Carrie Brownstein, "Portlandia" star and lead guitarist for the indie-rock band Sleater-Kinney, made an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to promote her new memoir, Spin reported. She spoke about how she made the jump from rock chick to funny girl, weighed in about what makes her "cool" and explained the meaning behind the title of her book, "Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl."
"That's taken from a Sleater-Kinney song called 'Modern Girl,'" Brownstein, 41, explained to Colbert. "There's a lot of themes in the book of want, of hunger, of desire and the lack thereof of those things. It's kind of a story of the way I found community and belonging through creativity and music, so hunger is one of the themes."
She elaborated more on the themes she wrote about in her memoir, which chronicles her rise in the Olympia indie/punk music scene, from her first band Excuse 17 to mainstream success in Sleater-Kinney.
"I think a lot of the book is about finding people, finding a place to have a platform and a voice to feel like I can be heard," she said, "and that is part of the journey of Sleater-Kinney and even 'Portlandia' for me."
Brownstein credited her rock 'n' roll background with giving her the experience needed in order to break out into comedy. She said playing music gave her the confidence to do the kind of improvisation that she uses in her IFC sketch comedy series. But even with her many talents, Brownstein is still humble about the level of "cool" she's achieved in her career.
"I'm kind of cool some of the time in my own mind," she said.
Watch a clip of her interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" below.
