Country noir artist Neko Case's last album, The Tigers Have Spoken, may have only been 35 minutes long, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have plenty to say. After her June 13 show in Bloomington, she took a few minutes to discuss music, politics and the glamorous life of a touring musician.
Your last album was great, why did you decide to release a live-only album?
I really wanted to make an album with the Sadies, they're my favorite live band, I thought that would be the most appropriate way to do it, but I had never recorded a live record before so I wanted to know what that was all about. And I also had two other studio projects I had to do and I thought that would be a nice way to break it up.
How do you juggle being active in so many different groups? You have your solo career and the New Pornographers have a new CD coming out in August.
It helps that we all have the same booking agent. And my friend Amy takes care of a lot of stuff for me while I'm on the road. Basically, there are a lot of phone calls and e-mails and juggling of schedules. It's not easy and we don't always get our way, but we try to make sure everything happens. For example, the New Pornographers' record comes out in August, mine was supposed to come out in September and we decided to put ours out later because we didn't want it to interfere. Then that way I could tour for that record as well as my next one. It works out.
The four-stringed electric instrument you played was really unusual, what was it?
It's called a tenor guitar. They were invented so that banjo players could integrate themselves into different bands, because the banjo is a very vociferous and loud instrument, it kind of dominates, so they invented a guitar so that they could blend in. \nIt's also a great soloing guitar because they can use the upper strings and not have to damper/dampen the lower strings to do solo with; it just kind of makes things easier. They're not really made anymore, there are custom makers who will do it, but for the most part you have to find old ones. There's a company called Haymaker in Phoenix that makes them, they make really, really beautiful guitars. They've made a couple for me. You can find them in guitar stores now, but they're really great, especially if you have really small hands and you're feeling bummed about how not-well you can play a six-string. That's what I actually started playing, my hands are so small, but I can play a six string now. My hands are bigger now, but it took me a couple of years on a tenor. I love them. \nSo what are you listening to right now? What's in your CD player?
Well, there's not really anything in my CD player right now. I've been in the studio so long I'm not really listening to much of anything. We've been listening to satellite radio in the car; we've been enjoying the old jazz station with the Louis Armstrong on it. It's been making us all very soothed and happy. And Bad Company, of course. I'm not kidding, actually. It's great stuff.
So who's on your collaboration wish list? You work with a lot of different artists; who's up next?
For this record, everybody on the wish list kind of showed up. So, for the new record, the Sadies are on there, my regular band, Jon (Rauhouse) and Tom (Downing), Kelly Hogan. We even had a bassoon player. Bassoons and dulcimers, together at last.
A couple of the guys up front were rocking out, and I asked them what a hardcore fan would want to know. One of them said, "Well, she's so hot, I want to know what it's like to be such a sex symbol."
I think that I'm really not, I'm kind of grubby, filthy pig right now. You wouldn't believe the glamour it entails, really. The filthiest gas station restrooms in the country, changing my oil, washing my shirts in the sink after the show, eating out of a paper bag, it's pretty hot. Pretty damn hot.
But on Playboy.com you were voted the sexiest chick in indie rock.
Yeah, I'm not really sure how that happened. I mean, it was nice of them and everything. I didn't really have anything to do with it. I wasn't showered with Corvettes or anything afterward.
Last week on your Web site, and on your stickers here, you thank people for their participation with the antideforestation petition. What else can you tell me about the Roadless Rule?
Basically, I need to update that, because George W. Bush actually did go through with it and overturned the Roadless Rule, which means now they can build roads into the forest to do drilling and logging, which is completely illegal. It's against everything the National Forests stand for, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of plants and animals that live there and are endangered. But he doesn't care, he's not going to be alive long enough to see what that does. He doesn't care about his children's future, or his grandchildren's future. He certainly doesn't care about wildlife or plants, which may sound stupid to some people, but I care more about some owls than some asshole's Lincoln Continental. \nPeople are always, "It's so hippie," but it's not. I like owls. And I spent a lot of time in those places as a kid, and as a kid who was really poor, that was something that was special to me. Those things are really important. You have to see things that give you hope and make you proud of where you're from. And not like a gross, patriotic kind of proud, the kind of proud where you're really in awe of something. You gotta think of something bigger than you -- you can't go around thinking you're the only thing in the woods, that's really unhealthy. \nPeople can still check out the Web sites, there are still ways to stop it. The governor of every state has the right to say no to Bush, they can still keep him out. It's not completely over, but people have to get out and sign petitions and let their local government know that it's not what they want. It's not on the news, why would it be? Most people don't even know it's going on. Hopefully, we'll get him out of office next time, and somebody will put a stop to it, because it's really important to have those things left.
You talk about being in awe of something bigger than yourself. Do you think that's what so special to music? Is that why you stay with it?
Well, yeah. The people I admire, I don't feel anywhere close to them. I don't look at myself that way, I feel like a big dork most of the time. \nIt's a very spiritual thing, you know. It's something people need. They need art and music. It's a nice release of energy; it's like running really fast.
