A sullen prophet of soulful post-punk. A towering tout of melodramatic rock ’n’ roll.
Nick Cave has lived nine lives and he’s still kicking for more. As a young man Cave said that he felt spiritually engaged with music on a deep level, claiming to be able to feel music. Perhaps that’s why he’s managed to spend nearly 45 years making it without ever losing his grip. His fans adore him, even outside of music. He’s penned novels like The Death of Bunny Munro which attracted feverish, drooling praise across the board and scripted films like The Proposition which prompted Russell Crowe (yes that Russell Crowe) to compare Cave to Hemingway. High praise indeed.
It all started in 1973. Cave and high-school friends Mick Harvey, Phil Calvert, John Cochivera and Chris Coyne formed a band to cover the likes of Loud Reed, David Bowie and Alice Cooper. After some five years and several line-up changes that band came to be known as The Birthday Party. A noisy, brass driven unit that crossed the Pacific and grabbed the attention of that most distinguished tastemaker John Peel. In 1983 when they made it to the States Henry Rollins described the band as “One of the all time premier live acts.” Later that year, they would break up, citing tension between Cave and then guitarist Rowland S. Howard.