Damn.
Maybe now is the time for an R.E.M. reunion with Janet on drums.

This really sucks and it sounds like it wasn't a happy ending. The public statement released by the band wishing her the best sounds like bullshit assholes say when they've fired people and her public statement signed, the drummer, makes me believe someone referred to being the drummer in a derogatory manner. There is NO Sleater-Kinney without Janet Weiss and to make this announcement AFTER the album has who knows how many pre-orders and the tour is sold out is fucking bullshit. This is why bands who end their career on a high note should stay retired and not get back together. This is what will be remembered ~ Corin and Carrie fucking over Janet, no matter how all of them spin it. When it smells shitty, it is shitty. RIP S-K.

I'm not saying you're wrong, as I don't know anything about them, but that's a lot of assuming.

Sounds like maybe she was left out of the creative process on the new album in favor of loops and such and doesn't want to be a creatively-limited part of the band. Strange timing though.

I hear the Rolling Stones are breaking up, maybe one of them can fill in, after the proper blood sacrifice of a leviathan tortoise?