Timber Heavens to Betsy, the punk duo of Corin Tucker and Tracy Sawyer whose 1994 split led to the formation of Sleater-Kinney, will tour this fall for the first time since the breakup. After launching the reunion with a surprise show in Portland, Oregon, last night, Tucker and Sawyer have lined up an itinerary that includes shows at New York’s Bowery Ballroom and Chicago’s Empty Bottle. Find the dates below. Formed in the early 1990s in Olympia, Washington, Heavens to Betsy was the first band of Tucker and Sawyer, who had grown up as school friends in Eugene, Oregon. They went on to release three singles and a sole album, for Kill Rock Stars: 1994’s Calculated. In a retrospective interview with Bandcamp’s Mariana Timony in 2018, Tucker said of the duo’s legacy, “I’m so proud of us for doing it, looking back. I think that I’m really proud to be a part of women who do speak out and do try to change things.
I have a 10-year-old daughter now and I look at the world that she’s growing up into and I worry about her and I hope against hope that things are different for her. And that if I have achieved anything with my musical career, if I’ve added my voice to people trying to make things better for women, then that’s a huge accomplishment.”
Revisit Pitchfork’s assessment of the ’90s Olympian and neighboring scenes, The 50 Best Indie Rock Albums of the Pacific Northwest. Heavens to Betsy:
10-17 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
10-28 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall *
10-30 Washington, DC – Black Cat
10-31 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
11-01 Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
11-05 Seattle, WA – Neumos
11-08 Pasadena, CA – Sid the Cat Auditorium
11-14 Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle
11-21 Athens, GA – 40 Watt
11-22 Durham, NC – Motorco
* supporting Team Dresch