Complete Comeback: Quasi drummer returns from extreme injury

click to enlarge

(Quasi/Submitted)

Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss are the two constants in Quasi, which is slated to play on sunday, july 21 at club congress.

When looking back on the career of Quasi, it’s striking to see that the group’s been in existence for a full 30 years with Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes as the group’s two constants. Though marking three decades as a band is impressive, moreso is the fact that the group’s been able to weather pauses in activity, with Weiss, in particular, taking time out for high-profile recording and touring gigs in acts such as Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and Bright Eyes.

The group’s most recent reconfiguration came about in an unusual fashion, as Weiss was severely injured in a traffic accident, her car struck by another. The prospects for her full recovery were in enough doubt that Weiss considered the possibility of a life without drumming. 

Instead of giving into that possibility, she leaned hard in the other direction. She was determined to regain her chops while her longtime bandmate Coomes provided a key role in the comeback from injury. 

Thinking back to the fall of 2019, Weiss, in a recent interview, said, “I broke both of my legs and my collarbone and I realized that the best way to recover, the best therapy would be to play the drums as much as possible. Sam and I started practicing every day. And he started bringing all of these amazing songs to practice. Very quickly, we amassed this new body of work that seemed really vital and exciting. 

“We decided to keep it really simple and leave it at keyboards and drums,” she added. “We came at it from more of a live approach, where we capture the energy that we can muster live.” 

What occurred along the way was the formation of an unlikely album, “Breaking the Balls of History,” the pair’s first in a decade. It wasn’t so much a plan as a happy series of rehearsals in their compact practice space, with songs taking shape and then a well-regarded label showing interest. Based in Portland – where Weiss served in behind-the-scenes roles on the cult classic show “Portlandia” – her long history in Pacific Northwest indie rock royalty (including her long run with the former label artist Sleater-Kinney) gave her an instant rapport and credibility with Sub Pop Records. Once the label signed on to release and distribute “Breaking the Balls of History” the process had achieved another level of realness. 

“The album started taking shape, and as I got better, we got more songs completed and then the pandemic happened,” Weiss recalled. “We kept practicing, and it was important for me to play a lot and I’m really appreciative that Sam had the time to spend with me and my recovery. Part of preparing for recording was that we thought that by playing every day for three weeks, we could go into the studio and be in shape and ready. And that’s just what we did.” 

Released in February 2023, the album’s 12 tracks were produced by Quasi and John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Unwound, Treepeople, Team Dresch) at Rob Lang Studios in Seattle, engineered and mixed by Goodmanson, and mastered by Bill Skibbe at Third Man Mastering.

Weiss said the duo went into the studio still masked and Covid-aware and emerged from the creative process into a new world, with open, non-vax-card touring the norm. The duo toured the United States and Europe throughout 2023, and is back this summer for another run of dates

“Our hope is to really connect with people who’ve come to the show,” Weiss said. “We love playing live, the old songs as well. We really just want to have a special, unique experience with the people. We want to empower people, for them to like this music, to make them happy, to make things better somehow. And we can’t do it without people coming and participating with us. I see some kids in the audience, some young people, and the crusty old folks who’ve stuck with us all of these years. Hopefully, we can pick up some new people being on Sub Pop, which’ll help get the music out there. We’re a legacy band, as it’s called at this point, and we’re still happy to keep doing it.”

Best for them, they feel that the new music they’ve created is on par with the band’s prior albums. 

“In the process of rebuilding, the new songs were written quickly and were really good songs,” Weiss said. “This is our tenth record together and we’ve tried a lot of different things. That’s the fun of being in a band. You get to try things and experiment. Sam’s a guitar player first, and an excellent guitar player, but we always felt that the keyboard/drums duo was more easily accomplished, and he can play bass with his left hand. It’s stripped down now, and direct. That’s the vibe we were really going for: confident, direct, raw, potent. It’s not sprawling like other records, it doesn’t meander. It’s direct.” 

The group’s first album since 2013’s “Mole City,” quickly produced some singles. And videos, featuring a loose, playful style, though the lyrics of the album bounce between the profound, the esoteric and the occasionally strident. 

Coomes has taken the lion’s share of lyric writing during the group’s history, and that continues with “Breaking the Balls of History.” Careful to not speak too much about his lyrics, Weiss noted that his approach differs from many. 

“I’ve heard him talk about his process,” she said. “And he comes up with entire songs in the bath or on a walk. The whole song. The melody, the lyrics. The whole idea for the song comes to him. He works on them, and refines them, but the beginning is different from a lot of songwriters that I know who journal or write in a book and then reshape the idea. His songs come along in a spiritual way. They come to him, then he gets out of the way.” 

Reflecting on the album’s unorthodox start, Weiss couldn’t be happier with the results: The songs that came from the experience; the renewed kinship with Coomes, with whom she’s always shared a close friendship, even during Quasi’s lulls; and the touring that is happening this summer. 

“Sometimes people will call out old songs and we’ll give them a go,” she said. “We’ll definitely have old songs and new songs, a cover or two. Should be a good time.” 

Essential to all of this is the strength and fitness that she’s regained throughout the process, putting her back on path to her previous, acclaimed skills on the kit. 

“I feel really good,” she said. “The toughest part of the process was the uncertainty, not knowing if I’d be able to play properly, if my kick drum leg would work. The not knowing was really, really, really hard. But working at it and rehabbing to see if I could play the drums to the level I wanted to play was a huge, huge, huge relief. I was very determined to get there. I feel strong and in shape, and though I won’t say I’m 100 percent perfect, I’m good enough.”