Nick Cave: what you should know about the cult musician for those who have never heard of him

Who is Nick Cave?

Nick Cave is one of the most distinctive musicians of our time, a true rock poet, whose work is famous for its dark atmosphere, lyricism and unique, ever-changing sound. He began his career in the late 1970s in his homeland in Australia, where at the age of 23 he founded The Birthday Party, one of the first gothic rock bands in history. Blue-eyed, with a shock of jet-black hair, thick baritone and pale, emaciated appearance, Cave was instantly recognized as a model representative of the new genre.

However, in the future, Cave repeatedly changed both his own musical style and the style of the groups in which he played. He is best known as the permanent leader and vocalist of the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, formed in 1983. The group, which has repeatedly changed its line-up for more than thirty years of its career, has released 16 albums under the leadership of Cave. Their songs have not only won numerous music awards and achieved professional recognition, but have also been covered by many famous performers, from Johnny Cash to Metallica.

What else is he famous for?

Cave is known not only as a songwriter, but also as a writer, screenwriter, soundtrack maker and even an actor. So, in 1989, he released his first extremely provocative novel "And see the donkey of the Angel of God." In it, a musician known for his difficult relationship with religion dissected the Old Testament into a brutal tale of a dumb youth who grew up in a fanatical religious community with an innate desire to avenge his worthless life. In 2009, Cave released an equally sensational second book, The Death of Bunny Munroe. It is dedicated to the life of a womanizer and alcoholic named Bunny, who goes all out after his wife's suicide.

As a screenwriter, Cave has had a hand in several important Australian films of the 21st century. We are talking about the westerns of John Hillcote "The Proposal" and "The Drunkest District in the World." Cave is even more famous for his stringy, hypnotic soundtracks, which he created with his Bad Seeds colleague Warren Ellis: these are the same "The Proposal" and "The Drunkest District in the World", as well as "The Road" with Viggo Mortensen, "How Cowardly Robert Ford Killed Jesse James "with Brad Pitt, the recent" At Any Cost "and" Windy River ".

The appearance of the musician on the screen in the classic film by Wim Wenders "Sky over Berlin" is also famous. In it, together with Bad Seeds, he performed two hits from his early albums. And already in 2014, a documentary film "20,000 days on Earth" was filmed about Cave and his creative process, to the creation of which the musician also had a hand as a screenwriter.

It's clear. Can you tell us more about his group?

Nick Cave and Bad Seeds have traveled the world for most of their creative lives. Depending on these movements, which took place every few years, the material that the group created also changed.

The early stage, which lasted from 1983 to 1989, was spent in West Berlin, where Cave was serving a suspended sentence for drug possession. The music of this period is characterized by a raw, almost unliked sound in a gothic-blues style. During these years, almost all members of the group, like Cave himself, actively fought against alcohol and heroin addiction, which gave their music a particularly disturbing shade.

Starting in 1989, Cave went to Brazil, where he had an affair with a local journalist. As a result, the group's dark style is temporarily replaced by lyrical ballads dominated by keyboard instruments. However, gradually the music becomes more versatile and experimental, and the number of band members is constantly growing (a second drummer appears).

From about the mid-1990s, Cave moved to England, where he met his second wife and settled in Brighton with his family. From that moment on, a new stage in the band's work begins: Bad Seeds are no longer so much obsessed with the figure of Cave himself, demonstrate a virtuoso mastery of instruments and an impressive genre range.

Already at the height of his career, Cave devoted several years of his life to the side-project Grinderman. Originally referred to as Mini-Seeds, the four-member Bad Seeds band featured a heavier playing style with roots in garage rock. Between 2006 and 2013, Grinderman released two excellent self-titled albums and toured the world for several years, after which he announced his disbandment.

Finally, with the release of the album Push the Sky Away in 2013, the group comes to a new sound and lyrically addresses the global theme of a rapidly changing world. Thanks to the talented arrangements of multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, the music from the last two albums becomes more minimalistic, acquires an intimate touch. Cave practically no longer sings about violence and love experiences, but actively rethinks the life path he has traveled.

What's worth listening to from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds?

The most recognized albums are three: Murder Ballads, The Boatman's Call and Push the Sky Away.

The first of them, released by the group in 1996, literally translates as "Murder Ballads". The disc can be called conceptual: each of its ten songs tells a cruel and dark story that invariably ends in bloody massacre. To participate in the recording, Cave invited familiar artists: P. J. Harvey, Shane McGowan and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue. With the latter, the musician performed Where the Wild Roses Grow - the undisputed romantic hit that remains the group's most successful single to this day. For this album, Cave was nominated for the popular American MTV Awards, but asked the organizers to remove his name from the list of nominees.

Unlike the harsh (and cruel) Murder Ballads, The Boatman’s Call recorded a year later seems to be the absolute opposite: harmonious piano chords, Cave’s gentle baritone, lyrics are all about love. It may even seem that a completely different team is playing. The song Into My Arms from this album is considered one of the best love tracks in the history of blues rock, and the disc itself was included in the authoritative almanac "A Thousand and One Music Albums Worth Listening Before You Die".

The band's penultimate album, Push the Sky Away, is notable for a completely new sound, unlike anything Bad Seeds have done before. During the 90s and early 2000s, the collective was repeatedly criticized for being too sentimental and striving to return to the early style that made Bad Seeds popular. The reproaches were accepted, and in the new album, instead of the usual ballads and harsh rock chords, one can hear laconic instrumental arrangements and viscous unique compositions, interspersed with Cave's philosophical reflections on life in the era of Google and Wikipedia.

What are the songs about?

Cave's lyrics are widely known due to the musician's appeal to the difficult topics of death, violence, and religion. However, he wrote his best songs, of course, about love.

The artist's life was invariably accompanied by meetings with women who had a direct impact on the musician's creative process. First it was Australian singer Anita Lane, who took part in the creation of songs such as From Her To Eternity and Stranger Than Kindness. Cave then married the Brazilian journalist Vivian. He lived with her for six years and dedicated the album The Good Son (1990) entirely to her with one of the most romantic songs in his discography - The Ship Song.

For some time, Cave also met with the famous rock singer P. J. Harvey, who had a significant influence on the musician: West Country Girl, Black Hair and Green Eyes from The Boatman’s Call's tenth album are dedicated to her.

The last muse of the singer was the British model Susie Bick, whom he married in 1999. Two years later, Cave released his 11th album with the eloquent title No More Shall We Part, which can be translated as "We will never part again." The musician fulfilled his promise: Nick and Susie are still together.

Which album do you especially recommend?

Nick's latest album Cave and the Bad Seeds was released in September 2016. The Skeleton Tree disc can be considered the saddest ever created by the band and the most personal for Cave himself: during its recording, the musician's 15-year-old son died. After the tragedy, Cave did not return to work for several months, and when he decided, he radically changed the sound of the album. The process of overcoming the sudden grief of the musician was fully reflected in the lyrics of some songs.

The difficult recording of Skeleton Tree and the death of his son were reflected in the documentary film "Once More With Feeling" by Australian director Andrew Dominic, which premiered simultaneously with the release of the new disc. Anyone who wants to experience Nick Cave's music live can attend the Bad Seeds concerts in St. Petersburg (July 25) and Moscow (July 27), which became part of the band's large-scale tour in support of the latest album.