Neko Case
() [1] (born September 8, 1970 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American alternative country singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers.
Case recorded and toured for several years as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends before performing solely under her name. She primarily performs her own material, but also performs and has recorded cover versions of songs by artists such as Harry Nilsson, Loretta Lynn, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Scott Walker, Randy Newman, Queen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Hank Williams. She frequently infuses humorous narratives into her live sets.
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NEKO CASE TICKETS
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Biography
Early life
Case was born in
Alexandria, Virginia, to teenage parents of
Ukrainian ancestry. The original family name, changed before she was born, was Shevchenko.
[2] Her family traveled around while she was young before settling in
Tacoma, Washington, the city she considers her hometown. She left home when she was fifteen. Her father was in the
United States Air Force.
[3]
In 1994, Case moved to
Vancouver,
British Columbia, to attend the
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. While attending school she played
drums in several local
bands, including the Del Logs, the Propanes, the Weasles,
Cub (which featured
I Am Spoonbender's Robynn Iwata), and
Maow. All of these bands were local
punk groups except for Cub and The Weasles, which Case described as a "
country music supergroup".
In 1998, Case
graduated with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, which meant the loss of her student
visa eligibility. She left
Canada for
Seattle, Washington. Before leaving, Case recorded
vocals for a few
songs that ended up on
Mass Romantic
,
The New Pornographers' first album. Her
lead vocals on songs like "Letter from an Occupant" are straightforward, full-volume
power-pop performances, entirely shedding any country elements. Released on
November 28,
2000,
Mass Romantic
became a surprise success. Although the band was originally conceived as a side project for its members, The New Pornographers decided to tour and eventually to record a second, third, and a fourth album.
In addition to recording with The New Pornographers, Case frequently collaborates with other Canadian musicians, including
The Sadies and
Carolyn Mark, and has recorded material by several noted Canadian songwriters, in particular on her 2001
EP Canadian Amp
. As a result, she is also considered a significant figure in Canadian music—both
CBC Radio 3 and the
Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada have referred to Case as an "honourary Canadian".
[4]
"ref">[5]
Seattle
Case fully embraced country music on her 1997 album with Her Boyfriends,
The Virginian
. The album contained original compositions as well as covers of songs by
Ernest Tubb,
Loretta Lynn and even the 1974
Queen song "
Misfire". When the album was released, critics compared Case to
honky-tonk singers like Lynn and
Patsy Cline, and to
rockabilly pioneer
Wanda Jackson, particularly in her vocal timbre.
On February 22, 2000, Case released her second solo album with Her Boyfriends,
Furnace Room Lullaby
. It introduced the "country noir" elements that have defined Case's subsequent solo career. That tone was evident even from the cover photo, featuring Case sprawled out corpse-like on a concrete floor. On the album itself, her vocal style moves away from outright honky-tonk but retains her twang, garnering comparisons to musicians such as Cline, Lynn,
Hazel Dickens,
Tanya Tucker, and
Dolly Parton. The title track was included on the
soundtrack to
Sam Raimi's film
The Gift
, and "Porchlight" was featured on the soundtrack to
The Slaughter Rule
.
Case sometimes tours with her friend Canadian singer and songwriter Carolyn Mark, as
The Corn Sisters. One of their performances, at Seattle's Hattie's Hat restaurant in
Ballard, was recorded and released as an album,
The Other Women
, on
November 28,
2000.
Chicago
At about the time
Furnace Room Lullaby
was released, Case left Seattle for
Chicago because she felt that Seattle wasn't hospitable to its local artists.
Case's first work in Chicago was an eight-song EP that she recorded in her kitchen.
Canadian Amp
, her first recording without Her Boyfriends, was released on her own Lady Pilot label in 2001. She wrote two of the tracks. Six tracks are covers, including
Neil Young's "Dreaming Man" and Hank Williams' "Alone and Forsaken". Four of the covers were written by Canadian artists. The EP was initially available only at Case's live shows, but it eventually saw wider release.
Case recorded her third full-length album,
Blacklisted
, in
Tucson, Arizona. Her first album credited to Case alone, without Her Boyfriends, it was released on
August 20,
2002. Some believe the title
Blacklisted
alludes to Case being banned for life from the
Grand Ole Opry
because she took her shirt off during a performance on
August 4,
2001,
[6] though Case herself has denied this.
[7] Asked about the incident in 2004, Case said "I had heatstroke. People would love it to be a 'fuck you' punk thing. But it was actually a physical ailment thing."
[8]
Most of the album's fourteen songs are originals, except for covers of "Running Out of Fools", previously a hit for
Aretha Franklin, and "Look for Me (I'll Be Around)" by
Sarah Vaughan.
Blacklisted
finds Case even deeper in a "country noir" mood, and was described by critics as lush, bleak, and atmospheric. Case cited filmmaker
David Lynch, composer
Angelo Badalamenti, and Neil Young's soundtrack to the film
Dead Man
as influences. One track, "Deep Red Bells", was inspired by Case's memories of being a vulnerable young woman in the
Seattle area while the
Green River Killer was at large.
In April 2003, Case was voted the "Sexiest Babe of Indie Rock" in a Playboy.com internet poll, receiving 32% of the vote.
Playboy
asked her to pose nude for the magazine, but she declined their offer. She told
Entertainment Weekly
that "I didn't want to be the girl who posed in
Playboy
and then—by the way—made some music. I would be really fucking irritated if after a show somebody came up to me and handed me some naked picture of myself and wanted me to sign it instead of my CD."
