When American singer-songwriter Neko Case was a child in Washington state, she believed she was Canadian.
“In the ’70s there weren’t a lot of media outlets,” Case shared in an interview with Q’s Tom Power. “We had CBC … and so I remember being in school as a little girl and being asked what country we live in, and I said Canada because I just heard Canadian media all the time. I thought we were Canadian.”
Best known as a solo artist and a member of the iconic Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers, Case recently released her memoir, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. The book chronicles her journey to becoming a Grammy-nominated artist and finding her place in Canada’s music scene.
In 1994, Case moved to Vancouver to attend the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. There, she discovered a vibrant artistic community that shaped her career. “It was the most positive change that I remember happening in my life,” she said. “The Canadian music scene is very different than it was in the United States. If you’re in a band in Vancouver, you have to just be OK with the fact that your bass player is going to be in five other bands because the population just isn’t what it is in the United States. There’s just less people. So there was more of a potluck sort of feel rather than a competitive feel. I think that was the healthiest thing I’ve ever been a part of.”
While most Canadian musicians aim to move south of the border, Case says she appreciates the healthier, collaborative environment of the Canadian music scene. She’s proud to be considered an honorary Canadian.
Even the question of spelling is part of her connection to Canada. Power pointed out that her 2001 EP Canadian Amp features the hit song “Favorite,” spelled the American way. Case teased, “I know, but my next record has Canadian spelling on it. I’m just going to say one word about it — it’s grey. And I like the spelling with an e way more than I like it with an a. It just doesn’t work with an a!”
Source: Swifteradio.com
