Corin Tucker: I think that when people ask me, "What do you do?" I just say I'm in a rock band, because it's just sort of the all-purpose term.

Carrie Brownstein: Punk, post-punk, rock, pop. I think we throw a lot of things together, depending on the song.

MTV: What's been the worst description of your music?

CT: I think that when our first record came out, someone used the term "cookie-cutter band."

CB: "Their songs fit into cookie-cutters, paint by numbers...."

CT: It was a pretty bad review, actually.

MTV: What's your reaction when you read your reviews? Are you surprised when people get it?

Janet Weiss: It's surprising reading a review where you think the person has experienced your music on more than one level. But it does happen, and it's great when it does happen.

MTV: Despite critical acclaim, you haven't sold millions of records. How do you feel about that?

CB: We don't consider that.

JW: I think we're kind of thankful that our sales aren't in the millions. It's intimidating to think of so many people relating to your music, I think.

CB: It's so difficult to try to create a discourse about the music you play, and the easiest way to communicate is just by playing the song and having someone experience that. That is definitely the truest form.

MTV: How different is it, playing live now than when you first started as a band?

CB: I think we are a little more in tune now.

CT: We've worked really hard, I think, especially I have, on developing different sounds. I think I've developed my guitar sound a lot. Learned along the way, "Well, this amp sounds better," or "This guitar sounds better," you know? And along the way, hopefully, [you] become a better performer as you learn. But the best way to learn is to just go out and do it. It's the most fun, and the absolute best teacher is to have to do it in front of people.

MTV: What do you think of Lilith Fair?

CT: I guess the thing for us, maybe, is that a lot of the music is stuff we really don't relate to. I guess that's the main thing. It didn't seem like that there were many bands... more guitar-rock, loud-bass bands that we feel a kinship with.

CB: Also, we're really into keeping our ticket price low. I think that there are ways of playing music with other women... alternatives to Lilith Fair, although I'm glad it exists. But I think there are a lot of smaller, more independent bands that aren't based on a lot of corporate sponsorship that you can seek out. But I don't think it's a negative thing. I just think that there are other things out there that should be appreciated.

MTV: Would you play if you were invited?

CB: We have been invited. I don't think we want to alienate the people that can't afford $35. Plus we like playing smaller venues and having a more intimate atmosphere when we play. I think we can do just as much for women and help other women play music by continually doing our own shows and inviting other people to play with us.

MTV: Is there a typical Sleater-Kinney fan? CB: I think that it has diversified quite a bit. It's fairly broad in terms of age, and it's pretty equal in terms of gender. But I definitely think that there's a lot of younger women that come to our shows that feel a close kinship to us. I wouldn't want to typify them as the "only" kind of fan, but I think the way they relate and feel the music is maybe unique.

MTV: Do you sense anything consistent in your fans?

JW: They all love chocolate. [Laughs]

CT: I think it's music lovers. I think it's people really inspired by music. They pride themselves on being smart about music, and I think that's really great.

JW: I think we try not to categorize them as much as we would hope that they wouldn't categorize us and put us in a box, and they really are a diverse group. It's sort of an oral history we're passing down, and these people are interested in [it].

MTV: What do fans say to you when they meet you?

JW: I see myself in a lot of the young kids who come up to us, and I remember that sort of uncomfortable, "I want to say something smart, I don't want to seem stupid, I want to show that I know about music..."

CB: We get a lot of gratitude and thanks, quite a bit, from people that have often been through some sort of hardship, and our music has provided a cathartic experience for them. I think that's the second-most common.

JW: A lot of times we get people commenting, "We're going to start a band," or, "I want to learn to play the drums." That always just makes us feel so great, to sort of open the door, maybe, for someone that didn't have the confidence to play.

MTV: Are you comfortable about being considered icons? Or don't you see yourselves that way?

CT: We do feel a sense of people looking up to us... young women searching for a role model in this culture and not being able to find many [who are] based on character rather than image. But I think that it's dangerous to say that you're a role model... you have to act a certain way, you know.

We're just a band. We're just human beings, and we'll make mistakes and do stupid things too, but hopefully we're acting with a sense of truth about us. We're trying to stay true to the music 'cause that's why we're here, I guess.

MTV: Do you regret your sexuality coming out in the mainstream?

JW: Has that gotten mainstream attention?

CB: Well, I think one thing in terms of categorizing our music is that we haven't limited ourselves to one genre of music like "queer," "girl," "punk," "rock," so it sort of falls into that. We don't really talk about our personal lives. We are inclusive of all people at our shows. It's only an issue, I guess, in terms of politics and not necessarily in our music or songwriting, but we really don't talk [about] too much of that in our music.

MTV: What are you listening to these days?

CB: There's a great band from Olympia called The Need that is sort of a post-punk, almost progressive, mouth-rock. Two women: Radio and Rachel. Just very dynamic, interesting performers and they have a record out on Chainsaw, which is run from Olympia.

CT: I've been listening to this woman Cat Power a lot, and I think she is really amazing. She's really different, and I like that.

JW: There's also a woman, Edith Frost, from Chicago, who's made some great records. [She's] really an inspiring songwriter and explores quieter textures as far as instrumentation, and she's really honest and pure, which is nice to hear.

MTV: Did you find any female musicians to look up to when you were younger?

JW: I think when I saw X when I was young, I was just completely blown away when I went out and bought their records and saw the lyric sheets and just the handwritten, sort of journal-like style of this music and of these songs and seeing inside this woman's perspective.

CB: I think listening to Patti Smith changed a lot of things for me, and watching Beat Happening with this woman, Heather Lewis, and she was amazing. And later bands like Bikini Kill, who were totally one of the more empowering bands I'd ever seen, was a very incredible experience.

CT: For me, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth was a big inspiration, because she was part of one of the greatest bands [of] the past few years, and she was a real musician. You know, you could tell she was really there just for the music and was really serious about it, and I think that was really inspiring.

MTV: Where do you see Sleater-Kinney in terms of the artists and music on the charts right now?

JW: Everyone's got their favorite bands, and it doesn't matter what they do, you want to hear them. You want to listen to what they have to say. And I hope that we're one of those bands [and] not a band that will not be satisfying in two years because we'll be doing the same thing. Which I think a lot of commercial bands are.

CB: Yeah. It seems like people are really split right now. When we're in periods of uncertainty in our culture or society, people either want to listen to people singing about important political issues, which is sort of happening now... [and] there's the other people who want to forget about it and listen to the Backstreet Boys. It seems that kind of pop music exists in times of uncertainty and fear. And definitely, as we reach the millennium, people are reaching out. It's sort of divisive right now.

JW: Pop music has seen better days, that's for sure. The days when the Kinks and Sly and the Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix were at the top of the charts all together are sadly in the background. I don't think there's room for a band like us, and sort of happily so. In a different time, we would be sort of honored to be on the charts.

MTV: Do you think there will be a time when Backstreet Boys fans become Sleater-Kinney fans?

All three: No.