[9] In later interviews, she declined to discuss the survey at all.
New Pornographers follow-up albums
The New Pornographers' second album,
Electric Version
, was released on
May 6,
2003. Case sang lead on even more of the songs on this album, and toured with the group again.
On
April 3 and
April 4,
2004, Case played two shows with longtime collaborators
The Sadies at
Lee's Palace in
Toronto, which were recorded for release as a
live album,
The Tigers Have Spoken
, in October of the same year.
Twin Cinema
, the New Pornographers' third album, was released on
August 23,
2005, with Case again providing vocals on several tracks. In addition to providing backing vocals on several songs, Case performs lead vocals on two ballads, "The Bones of an Idol" and "These Are the Fables". She opted out of most subsequent touring duties with the band; however, her parts were taken over by
Kathryn Calder.
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
was released on
March 7,
2006. The album was recorded primarily in Tucson, over the course of two years as Case worked on the live
The Tigers Have Spoken
and continued to play with The New Pornographers. Critics hailed the record not only for Case's trademark vocals but also her use of stark imagery and non-standard song structures.
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
wound up on many "Best of 2006" lists, such as No.1 on the Amazon.com music editors' picks and No. 2 on
NPR's
All Songs Considered
. The album debuted at #54 on the
Billboard Top 200 albums list. It contains Case's most autobiographical song, "Hold On, Hold On". Case said: "the song is actually about me. It's not metaphorical about other people. It's not little pieces of my life made into a story about someone else or someone fictitious."
[10]
Middle Cyclone
Case's latest album,
Middle Cyclone
, was released on March 3, 2009. In advance of a U.S. and European tour, Case appeared as a musical guest on both
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
and the
Late Show with David Letterman
.
Middle Cyclone
debuted at #3 on the
Billboard
charts in its first week of release, making it Case's first album ever to reach the top ten in the United States; when released no other record from an independent record company had debuted at a higher position in 2009.
[11]
Case performed "This Tornado Loves You" from the
Middle Cyclone
on
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
on June 11, 2009.
[12]
Awards
Case was honored as the Female Artist of the Year at the Plug Independent Music Awards on February 2, 2006.
[13]
Acting career
On
January 28,
2008, Case's voice appeared in the
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
episode "Sirens". Case is also scheduled to participate in a new series with
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
co-creator
Dave Willis titled
Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge
.
[14]
Discography
Cub
- Betti-Cola
(CA: Mint Records, 1993) [15]
Maow
- I Ruv Me Too
(7" EP) (US: Twist Like This Records, 1995)
- Unforgiving Sounds of Maow
(CA: Mint Records, 1996)
Neko Case
Year
| Album
| Chart Positions
|
US Indie
| US Heat
| US
| US Rock
| CAN Country
| CAN
|
1997
| The Virginian
(with Her Boyfriends)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000
| Furnace Room Lullaby
(with Her Boyfriends)
|
|
|
|
| 27
|
|
2001
| Canadian Amp
(EP)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002
| Blacklisted
| 31
| 34
|
|
|
|
|
2004
| The Tigers Have Spoken
| 19
| 14
|
|
|
|
|
2006
| Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
| 4
|
| 54
|
|
|
|
2007
| Live from Austin, TX
| 22
|
|
|
|
|
|
2009
| Middle Cyclone
| 1
|
| 3
| 2
|
| 5
|
2009
| iTunes Originals - Neko Case
|
|
|
|
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The Corn Sisters
- The Other Women
(CA: Mint Records, 2000)
The New Pornographers
- Mass Romantic
(CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2000)
- Electric Version
(CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2003)
- Twin Cinema
(CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2005)
- Challengers
(CA: Last Gang Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2007)
The Sadies
- Make Your Bed/Gunspeak/Little Sadie (7") (US: Bloodshot Records, 1998)
- My '63 / Highway 145 (by Whiskeytown) (Split 7") (US: Bloodshot Records BS 037, 1998)
Other contributions
- The Band of Blacky Ranchette – Still Lookin' Good to Me
(Thrill Jockey, 2003)
Videography
- Live from Austin TX Neko Case
(DVD) (US: New West Records/Austin City Limits/KLRU, 2006)
See also
- List of musicians from British Columbia
- Music of Vancouver
- Music of Virginia
References
- Blows Against The Empire, Time
- Michael Berick, "Neko's Gripping Tale," ''Entertainment Weekly'', Feb. 11, 2005. Retrieved on 01-11-09.
- http://www.furious.com/perfect/nekocase.html
- Neko Case: Honourary Canadian, Proud SOCAN Member, Socan.ca. Retrieved on 05-21-07.
- Neko Noir: Darkness Propels Case into Limelight, The Stranger. Retrieved on 08-14-08.
- COUNTRY BEAT: Terri Clark, Neko Case, Tracy Byrd ..., Vh1.com. Retrieved on 05-21-07.
- Neko Case's Country Lust, Rollingstone.com. Retrieved on 05-21-07.
- This week in local music: Neko Case, Richmond.com. Retrieved on 08-13-08.
- Q&A: Gloves Off: Lovably foulmouthed Neko Case sounds off, EW.com. Retrieved on 08-13-08.
- http://www.avclub.com/articles/neko-case,13986/
- Neko Case Retreats to Vermont
- Title Unavailable
- And the Winners Are..., Plugawards.com. Retrieved on 08-14-08.
- "Aqua Teen" Co-Creator Talks Neko, Homme, T-Pain, Pitchforkmedia.com Retrieved on 1-28-07
- [1], BandtoBand.com. Retrieved on 06-29-08.