Born in Alexandria, Va., in 1970, Neko Case left home at the tender age of 15 and headed for the soggy climate of Tacoma, Wash., where she began playing the drums in various punk rock bands. After relocating to Vancouver, B.C., and playing drums for the punk-pop unit Maow, Case released her alt-country solo debut The Virginian on Bloodshot Records in 1997 while attending the Emily Carr Institute of Art, where she went on to receive her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts before moving to Chicago. By the time she released the critically acclaimed Furnace Room Lullaby three years later, Case was already accumulating worldwide attention. Last year, Case released what is considered her finest album yet, Blacklisted, which has only expanded Case's reputation for writing haunting, esoteric, achingly beautiful songs - an art which is bolstered by her ethereal albeit untrained voice. Recoil phoned Case in Tucson, Ariz., upon her return from a European tour to find out more about the artist perhaps best described as enigmatic; or at least find out why her cell phone message says, "I'm probably totally wrecked on tooth pills and sleeping in my clothes right now."



Recoil: Is there actually something wrong with your teeth or are you a recreational downer user?
Neko Case: Oh, no, I just had my wisdom teeth pulled a while ago and I haven't changed the message because I'm lame.

R: You're just back from Europe. Do you see a difference in the way European audiences respond to your live show, as opposed to American audiences?
NK: I think the vast majority of European people are more knowledgeable about independent music, but the response is pretty similar - everyone's pretty enthusiastic and pretty nice. They have more access; it's not unusual for Calexico to be played on mainstream radio there. It's not such a major label-majority. I don't think right now is the right climate in America for [an artist] like me [to be popular]. [Short pause] But I don't really care.

R: Being from Chicago, you probably know a lot about the music scene there. Are there any hot acts happening there now?
NK: Well, I'm never in Chicago, so I can't really recommend anything. When I am home, I never go out. And I'm home so infrequently. But I really like the Wichita Shut-Ins and I love The Handsome Family, but they're not Chicagoans anymore. Well, they're still Chicagoans, but they live in Albuquerque now.

R: Was there ever a huge, defining moment when you heard a song or album or saw a band and thought, 'Okay, I'm definitely going to play music,' or is it something you just came in to more naturally?
NK: No, it was a gradual thing.

R: Why did you start off on the drums of all things?
NK: Because I didn't see a lot of ladies playing drums. And I was too shy to do anything else.

R: Do you have any favorite venues that you play regularly?
NK: The Hideout in Chicago is my favorite venue, I think. It's little, like about 200 capacity. I haven't played there lately just because it was the release of the album, so we played the Metro, but I play there at least once every three months, in some incarnation or another - whether I'm singing with somebody else or whatever.

R: What's your take on the South By Southwest music conference? Have you considered playing there this year?
NK: No. I don't like playing and not getting paid. I mean, I don't mind not getting paid if people are at least nice to me, but they are not. In fact, they are the opposite of nice. I think [the industry people there] are overworked and they want to make money really bad. It's not about the music, really. I like going to South By Southwest. I like to go there and I love the barbeques people have; as long as it's not a South By Southwest showcase, it's fun.

R: Do you ever get heckled? Do jerks sometimes just refuse to shut their mouths? How do you react to that?
NK: The people who are usually rude, I think they're just over-enthusiastic. [Laughs] A lot of times the heckling is just people who are really drunk, and they say something, and they mean it in a nice way, but you can't understand what they just said. They're just shouting something, but it's not mean. I've had a couple guys where I've had to be like, 'Get the fuck out of here,' because they were trying to disrupt the show or whatever, but it's really not that big of a deal. It doesn't happen that often. Usually the heckling is nice heckling.

R: What demographic comes to your shows?
NK: It's a pretty even split, males to females. Age-wise, it's pretty wide-ranging - from about eighteen- to sixty-year-olds. There are a lot of older people at the shows. I know because I go out and sell merchandise after the shows and talk to people. It's all different kinds of people, which makes me feel good.

R: Do you have any plans yet for after the Blacklisted tour?
NK: I have to do a bunch of festival dates, and then I'm going to do this festival in Toronto, which is the Idea City Conference, which is pretty cool. And then I'll probably do some stuff with The New Pornographers because they have a record coming out in May. I'm going to go to Mexico City with some friends of mine who lived down there for years and years, helping them with an art exhibit thing that they're doing. Maybe I'll take the end of the year off and start working on the new record.

R: Do you have any favorite cities?
NK: I come to Tucson a lot, because I work here, I record here. Chicago, I live there, I love it. I guess Chicago is the one I visit the least, but I live there [laughs]. I like Philadelphia a lot. I like smaller towns, too. Right now my favorite city to visit is one I just played in, Dawson City, Yukon. It's way the fuck up there but it's so amazing. It was like thirty degrees below zero but I had the greatest time of my life. Those totally remote places, there are so many music fans there who are so happy that you came, and you end up going to their house for dinner and walking their dogs. It's so much fun.

R: Do you drink?
NK: Not really.
R: Do you watch TV?
NK: No. It's too depressing.

February 2003