Sleater-Kinney, the punk rocking trio from Olympia, Washington, has been making smart, socially aware, sonically complex music since the mid-1990s. 2002's One Beat was both darker and more hopeful than the trio's previous All Hand's on the Band. Reflecting the both new, post-9/11 climate and the band members' expanding maturity and life experience, it ricochets from the stark horror of "Faraway" to the danceable joy of "Oh!" and "Prisstina", back to the soulful strength of "Sympathy". After a couple of false starts, we caught up with guitarist Carrie Brownstein via email to talk about the new album and life as one of rock's best and most adventurous bands.

Splendid: I wanted to start by asking you about making 9/11 music. Some of the stuff that has come out is just unbelievably simplistic and awful, and I like yours. How do you keep that really emotional stuff from going over the edge and being too much?

Carrie Brownstein: I don't think there is a formula, but I do try and stay away from anything trite or clichéd. It's difficult when you are singing about an experience that has been suffered through collectively. Instead of trying to encapsulate how everyone feels, I think it's better to write from one's own perspective. I also try to place a singular event into a broader context and use it as a metaphor for something else.

Splendid: I also like the fact, and you're the only ones that have done this so far to my knowledge, that you can acknowledge the horror of 9/11 in "Faraway" and still have the perspective to see what it's doing to the country in "Combat Rock". Most artists seem to pick one or the other, but not both. Were those songs written at different times?

Carrie Brownstein: These songs were actually written around the same time. I think that 9/11 carried with it many complexities. The media or the government may have wanted to reduce people's emotional responses to an American flag attached to a car, but I think most people felt a variety of things, possibly contradictory things.

However, I don't think "Faraway" and "Combat Rock" are opposite sides of the spectrum. I think that one embodies fear and the other dissent. I don't think that jingoism is always the child of fear. Many people felt scared but didn't want to go to war.

Splendid: I have mixed feelings about political art of all kinds, because a lot of it is not very good, but yours is. I was wondering if you could talk about some of the political issues that are important to you now, and what the challenges are in translating them into music?

Carrie Brownstein: Right now I am thinking about our impending war with Iraq. I am also thinking about the most recent election, and how spineless most Democrats have become. Simply not being George W. Bush or not being a Republican is not a valid political platform. However, I don't think that these thoughts or opinions are going to come out in a song. For the most part, I think of my activism and my music as quite separate. I don't have an agenda or a soapbox that I want to get on. There is no message if the music or art isn't good to begin with. Therefore, the challenge is writing good songs.

Splendid: My favorite song on the new album -- and it seems to inspire very strong reactions negative or positive -- is "Sympathy". Can you talk a little about that song and how it came about and why it's so different from some of the other stuff you've done as a band?

Carrie Brownstein: "Sympathy" is a song about Corin's experience with having her baby born prematurely. More generally, it is about death and fear as the great equalizers. It is about finding faith and meaning in a time of devastation.

Splendid: I also really like the song "Hollywood Ending" and the lyric, "Her only job was never to grow old." Obviously women are discarded pretty early in Hollywood. Is there more of a place for maturity and perspective in music? Do you feel like you're doing anything different now, because you're not kids any more, and how does that show up in the album?

Carrie Brownstein: Of course, we are doing something different. People's lives aren't static. It's impossible to make art static. I think that we have always written from an honest place; it would be dishonest to try and recapture what we were feeling when we were twenty-one or twenty-five.

I do think there is a maturity on this album -- a deliberation in addition to the intuition that we have been working with all these years. There is a sense of patience. We certainly took more time. I think there is a vastness to the album that comes from having a broader emotional landscape to draw from.

Splendid: Tell me about "Light Rail Coyote". I love the photo in the liner notes, which talks about a coyote that somehow got onto a commuter train. The song doesn't seem to relate very directly to the story of that lost coyote. Is that a metaphor for what happens to people when the come to the city for whatever reason, which is more what the song's about?

Carrie Brownstein: I think that the picture in the paper struck us as uniquely Northwestern. It had a "final frontier" feel to it: a wild animal getting onto public transportation, a merging of the natural and unnatural worlds. However, I think that the photo inspired the song, but that the song isn't directly about the coyote, it is more of an homage to our hometown.

Splendid: I really like "Prisstina", too, which seems like kind of a male genre -- you know, the song about the dorky girl who turns out to be sexy, turned on its head. Can you talk a little about what you were going for in that song and what you like about it?

Carrie Brownstein: The song was originally written with a film in mind. We had been asked to write a song for a movie but then it didn't work out (this happened before they even heard the song). So then we have this song that is really character-driven and somewhat decadent compared to the rest of the album. Instead of changing it, we decided to enhance its flamboyance by bringing in Stephen Trask.

Splendid: I know that all three of you write songs, and I'm sure it's a very collaborative process, but is it possible to articulate what the three of you bring to the table? Could someone who really knew you say, oh, that's a Carrie song or that's a Corin song just by listening?

Carrie Brownstein: Occasionally. "Sympathy" is a Corin song and "Oh" is a Carrie song, even though we each sing on both tunes. Those songs don't sum us up and they aren't quintessential, but I think it is true that Corin has a rock thing and I have a pop thing.

Splendid: A lot of people have compared the interplay of your guitars to Television. Do you see them as influences?

Carrie Brownstein: Yes, we both love Television, and I do hear a similarity on occasion, in terms of the dialog between the two guitars. Our influences are quite vast, from The B-52s to Led Zeppelin.

Splendid: Tell me about the lay-off period in 2000 and 2001. I'm assuming it was because Corin was having her baby and dealing with early motherhood, and so on. Were you worried that that would be the end of Sleater-Kinney? What did you do during this period? Is there value in taking time off once in a while?

Carrie Brownstein: I wasn't worried that this would mark the end of Sleater-Kinney, yet I wasn't sure we would return to playing either. The break felt natural and was much needed at that point. It is always good to take a break from something, to gain perspective and remember why it is special.

I think we all realized fairly quickly that there is a chemistry between the three of us that is unique. We also remembered that we need this band, that we need music, just for ourselves, even if no one is listening. It feels good to return to that basic level of visceral enjoyment. During our time off I worked as a research assistant in the field of Sociolinguistics, which is what I have my degree in, I taught high school English, I acted in two films, and I did some freelance writing.

Splendid: I understand that your first concert back after a long break was with Patti Smith. What was that like? It seemed like One Beat had a lot of Patti's strength and sort of lived-through-this passion and drive.

Carrie Brownstein: Playing with Patti Smith was very inspiring. She is otherworldly, very passionate.

Splendid: You do a lot for other women musicians through LadyFest and also through this Rock and Roll Camp for Girls. Can you talk about why that's important for you? Do you think the music business is getting any less sexist?

Carrie Brownstein: It's important because I think young women need encouragement in areas where they may not necessarily be getting support. It is one thing to get on stage and play in front of people, but I think that working on a more one on one basis is very rewarding and very crucial. Both Ladyfest and RNRCFG are community based. I enjoy networking with other artists from this area and seeing the results of a broader collaboration.

Splendid: You also have (or at least had) the Q&A thing on your web site where you respond to fan questions. How much time do you spend on stuff like that and what do you get out of it and why do you think it's important?

Carrie Brownstein: The Q&A portion of the KRS web-site is no longer up and running. It took up a lot of energy but I enjoyed having a quick and immediate way of responding to people's inquiries.