Neko Case to Release Discography Box Set Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule

Neko Case to Release Discography Box Set Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule

Photo by Dennis Kleiman

On November 13 via Anti- RecordsNeko Case will release a vinyl box set that compiles her entire solo discography. Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule features eight records remastered from their original analog tape and pressed on 180 gram vinyl. It also comes packaged with an 80-page photo book, a vinyl slipmat featuring an illustration by Case, and a custom storage box.

Below, find the list of albums included in the box set as well as a trailer for the release. Also below, read a note written by Case that accompanies the box’s announcement. 

Case is on the road this fall and winter. Find her dates below as well.

Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule:

The Virginian (1997) *
Furnace Room Lullaby (2000)
Canadian Amp (2001)
Blacklisted (2002)
The Tigers Have Spoken (2004)
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)
Middle Cyclone (2009)
The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You (2013)

* on vinyl for the first time

Have you ever wanted to be in a band? It doesn’t end up looking like you think it will; it’s WAY more strange and interesting than you can imagine. If you are looking for glamour, however, you’ve come to the wrong job. Glamour is for dicks anyway.

As far back as I can remember I wanted to be an artist. I thought I would end up a painter; I even went to art school. I never did a single, solitary painting. I did a lot of printmaking, photography and played in bands. I had played drums in bands since I was 17, and I toured with bands on the road from the time I was 23. Strangely enough I had no idea that this was a “job.” Music was, and is, my obsession, but I guess I couldn’t see the forest through the trees. I also didn’t feel worthy of calling myself a “musician.” It was just too sacred.

Ten years later I had to quit both of my jobs in Chicago because I was always on the road. It finally dawned on me; maybe I WAS a musician? But where were the trappings of success? You know: money? Fringey scarves and car services? My own recording studio? Regular meals? Heat?

The “rewards” were not to come in any length of time I could speculate, or at all in some cases, but it didn’t matter, because I had the people I loved. People of all stripes who have contributed in invaluable ways over the years, with skills too numerous to mention here, for I fear it would fall short of the tribute they deserve. Luckily, I still have these good people and I am so very grateful they can still stand me. But most of all, I am grateful that they were willing to be a part.

Being in a band isn’t a race to an awards platform; it is a life, a great and complicated, messy, anxious, hilarious and home-made life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, ever. I gave up a lot of what makes people “normal”, but it was always my choice. That is a victory in itself. This is a LONG story, which I will continue later, but for now, here are some images and music to take in and wonder about. I made all this for you and me. Without you, however, the circuit does not complete. Thank you for being here with me and making music.

Neko Case 
New years. 2015. From a crooked farmhouse on a snowy day.

Neko Case:

09-04 Saratoga, CA – The Mountain Winery
09-06 Seattle, WA – Bumbershoot
09-08 Anchorage, AK – The Bear Tooth Theatre
09-20 Toronto, Ontario – Toronto Urban Roots Fest
09-26 Franklin, TN – Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival
09-27 Oxford, TN – The Lyric
11-28 Brighton, England – Mutations Festival
12-01 London, England – Union Chapel
12-04 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Masonic Temple

Watch her episode of Pitchfork.tv’s “Over/Under”:

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