Already on their fifth album in the space of six years ("All Hands on the Bad One"}, you'd have to imagine that thrilling femme-rockers Sleater-Kinney are beyond tired of the whole question of "women in rock" - and quite rightly so. Because let's be honest, it really doesn't matter a damn: you either know what needs doing with a guitar or you don't. And Sleater-Kinney do.

Never in danger of forgetting the primary purpose of rock music (which is, of course, to rock), while simultaneously slipping an iron lyrical fist into the velvet glove of their high-octane tuneage, we met the compact Kinney crew that keeps their rock well and truly rolling as the girls gear up for their recent London show.

Tour Manager
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Being but a modest three-piece, it's the broad responsibility of Paul Hill to act as both tour manager and backline tech. Not that he minds, of course, taking a similarly fuss-free approach to his job as Sleater-Kinney take to theirs.

"I basically fill the gaps," he freely admits. "Whatever tour I'm on, that's what I do - fill in the gaps".

Having worked with the band twice before, Paul has also worked with Cornershop ("We were basically on tour for about a year and a half," he recalls) and more recently Broadcast and Stereolab ("A lot of old gear that breaks down all the time" is his memory of the latter).

Touring across Europe is a particular forte for Paul, having also worked with a couple American bands, Modest Mouse and the Arsonists, who crossed the Atlantic intent on touring our neighbouring continent.

"That's where your experience comes into play," he laughs. "Going into foreign countries and knowing exactly when the Cheese Holiday is going to be and when the roads are going to be busy. That's the tour manager's information - you know when those things are going to happen!"

Guitars
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Not too many cheese holidays have interfered with Sleater-Kinney so far and the compact nature of the band is reflected in their setup.

"It's very minimalist," agrees Paul. "It's just two guitar amps and a drumkit. Carrie [Brownstein, guitar and vocals] plays a reissue Vox AC30. They used to have Fender Twins, but they would always break down. Corin [Tucker, er, guitar and vocals] uses a Music Man, basically getting all the low end out of it, because there's no bass player."

Not having a bass player might strike some people as being odd, but as Paul points out, "It still sounds full." Guitar-wise, Carrie plays a '72 Gibson SG, while Corin uses a nice new silver Danelectro. A handufl of FX pedals completes the gear ("Corin uses an EQ pedal and a Vox volume pedal, while Carrie uses a Boss overdrive and a Boss blues driver"), making Paul's job a refreshingly straightforward one - "I just remember to get batteries and that's it."

Drums
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Janet Weiss is perhaps the coolest Kinney cat, a stylish drummer with a simple, classy kit, and when it comes to her tom-toms she knows exactly what she likes.

"We can never get the right sizes over here," says Paul. "She's got a 20-inch floor tom, a 12-inch rack tom, a 14-inch floor tom and a 14-inch snare. It's not unusual, but it's difficult to find for some reason. The first time she came over she had a hired kit - the closest we could get - and she hated it, so now she bring her own kit as excess luggage. It's an old Ludwig kit,"

Front of House
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A new addition to the touring party this time around is sound engineer Juan Carrera {"Like the Porsche," Paul adds helpfully). Juan's not toured with the band before, but does have a long-time connection with them.

"In the States they have another fellow," he nods, "but he wasn't able to come on this particular trip. I happened to be taking some time off and I've known them for years, so it kind of worked out really well. From my point of view, it's 10 per cent how much you know and 90 per cent how much you get along with the band you're working with. I'm learning more and more about this (Gestures at the 24-track desk in front of him) and I'm getting along with the bands really well."

A recipe for a long and fruitful career, enhanced by Juan's Zen approach to sound engineering.

"There's nothing I really depend on too much," he shrugs. "Just some nice compressors and maybe a gate for the kick drum. They (Sleater-Kinney) do the rest - they have a pretty good dynamic range. When they want to play hard, they play really hard. When they want to bring the feeling down, they do it themselves."

This is a big help when every day means another venue, another mixing desk.

"Sometimes you just have to go 'Whatever'," he grimaces. "Some nights a PA is set up really nicely and other times it's not. Their main demand is for vocal monitors and it's hard for me being a male to reach their range, so I've had to learn a lot about frequencies that they push. You can't just walk up to a microphone and go, "Hey, check one two'."

This attention to detail also applies to mic selection, given the contrasting vocal styles within the band.

"Carrie has an Audix mike, an OM5," Juan explains. "They're really good if you've got a quiet vocalist, someone who talks singing rather than belts it out, whereas Corin uses a Shure Beta 58. I'm going to make sure everyone can hear their vocals because that's something that a listener to their band wants to hear. I'm just doing sound reinforcement. The only thing I bring is the mics. I have this little rule that I try not to bring more than I can carry."

It seems that's the rule for the whole on-the-road setup with Sleater-Kinney. Keeping it trim, they rock like paratroopers, ready to hit the ground running at any given moment. In an increasingly complicated industry, they're a refreshingly uncluttered outfit, using only the basics to soar above all the macho musos who measure success by the size of your amp stack. Stop being no rock'n'roll fun and hook with a band that's high on intelligence, humour, sass and verve. So this is women in rock, then? More, please.

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