Fame’s not all it’s cracked up to be. For most music fanatics, the name Stephen Malkmus probably comes arm in arm with a picture of the lanky, California troubadour, whose iconic 90s band Pavement helped define the sound of modern indie. But the name Janet Weiss… most likely leaves those same sonic aficionados scratching their heads.

Which is fine by Janet. It’s actually worked in her favor for years. As a veteran drummer of the underground rock scene for over a decade, Weiss has lent her aggressive thwack to everyone from Elliott Smith to Bright Eyes to Portland, Oregon’s Quasi and riot grrrl’s beloved Sleater-Kinney. Her barrelling drums helped solidify the trio’s gripping drive on record as well as their famously explosive displays on stage.

Since the dissolution of Sleater-Kinney in 2006, the rhythmic maverick is the first of her former band mates to begin a new musical project. Only three months after the group’s indefinite hiatus, Weiss joined Malkmus’ post-Pavement experiment Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks for their fourth studio album, Real Emotional Trash. The album’s playful guitars and smoky, tribal drums approximates Pavement at their loosest and should make for an improvised spectacle onstage.

Beyond Race caught up with the Portland transplant this week to talk about the mysterious Steven Malkmus, her break up with Sleater-Kinney and why you probably won’t be hearing Pavement songs on tour any time soon...

You and Stephen both earned your fame in other bands. Do you feel the weight of those other projects going into the Jicks or is this approached as a totally fresh group?

Completely fresh. I mean that’s how I approached it. I think that’s how he approached it. It’s weird, when people start a new band they don’t usually play the old band’s songs, you know? No one expects us to do a Sleater-Kinney song, but people expect to hear Pavement songs, which kind of surprises me ‘cause Pavement broke up, you know? It’s not Pavement without those other guys.

Maybe it’s because the band is “Stephen Malkmus” and the Jicks…

At first I think people weren’t sure [if he’d play Pavement songs], which is totally understandable. I think a couple of times The Jicks played Pavement songs. Once they did a whole set of Pavement tunes somewhere in the Midwest. And those people just got lucky (laughs). They just happened to be there. But it’s a different band now. Different band, different songs, different record.

You’ve been a major touring musician for over ten years now, first with Quasi and Sleater-Kinney and now with the Jicks. How do you combat the monotony of touring?

Well it’s not like a day job -- it’s not that monotonous -- but there is a definite routine to it that I’m very accustomed to. Playing live has always been the main thing with being in a band for me. Touring is kind of like the best and the worst. The best is you get to play a show, the worst is that you have to sit in a car for six hours a day.

Are you always searching for ways to make that travel time a little shorter?

Yeah, I mean with the Jicks I’ve only been in the band for a little over a year or something, so I’m not sick of those guys at all (laughs)! No I’m sure that must be a hazard of being around the same three or four people every day. Yeah I mean, it’s not a natural thing, but you wouldn’t be in a band for ten years if you weren’t sort of adept at it. You’d get weeded out.

Has it been weird to change bands after Sleater-Kinney?

Yeah, it has been pretty weird. I mean it… it was a hard thing to let go. We all really loved the band. There wasn’t a huge fight or anything. People’s lives just couldn’t sustain that life style anymore. So it had to stop. But I think we all have fond memories of it. It was such a big part of my life for ten years. Such a great part of my life for ten years. It’s been sad in some ways and really great in some ways -- really liberating. It’s complicated. It’s like when you break up a relationship and both parties want to, you know? You still miss it and think about it. I’m not sad that it happened, but I sometimes miss it.

I had heard that the band was shaky emotionally and in therapy for a while…

That was a long time ago though. That was many records ago. This time it was just… Corin [Sleater-Kinney’s guitarist and singer] just had her second baby two weeks ago. She wanted to have another kid, and that was just going to be impossible [with touring]. Absolutely impossible. And it was time to take a break, you know?

But I’m glad we ended on a high note. So it was positive, it wasn’t like we went to therapy and then broke up (laughs). That was in 1999. We make it all the way to 2006 …that’s pretty good. You’ve been part of the music industry for a while.

Have you seen a change since the early days with Sleater-Kinney?

It’s pretty obvious nothing’s like it was in the early 90s. People weren’t listening to music on computers then and the record labels were more profitable. Now you have to really rely on your touring to make money, because if you don’t sell records you don’t get money from the label, so you have to make the majority of your money touring, which means you have to tour more, and not all bands can hack that.

I’ve noticed a difference in the crowds too, I guess. I feel like maybe crowds can be less likely to participate. More passive. Kind of like people already know what songs you’re gonna play because they read it online or they know what you look like cause they watched it on You Tube.

I just think it’s harder to loose yourself in the experience if you have so many details about it before it even happens. I find now that improvising is the only way to get to a place where everyone is experiencing it for the first time together. And that’s been really exciting, having passages in the songs or playing a section in the set where you’re just making things up.

Is that happening more with Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks?

Well, that’s always happened with those guys. They’ve always had a couple of songs where they’d stretch out. There’s several songs on the record that kind of stretch and I think we’re all excited by the prospect of making things up on the spot. It’s the one time when the audience really does not know what’s going to happen, cause we don’t know what going to happen. How’s the new album being converted to a live show? Is it mostly improvised or is it truer to the recording? We’re sticking to the album. But I don’t think a Jicks show will ever be like, note for note, you know? Stephen’s a very loose player and you never know what he’s going to do. That’s what makes him so intriguing and mysterious (laughs).

Any newer bands that you’re particularly into?

Well I really can’t get this one Blitzen Trapper song out of my head. They’re another band from Portland that The Jicks did a few shows with. [The song’s] called “Wild Mountain Nation.” It’s the title track from their record. Really good song. Do you hear any bands today that you think are influenced by Sleater-Kinney? (Pause) I don’t know (laughs). I mean hopefully some are, but it doesn’t seem like anyone’s been doing the same thing, which is cool. Hopefully we influenced people to do their own thing. That would be best.

by Zachary Dinerstein