Neko Case with Kathy Valentine at Rough Trade East

Rough Trade East, 18 January 2025

Saw Neko Case chat with the legendary Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go's about Neko's new memoir The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You at Rough Trade East and it was great fun to hear these two friends and music icons chat, it also made me realise just how much I miss seeing Ms Case perform.

When it was announced Neko Case was doing this book chat I couldn't buy a ticket fast enough: I have pretty much been obsessed with her music for the last 20 years or so and not only is she one of the greatest voices and songwriters in the business, she's also incredibly funny and interesting when she chats inbetween songs so I know her memoir is going to be a great read (I only got my copy at the event so I haven't actually read it yet!), I was also certain it would be fun be hear her chat about the book, with none other than Kathy Valentine no less! Neko's music has meant so much to me and I know she hates people taking photos at her shows so I was really cautious not to take too many tonight but, other than a couple of sneaky snaps at the start, luckily Valentine near the end asked for someone near the end to take a picture of them together so I managed to get in a few more then! (Hopefully Neko wasn't too annoyed with that!)

Neko looked very cosy and well wrapped up for the cold London weather in wooly trousers and a fluffy cardigan and with her flock of red hair with streaks of grey througout, I thought she looked incredible even sans make-up (honestly her skin is so beautiful). It feels like ages since I've seen her in the flesh and I thought she looked amazing. Valentine also lived up to my image of her as this beautiful punk rock queen, in pleather trousers and excellent "Read More Books" socks! I managed to get a spot up front so it was felt nice and intimate, seeing them up close and getting to hear them talk.

Valentine had her copy of Neko's book well noted with lots of post-it notes scattered throughout and she had a pile of cards filled with thoughts and questions. It's clear the two are friends as they often mentioned things they had chatted about in the past and Neko apparently requested that Valentine hosted tonight, which she seemed really excited to do. She said it was Neko's first ever book event but I get the feeling it may have been Valentine's first time hosting one too (although I'm sure she's probably been in Neko's spot before having written her own memoir a few years back).

Valentine spoke about how she isn't normally big into rock biographies, saying that while she may love someone's music, she doesn't necessarily always want to know about someone's life. In this case though, Neko's life was so fascinating, she says she devoured her book. 

She asked Neko about the life of a working musician, as she herself has always been in bands since she was in a teenager, and Neko spoke a little about the trials of being on the road including one story about how a drummer became obsessed with her deodorant, which was a mixture of two different things, and kept telling her he could combine them for the unique scent. Somehow he got into her things one day and she came backstage only to find the place stinking of her deodorant as he had mixed them by heating them both in the microwave! These are the crazy road tales we want!

She talked about writing the memoir during lockdown and how it had come about because she originally wanted to write fiction but instead got an offer for this book (and indeed the fiction book is apparently coming eventually too), and then her process of writing the chapters, a big chunk of which got cut because she wrote so much! One of the bits that got cut was a tale of seeing a zookeeper trampled by a giant giraffe during a photoshoot and I can't possibly tell the story as effectively as Neko herself, so hopefully she will offer it on her Substack soon!

Valentine had discussion points written on cards and got Neko to pick a couple as if she was picking a card for a magic trick. The first said "fur bikini" and Neko told how she and her 90s band Meow, an all-girl punk group, had made the most unsexy fur bikinis to perform in, and despite looking more like diapers, ending up in a perving audience member being decked!

The second card Valentine asked if one of the crowd wanted to pick one and I readily put my hand up and luckily for me, she came over and let me pick a card! The one I choose said "tenor guitar", I held it up for Neko to see and she talked about seeing her first ever tenor guitar, how intrigued she was by the fact it only had four strings and how it ultimately helped her to learn play guitar better. I was actually so nervous having this public interaction with them and was so abuzz that I probably lost a lot of what Neko was saying during this part (which is a shame because I do love the tenor guitar she plays) but it was definitely amazing I got to choose a card as the audience didn't get another opportunity to pick another!

Valentine then asked if the audience had any questions and someone from Vermont, asked Neko the importance of Vermont to her music. Neko spoke about how she had a difficult childhood and school days but when her family moved to Vermont she was in a much better, smaller school and was instantly accepted by the people there. Her positive experience led to her returning there to live as an adult, although she says that the place she now lives has been adopted by the wealthy leading to a big tax hike that may mean she won't be able to stay there in the future, which is sad to hear, as I do love seeing all her photos of her farm and the animals she lives with.

Someone else asked about her relationship with the wonderful Kelly Hogan and their on stage banter and Neko said that Hogan was a firm believer that she and her audience are the same and the crowd shouldn't have to stand in awed silence when she's on stage, so their funny chats was a way of bringing the audience closer and being able to talk to them during performances. She said that Hogan is still her friend but she's no longer in her band as she has her dream job now singing in Mavis Staples' band!

Finally, Valentine asked Neko about her latest project she's been working on which is a musical version of Thelma & Louise! Callie Khouri, who wrote the screenplay for the film, personally asked Neko to write the music and she admitted that she didn't have a clue about musicals but the film had meant a lot to her when it came out, that she was the target audience for it, and it's been fascinating to see it come together (it's part of the reason why she's been spending so much time in London).

After there was a book signing and of course I stayed to get mine signed, but again I was super nervous to meet one of my heroes. But I'm thankful to say she was absolutely lovely! There was a sign up saying "no photos" (which I wouldn't have asked for anyway), and it made the line go so much quicker, When it was my turn I admitted I was nervous to meet her and she said, "don't worry I get nervous too, I get nervous I'm going to spell everyone's names wrong!" She was very sweet and when I told her I missed seeing her play live, she told me she has a new album coming out in September so should be coming back to tour with it soon, which is amazing news!

I did see Kathy Valentine chatting with some people too but by the time I had met Neko she had gone. I would haven't loved to have met her too and begged her to bring The Go-Go's to the UK, one of my dream bands to see live! But still, it was amazing to see her tonight chatting with Neko and hopefully it won't be the last time I see them both!