Nick Cave (b. 1957)

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Biography

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1983 by lead vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and German guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and presently consists of Cave, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey, guitarist George Vjestica, touring keyboardist/percussionist Larry Mullins, also known as Toby Dammit, and drummers Thomas Wydler (Switzerland) and Jim Sclavunos. Described as "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward", they have released eighteen studio albums and completed numerous international tours.

In Their Own Words (5)

I don't particularly believe all love is doomed. But I guess, one is usually kinda suffering from some aborted love affair or association, rather than being at the peak of one. I think it's fairly obvious that a lot more suffering goes on in the name of love than the little happiness you can squeeze out of it. But I wouldn't like to dwell on it. Perhaps you could lighten up a bit.

Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock, by Simon Reynolds (1988) , 1988

I'd rather see what makes me different as something almost congenital. And I have these inklings that what you commit or endure in this world, relates to some kind of justice or balance. Maybe if you get a bad deal in this world, it is because of something you did, or were, in a previous life. Which is why I don't feel sorry for the poor.

Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock, by Simon Reynolds (1988) , 1988

The actualising of God through the medium of the love song remains my prime motivation as an artist.

Given during a lecture at the Vienna Poetry Festival (1998) , 1998

God has matured. He is not the impulsive, bowelless being of the Testaments - the vehement glorymonger, with His bag of cheap carny tricks and his booming voice - the fiery huckster with his burning bushes and his wonder wands. Nowadays God knows what He wants and He knows who He wants.

Euchrid Eucrow in Cave's novel And the Ass Saw the Angel (1988) , 1988

My responsibility as an artist is to turn up at the page or the piano or the microphone. The rest is up to God.

The Daily Telegraph (Novevember 20, 1997) , 1997

Timeline

The story of Nick Cave, told in moments.

1977 Life

Formed the Boys Next Door in Melbourne while still at boarding school. The band played frantic post-punk. They renamed themselves the Birthday Party in 1978.

Was the Birthday Party's frantic post-punk your truest expression? Did boarding school in Melbourne push you toward performance? Was forming a band while still at school inevitable?

1983 Event

Founded Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Melbourne with Mick Harvey and Blixa Bargeld. The band blended blues, gospel, post-punk, and literary storytelling.

Was founding the Bad Seeds the real beginning? Did blending blues, gospel, and literary storytelling feel like inventing a genre? Was Blixa Bargeld the missing piece?

1996 Event

Released Murder Ballads, featuring "Where the Wild Roses Grow" with Kylie Minogue. It became his biggest commercial hit. He also published his novel And the Ass Saw the Angel.

Was Murder Ballads the perfect marriage of violence and beauty? Did 'Where the Wild Roses Grow' with Kylie surprise everyone? Was your novel an extension of the songwriting?

2015 Life

His 15-year-old son Arthur fell from a cliff in Brighton, England. Cave channeled his grief into the album Skeleton Tree and the documentary One More Time with Feeling.

How do you channel the loss of your son into art? Was Skeleton Tree the hardest album to make? Did One More Time with Feeling capture the grief honestly?