Sleater-Kinney stopped by The Late Late Show to perform their punk-inspired number “Can I Go On,” which comes off their recent album The Center Won’t Hold. With the help of a backing band, band members Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker gave the song an upbeat but edgy vibe. “Everyone I know is funny,” Brownstein yelps. “But jokes don’t make us money/ Sell our rage, buy and trade/ But we still cry for free every day.”
In a statement, Brownstein previously said the track “speaks to an existence that has been fractured and frayed by age or by loss, by divisive politics, by trauma or depression.” She added, “We’re always aware of the sense, as women who are not in our 30s anymore, that there’s this idea that sonically you’re supposed to contract after a while, and make things that are more appeasing or quieter. I think we’ve always fought against that. It’s also just not in our nature.”
Sleater-Kinney released The Center Won’t Hold, the band’s first new album since 2015’s No Cities to Love, in August. The songs were produced by Annie Clark of St. Vincent and marks the group’s first release since the departure of long-time drummer Janet Weiss. Sleater-Kinney is currently on tour in support of the album, with their North American trek wrapping November 23rd at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre.