Carrie Brownstein
Carrie Rachel Brownstein[4] (born September 27, 1974) 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. During a long hiatus from Sleater-Kinney, she formed the group Wild Flag. During this period, Brownstein wrote and appeared in a series of comedy sketches alongside Fred Armisen which were developed into the satirical comedy TV series Portlandia. The series went on to win Emmy and Peabody Awards. Sleater-Kinney eventually reunited; as of 2015 Brownstein was touring with the band as well as in support of her new memoir.[5]
Carrie Brownstein | |
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![]() Brownstein in 2012 | |
Born | Carrie Rachel Brownstein September 27, 1974 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Alma mater | |
Occupation |
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Home town | Redmond, Washington, U.S. |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instruments |
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Years active | 1993–present |
Associated acts |
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Early life
Brownstein was born in Seattle, Washington, and was raised in Redmond, Washington.[6] Her mother was a housewife and a teacher, and her father was a corporate lawyer. They divorced when Carrie was 14, and she was raised by her father.[7] Brownstein has a younger sister. Her family is Jewish.[8]
She attended Lake Washington High School before transferring to The Overlake School for her senior year.[9][10]
Brownstein began playing guitar at 15 and received lessons from Jeremy Enigk.[11] She later said: "He lived in the neighborhood next to mine, so I would just walk my guitar over to his house. He showed me a couple of open chords and I just took it from there. I'd gone through so many phases as a kid with my interests that my parents put their foot down with guitar. So [the instrument] ended up being the [first] thing that I had to save up my own money for – and maybe that was the whole reason that I actually stuck with it."[11]
After high school, Brownstein attended Western Washington University before transferring to The Evergreen State College. In 1997, Brownstein graduated from Evergreen with an emphasis on sociolinguistics,[12] and stayed in Olympia, Washington, for three years before moving to Portland, Oregon.[13]
Music career
![](../I/m/Carrie_Brownstein_of_Sleater-Kinney_at_Lollapalooza_2006.jpg)
Excuse 17
While attending Evergreen, Brownstein met fellow students Corin Tucker, Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail, and Becca Albee. With Albee and CJ Phillips, she formed the band Excuse 17, one of the pioneering bands of the riot grrrl movement in the Olympia music scene that played an important role in third-wave feminism.[14] Excuse 17 often toured with Tucker's band Heavens to Betsy. The two bands contributed to the Free to Fight compilation. With Tucker, she formed the band Sleater-Kinney as a side project and later released the split single Free to Fight with Cypher in the Snow.
Sleater-Kinney
After both Excuse 17 and Heavens to Betsy split up, Sleater-Kinney became Brownstein and Tucker's main focus. They recorded their first self-titled album in early 1994 during a trip to Australia, where the couple were celebrating Tucker's graduation from Evergreen[15][16] (Brownstein still had three years of college left). It was released the following spring. They recorded and toured with different drummers, until Janet Weiss joined the band in 1996. Following their eponymous debut, they released six more studio albums before going on indefinite hiatus in 2006. In a 2012 interview with DIY magazine, Brownstein said that Sleater-Kinney still planned to play in the future.[17] On October 20, 2014, Brownstein announced on Twitter that Sleater-Kinney would be releasing a new album, No Cities to Love, on January 20, 2015, and would tour in early 2015. At the same time the announcement was made, they released the video for the first single from the album. The single, "Bury Our Friends", was also made available as a free MP3 download.[18]
Critics Greil Marcus and Robert Christgau deemed the band one of the essential rock groups of the early 2000s;[19][20] In 2015, Stereogum Chief Editor Tom Breihan called them the greatest rock band of the past two decades.[21]
Other work
Brownstein and former Helium guitarist/singer Mary Timony, recording as The Spells, released The Age of Backwards E.P. in 1999.
In summer 2009, Brownstein and Weiss worked together on songs (produced by Tucker Martine) for the soundtrack of the documentary film !Women Art Revolution by Lynn Hershman Leeson.[22]
In September 2010, Brownstein revealed her latest project was the band Wild Flag, with Janet Weiss, Mary Timony, and Rebecca Cole, formerly of The Minders; according to Brownstein, about a year earlier "I started to need music again, and so I called on my friends and we joined as a band. Chemistry cannot be manufactured or forced, so Wild Flag was not a sure thing, it was a 'maybe, a 'possibility.' But after a handful of practice sessions, spread out over a period of months, I think we all realized that we could be greater than the sum of our parts."[23] They released a self-titled album in September 2011.[24]
—Brownstein in October 2010[25]
In 2011, they toured for a second time,[26] and played at CMJ Music Marathon.[27]
Accolades
In 2006, Brownstein was the only woman to earn a spot in the Rolling Stone readers' list of the 25 "Most Underrated Guitarists of All-Time."[28]
Writing career
Brownstein began a career as a writer before Sleater-Kinney broke up. She interviewed Eddie Vedder, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Karen O, and Cheryl Hines for The Believer magazine.[29] Brownstein has also written a couple of music-related video game reviews for Slate.[30][31]
From November 2007 to May 2010, Brownstein wrote a blog for NPR Music called "Monitor Mix";[32] she returned for a final blog post in October, thanking her blog readers and declaring the blog "officially conclud[ed]."[25]
In March 2009, Brownstein was contracted to write a book to "describe the dramatically changing dynamic between music fan and performer, from the birth of the iPod and the death of the record store to the emergence of the 'you be the star' culture of American Idol and the ensuing dilution of rock mystique";[33] The book, called The Sound of Where You Are,[34] is to be published by Ecco/HarperCollins.[25]
In an April 2012 interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, Brownstein said she was no longer working on the book.[35]
Brownstein's memoir, Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, was released on October 27, 2015.[36] The book was published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Books USA.[37]
Acting career
![](../I/m/Fred_Armisen_and_Carrie_Brownstein_with_Peabody_Award.jpg)
Brownstein has acted (what she calls a "mere hobby")[38] in the short film Fan Mail, the experimental feature Group, and the Miranda July film Getting Stronger Every Day. Brownstein and Fred Armisen published several video skits as part of a comedy duo called "ThunderAnt".[39] She also starred opposite James Mercer of The Shins in the 2010 independent film Some Days Are Better Than Others.[40] The film had its world premiere at SXSW on March 13, 2010.[41]
After their ThunderAnt videos, Brownstein and Armisen developed Portlandia, a sketch comedy show shot on location in Portland, for the Independent Film Channel.[23][25][42] The two star in the series and write for it with Allison Silverman from The Colbert Report and Jonathan Krisel, a writer for Saturday Night Live.[43] The show, which features appearances of some of the characters from ThunderAnt, premiered in January 2011.[44] The series has received positive feedback[45] and concluded after its eighth season.
As of September 2014, Brownstein portrays the role of Syd in the Amazon Studios original series Transparent.[46][47]
In 2015, Brownstein portrayed Genevieve Cantrell in the Todd Haynes film Carol, based on Patricia Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt.[48] However, the majority of her scenes were cut due to the film's length.[49] The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2015.[50] It began a limited release on November 20, 2015.[51]
Brownstein has also appeared as a guest on Saturday Night Live,[52] Curb Your Enthusiasm,[53] and Man Seeking Woman,[54] among other shows.
Personal life
Brownstein was outed as bisexual to her family and the world by Spin when she was 21 years old. The article discussed the fact that she had dated bandmate Corin Tucker in the beginning of Sleater-Kinney (the song "One More Hour" is about their breakup).[55][16] After the article was out, she said: "I hadn't seen the article, and I got a phone call. My dad called me and was like, 'The Spin article's out. Um, do you want to let me know what's going on?' The ground was pulled out from underneath me ... my dad did not know that Corin and I had ever dated, or that I even dated girls."
In 2006, The New York Times described Brownstein as "openly gay".[56] In a November 2010 interview for Willamette Week, she laid to rest questions about her sexual orientation, stating that she identifies as bisexual. She says, "It's weird, because no one's actually ever asked me. People just always assume, like, you're this or that. It's like, 'OK. I'm bisexual. Just ask.'"[57]
Since working together on ThunderAnt, Brownstein and Fred Armisen developed what Brownstein has called "one of the most intimate, functional, romantic, but nonsexual relationships [they have] ever had."[58] According to Armisen, their relationship is "all of the things that I've ever wanted, you know, aside from like the physical stuff, but the intimacy that I have with her is like no other."[59]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2001 | Getting Stronger Every Day | Various | Short film |
2002 | Group | Grace | |
2007 | Girls Rock | Herself | Documentary |
2009 | Light Tiger Eye | Woman | Short film |
2010 | Some Days Are Better Than Others | Katrina | |
2011–2018 | Portlandia | Various characters | 77 episodes; also co-creator, co-executive producer, writer and director Peabody Award (2012) Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety (including talk) series (2013) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series (2012–14; 2016) Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety (including talk) series (2014) Nominated—Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2015) |
2012 | Vancouvria | Photo extra | Episode: "Big City Survival Class" |
2012 | The Simpsons | Emily (voice) | Episode: "The Day the Earth Stood Cool" |
2012 | Saturday Night Live | Cameo as herself | Episode: "Martin Short/Paul McCartney", "What Up with That?" sketch |
2013 | Saturday Night Live | Cameo as herself | Episode: "Ben Affleck/Kanye West", "It's a Lovely Day" sketch |
2014–2015 | Transparent | Syd Feldman | Recurring character Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2015) |
2015 | Carol | Genevieve Cranell | |
2015 | Man Seeking Woman | Doctor at Chill Acres | Episode: "Branzino" |
2015 | Archer | Doctor Sklodowska (voice) | Episodes: "Drastic Voyage: Part 1" and "Drastic Voyage: Part 2" |
2016 | Saturday Night Live | Cameo as herself | Episode: "Fred Armisen/Courtney Barnett", "The Harkin Brothers" sketch |
2016 | The Realest Real | Short film; director and writer[60] | |
2017 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Mara | Episode: "Foisted!" |
2018 | Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot | Suzanne | |
2018 | Tag | Therapist | Uncredited[61] |
2018 | The Oath | Alice Button | |
2019 | Mrs.Fletcher |
Director |
Episode 4: "Parents' Weekend", director |
2019 | Episode: "Date", director | ||
2020 | The Nowhere Inn[62] | Herself | |
TBA | Fairy Godmother[63] | Director | |
References
- Breihan, Tom (August 6, 2014). "Carrie Brownstein Finishing Nora Ephron Screenplay Lost In Austen". Stereogum. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- Braxton, Greg (January 14, 2015). "Carrie Brownstein bounces between 'Portlandia' and punk rock". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- Weil, Elizabeth (December 29, 2011). "Carrie Brownstein, Riot Grrrnup". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
- "Works written by Brownstein, Carrie Rachel". ASCAP. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- Phillips, Amy. "Sleater-Kinney Return! New Album No Cities to Love! 2015 Tour! "Bury Our Friends" Lyric Video!". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- Zeichner, Naomi (January 19, 2011). "Interview: Carrie Brownstein on Portlandia". The Fader. New York City: The Fader Media Group. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
- de Barros, Paul (March 3, 2012). "Carrie Brownstein: the Northwest's funny girl". Seattle Times. Seattle, Washington: The Seattle Times Company. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
- "Meet Carrie Brownstein: A Triple Threat". JWA.org. Jewish Women's Archive. March 28, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
- de Barros, Paul (March 4, 2012). "Cover story—Full Frontal Fun: Watching Carrie Brownstein in 'Portlandia,' we have to laugh at ourselves". Seattle Times. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Times Company. p. 9.
- Matsui, Marc (December 17, 2002). "Eastside spotlight: Overlake School". Seattle Times. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Times Publishing Company. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
- Levin, Hannah (May 2005). "Rock of the Decade". The Stranger. Seattle, Washington: Index Newspapers, LLC. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2011 – via Sleater-Kinney.Net.
- Shepherd, Julianne (August 28, 2006). "Get Up". Pitchfork. New York City: Condé Nast. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
- Brodeur, Nicole (November 2, 2015). "Carrie Brownstein comes home to a changed Seattle". The Seattle Times. Seattle, Washington: The Seattle Times Company. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- Rife, Katie (April 4, 2017). "Riot grrrl grew up on Sleater-Kinney's Dig Me Out". The A.V. Club. Chicago, Illinois: Onion, Inc. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- Ganz, Caryn (June 2005). "Eat 'em And Smile". Spin – via Sleater-Kinney.net.
- "Record Bin: How Sleater-Kinney used punk rock to break social stereotypes on "Dig Me Out"". Nooga.com. September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- "Carrie Brownstein: Sleater-Kinney 'Will Just Start Playing Music Again'". Thisisfakediy.co.uk. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
- Grow, Kory (October 20, 2014). "Sleater-Kinney Reform, Share Powerful New Song, 'Bury Our Friends'". Rolling Stone. New York City: Wenner Media LLC. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
- O'Dair, Barbara (May 9, 2001). "A conversation with Robert Christgau". Salon.com. San Francisco, California: Salon Media Group. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
- Frere-Jones, Sasha (January 19, 2015). "Sister Saviors: Sleater-Kinney returns". The New Yorker. New York City: Condé Nast. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
- Breihan, Tom (January 11, 2015). "Premature Evaluation: Sleater-Kinney No Cities To Love". Stereogum. Los Angeles, California: Eldridge Industries. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
- Brownstein, Carrie (March 25, 2010). "Carrie Brownstein Talks Sleater-Kinney, Acting, Writing, and More". Pitchfork. Interviewed by Tom Breihan. New York City: Condé Nast. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
- "Carrie Brownstein: 'I Have A New Band'". All Songs Considered blog. National Public Radio. September 22, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "Wild Flag's Debut Album in Stores". Merge Records.com. September 14, 2011. Archived from the original on September 19, 2011. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
- "A Final Word From Carrie Brownstein". Monitor Mix (blog). National Public Radio. October 6, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- Weil, Elizabeth (December 29, 2011). "Carrie Brownstein, Riot Grrrnup". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- Caramanica, Jon (October 19, 2011). "Wild Flag Is What Passes for an Inspirational Supergroup at CMJ". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- "The Twenty-Five Most Underrated Guitarists". Rolling Stone. October 1, 2006. Archived from the original on March 2, 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
- Contributors: Carrie Brownstein from The Believer magazine website.
- Brownstein, Carrie (November 27, 2007). "Rock Band vs. Real Band". Slate. New York City: The Slate Group. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- Brownstein, Carrie (November 19, 2008). "Wii Will Rock You!". Slate. New York City: The Slate Group. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- Welcome to Monitor Mix from the NPR Music website
- Matthew Thornton (March 16, 2009). "Book Deals: Week of 3/16/09". Book News. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "The Sound of Where You Are". Monitor Mix (blog). National Public Radio. December 17, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "Episode 267 - Carrie Brownstein". WTF with Marc Maron Podcast. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
- Kreps, Daniel. "Carrie Brownstein Pens Memoir 'Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl'". RollingStone. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- "Riverhead Overview". Penguin.com. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- "Carrie Brownstein Talks Spells, Book, Sleater-Kinney". Pitchfork Media. November 2008.
- "Thunderant". Thunderant. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
- Locker, Melissa (April 26, 2012). "EXCLUSIVE CLIP: WATCH CARRIE BROWNSTEIN IN "SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS"". IFC.com. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
- Indiewire (March 11, 2010). "SXSW '10 | McCormick's Sad Valentine "Some Days are Better Than Others". Indiewire.com. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
- Portlandia (TV Series 2011– ) - Episodes - IMDb
- "SNL Fans Prepare for 'Portlandia'". IFC Channel. August 6, 2010. Archived from the original on August 16, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "Before There Was 'Portlandia', There Was 'Thunderant'". IFC Channel. October 7, 2010. Archived from the original on October 13, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
- "Portlandia". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
- Bendix, Trish (September 26, 2014). "Carrie Brownstein gives us the scoop on her character Syd in "Transparent"". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
- Syme, Rachel (December 14, 2015). "'Transparent' Season 2, Episodes 2 and 3: Pool Parties and Provosts". NYTimes.com. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
- Ford, Rebecca (April 9, 2014). "'Portlandia's' Carrie Brownstein Joins Cate Blanchett in 'Carol'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
- Stiernberg, Bonnie (January 6, 2015). "Carrie Brownstein: Fill in the Blank". Paste Magazine. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- "2015 Official Selection". Festival-Cannes.com. April 16, 2015. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
- "Carol Poster Premiere: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and the Fall's Most Acclaimed Romance". Vanity Fair. September 2, 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
- "Watch Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein in SNL's Southern Rock Supergroup". IFC. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
- "Carrie Brownstein and Larry David Fight About Constipation in New "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Trailer: Watch | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
- Kulzick, Kate. "Man Seeking Woman: "Branzino"". TV Club. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
- Sleater-Kinney Last Show from Under the Radar Archived November 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- Parales, Jon (August 4, 2006). "Sleater-Kinney May, or May Not, Be Bidding New York Farewell". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- Mesh, Aaron (November 3, 2010). "Mock Star". Willamette Week. Portland, Oregon: City of Roses Newspapers. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
- Rosenblit, Rachel (January 9, 2012). "Portlandia's Comedy Chemistry". Elle. New York City: Hearst Publications. Archived from the original on January 22, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- Fred Armisen: Transcript Archived November 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine from WNYC's Here's the Thing. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
- "Carrie Brownstein's Short Film Trailer For Kenzo Features Kim Gordon & Mahershala Ali —Watch". Indiewire. July 13, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
- Scott, A.O (June 14, 2018). "Review: 'Tag,' You're It. Playing the Long Game Into Middle Age". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
- Yoo, Noah (December 4, 2019). "St. Vincent and Carrie Brownstein's New Movie The Nowhere Inn to Debut at Sundance 2020". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- Busch, Anita (May 18, 2017). "'Portlandia's Carrie Brownstein To Make Feature Directorial Debut On MGM's 'Fairy Godmother'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
External links
- Carrie Brownstein on IMDb
- Carrie Brownstein discography at MusicBrainz
- Official Sleater-Kinney website
- Carrie Brownstein's blog, "Monitor Mix" at NPR (2007-2010)
- Radio interview on Fresh Air (35 minutes; 2015)