Quotes from Neko Case

You can't just play the same thing, over and over again.

We don't need more 'What if the mother is going to die' debated, we need 'I had an abortion because I was not ready to be a mother. It was my choice and my right. I own it. Back the f@#( up.

Country music is completely punk-rock. It's the original punk-rock.

I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn't tell you that at one time in my life I thought the way that you made music was you got on a major label and you got famous.

I always end up working with people that do a really good job, so I'm the only one that I'm worried about disappointing me, not the musicians ever.

There's just kind of a sweetness about Canadians. Americans are a little more pushy, I mean, in a way that I enjoy - they're basically pushy because of their enthusiasm - we're a lot clumsier than other people.

I don't know anybody who doesn't hate being called alt.country. It just sounds like a website. I don't mind being called Americana, I don't mind being called country noir, or independent country is fine, but the words alt.country make me insane.

I know that I can sing really loud. It's like having that really big Evinrude engine on the back of your fishing boat. But I've been trying to be more dynamic with my voice, and not just singing on 10 all of the time out of terror.

Everybody in my band is married, pretty much, and have lives at home, and I don't want them to be away from their families so long that they just start to feel psychotic. You have to go home and stand around in your bathrobe doing your dishes to feel like a normal person sometimes.

I want the recording process to be a time in my life that I will remember.

I have this typical Ukrainian face. Even people who know my music don't recognize me most of the time, thank God.

All I want to do is sing on other people's records.

I grew up with lots of animals and I related more to them than I did to people. I feel a lot of empathy for them.

The Bible tries to make humans not animals the whole time. I think it's a bit of a mistake.

I have a real dog-like mentality, in that it's like, 'Where is my next meal coming from? Am I ever gonna eat again? Will I ever write another song again? Will anyone show up for tour?' I think it comes from being really poor as a kid.

The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight. The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You.

I try not to be overly literal. When I'm writing songs, I write down a lot of words, and then I try to simplify it. I like to give people hints or words that make visual pictures for them.

If I could ever be on a Missy Elliott record, I could then die. Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige - I love hearing them interviewed, I love the way they talk about their art. They're very self-assured, they're funny, they're inviting. I love it.

Every band wants to go believe me, not everybody makes it, but they want to.

Being the boss of your own career, you get used to having veto power and getting what you want, or as close to what you want as you have mapped out.

I think my songwriting might be a little more on the darker side maybe.

I think I've kind of been mistaken for somebody who's trying to be a spokesperson for animal rights, and the fact is I'm not qualified to be a spokesperson. I am passionate about it, but I'm not trying to make other people do what I do.

I don't feel nervous or fearful when I'm on stage.

I just want to make stories. They don't have to have a moral or a reason. There might be some mild cautionary notes, but they're not moral. They don't impart any Judeo-Christian ethic of any kind.