Undue process

>> Hillbilly hellcat Neko Case takes a bite out of barristers

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

A few minutes into our talk, I was starting to worry. A chat with Neko Case, new-school playa in C&W (for "country" and "womanliness"), is supposed to guarantee at least one good, satisfying rant. But then, the subject was Furnace Room Lullabye, the "serious" sophomore effort from the ex-Canadian ex-punque roqueuse, appropriately on the Bloodshot label.

"It's not that serious," she says. "It sounds serious because it sounds all bummed out. But you know when you're so bummed out you just have to go, 'God, I'm ridiculous,' and think it's kinda funny? I wrote most of the songs on the road in '98. I kind of lived in this weird little world that wasn't really connected to America or Canada. It's like being a teenager and sneaking around the woods all day, and then coming back to the house to eat out of the refrigerator and sleep at night, but your parents never see you. It's kinda like that."

Our talk wanders to the ever-expanding spread of Boyfriends backing her up (she still lassoes in some Can-con indie types), which leads to the "making of," which leads, finally, to the rant. Best of all, it's about lawyers! Everybody hates lawyers!

"I had lots of lawyer-y problems during the recording, which made me furious and inconsolable and insane. I'd never dealt with things like that before. It's like somebody who you don't really like coming in, sticking their hands in your creative project, and accusing you of being some kind of criminal before you've done anything wrong. There you are trying to do the vocals, and they're trying to get shit from me. It's like, if you want a large portion of this zero money that I have, feel free! You can sleep in my van, too! See, everybody started projecting things on me, 'Oh, she's gonna get this big major-label contract.' No, I'm not! I'm just this dork! They're like, 'Well, if you get all this money, we're gonna need to have this go there and that go there,' and I'm like, 'No, I'll decide where my money goes, and I'll be fair about it, so leave me the fuck alone!'"

Thank you, Neko, that's exactly what I wanted. :

With Her Boyfriends at Jailhouse Rock on Monday, May 15, 9pm, $10