to 1995. The band consisted of Becca Albee, Carrie Brownstein, and Curtis James (drums). The band recorded two full-length albums and a single, and contributed to several compilation albums.
Janet Lee Weiss is an American rock drummer, a member of Quasi and former member of Sleater-Kinney. She was the drummer for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, leaving after the album Mirror Traffic, and contributed to the Shins' fourth studio album, Port of Morrow (2012). She was also the drummer for the supergroup Wild Flag.
Sleater-Kinney is the debut studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released in 1995 by Chainsaw Records. The album received favorable reviews from critics.
One Beat is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on August 20, 2002, by Kill Rock Stars. It was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded between March and April 2002 at Jackpot! Studio in Portland, Oregon. The album peaked at number 107 in the United States on the Billboard 200 and entered the Billboard Top Independent Albums at number five. One Beat was very well received by critics. Praise centered on its cathartic musical delivery and progressive politics.
Dig Me Out is the third studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on April 8, 1997, by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. Dig Me Out marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who would become the band's longest-serving drummer. The music on the record was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands, while the lyrics deal with issues of heartbreak and survival. The album cover is an homage to the Kinks' 1965 album The Kink Kontroversy.
All Hands on the Bad One is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on May 2, 2000, by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1999 to January 2000 at Jackpot! Studio in Portland, Oregon and John & Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. The music on the record ranges from softer melodies to fast punk rock guitar work, while the lyrics address issues such as women in rock, morality, eating disorders, feminism, music journalism, and media.
The Hot Rock is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on February 23, 1999, by Kill Rock Stars. It was produced by Roger Moutenot and recorded at the Avast! recording studio in Seattle, Washington in July 1998. The Hot Rock marks a considerable change in the band's sound, veering into a more relaxed and gloomy direction than the raucous punk rock style of its predecessors. The lyrical themes of the album explore issues of failed relationships and personal uncertainty.
Call the Doctor is the second studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney. It was released on March 25, 1996, by Chainsaw Records to critical acclaim.
Cadallaca was an indie rock band formed at a party in Portland, Oregon, United States, in 1997. The group consisted of Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney, Sarah Dougher of The Lookers, and sts, also of the Lookers (drums). The three women in the band adopted the nicknames Kissy, Dusty, and Junior. The band was often described as being an old-fashioned girl group, in the tradition of such acts as the Shangri-Las, with a feminist rhetoric.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington, and the greater Pacific Northwest, and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. A subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics, it is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less commonly for women.
1,000 Years is the first album by the Corin Tucker Band, released on October 5, 2010, and the first album Tucker released since Sleater-Kinney went on "hiatus" in 2006. She recorded the album along with Seth Lorinczi and Julianna Bright of both Golden Bears and Circus Lupus, as well as Sara Lund of Hungry Ghost and Unwound. Lorinzci was also the album's producer. The only single released from 1,000 Years was "Doubt".
Kill My Blues is the second solo album by Corin Tucker and her band, released on September 18, 2012 by Kill Rock Stars.
Becca Albee is an American musician and visual artist who was a founding member of the band Excuse 17, which was an early pioneer in the riot grrrl and third-wave feminism movements. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Filthy Friends is an alt-rock supergroup based in Portland, Oregon. The band is fronted by Corin Tucker and guitarist Peter Buck. The other members of the band include alumni from bands such as the Minus 5, King Crimson, The Baseball Project and Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3.
The Center Won't Hold is the ninth studio album by American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on August 16, 2019 by Mom + Pop Music. The album was produced by St. Vincent and is the last album with drummer Janet Weiss, who announced her departure from the band on July 1, 2019, a month before the album was released. Upon release, the album received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Path of Wellness is the tenth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney. The album was released on June 11, 2021 by Mom + Pop Music.