Nick Cave | |
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.jpg) Cave in 2021 | |
| Born | Nicholas Edward Cave (1957-09-22)22 September 1957 (age 68) Warracknabeal, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1973–present |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | Anita Lane (1977–1983) |
| Children | 4 (includingEarl) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
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| Works | Nick Cave discography |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds |
| Formerly of | |
Musical artist | |
| Website | nickcave |
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957[2]) is an Australian musician who fronts therock bandNick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love, and violence.[3]
Born and raised in ruralVictoria, Cave studied art inMelbourne before frontingThe Birthday Party, one of the city's leadingpost-punk bands, in the late 1970s. In 1980, the band moved to London, England. Disillusioned by their stay there, they evolved towards a darker and more challenging sound that helped inspiregothic rock, and they acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world".[4] Cave became recognised for his confrontational performances, his shock of black hair and pale, emaciated look. The band broke up soon after relocating toWest Berlin in 1982. The following year, Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, later described as one of rock's "most redoubtable, enduring" bands.[5] Much of their early material is set in a mythic AmericanDeep South, drawing onspirituals andDelta blues, while Cave's preoccupation withOld Testament notions of good versus evil culminated in what has been called hissignature song, "The Mercy Seat" (1988), and in his debut novel,And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). In 1988, he appeared inGhosts… of the Civil Dead, an Australian prison film which he both co-wrote and scored.
The 1990s saw Cave move betweenSão Paulo and England, and find inspiration in theNew Testament. He went on to achieve mainstream success with quieter, piano-driven ballads, notably theKylie Minogue duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (1996), and "Into My Arms" (1997). Turning increasingly to film in the 2000s, Cave wrote the Australian WesternThe Proposition (2005), also composing its soundtrack with frequent collaboratorWarren Ellis. The pair's film score credits includeThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007),The Road (2009) andHell or High Water (2016). Theirgarage rock side projectGrinderman has released two studio albums since 2006. In 2009, he released his second novel,The Death of Bunny Munro, and starred in the semi-fictional "day in the life" film20,000 Days on Earth (2014). His more recent musical work featuresambient andelectronic elements, as well as increasingly abstract lyrics, informed in part by grief over his son Arthur's 2015 death, which is explored in the documentaryOne More Time with Feeling (2016) and the Bad Seeds' 2019 albumGhosteen. The band's 18th and latest album,Wild God, was released in 2024.
Since 2018, Cave has maintainedThe Red Hand Files, a newsletter he uses to respond to questions from fans. He has collaborated with the likes ofJohnny Cash,Shane MacGowan and ex-partnerPJ Harvey. His songs have also been covered by a wide range of artists, including Cash ("The Mercy Seat"),Metallica ("Loverman") andSnoop Dogg ("Red Right Hand"). He was inducted into theARIA Hall of Fame in 2007,[6] and he was named anOfficer of the Order of Australia in 2017.
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Nicholas Edward Cave was born on 22 September 1957 inWarracknabeal, a country town in the Australian state ofVictoria, to Dawn Cave (née Treadwell) and Colin Frank Cave.[7][8] He has two older brothers, Tim (born 1952) and Peter (born 1954), and a younger sister, Julie (born 1959).[9] As a child, he lived in Warracknabeal and thenWangaratta in rural Victoria.
His father taught English and mathematics at the local technical school; his mother was a librarian at the high school that Cave attended.[10] From an early age, Cave's father read him literary classics, such asCrime and Punishment (1866) andLolita (1955),[11] and also organised the firstsymposium on the Australianbushranger and outlawNed Kelly,[12] with whom Cave was enamoured as a child.[13] Through his older brother, Cave became a fan of Britishprogressive rock bands such asKing Crimson,Pink Floyd andJethro Tull,[14] while a childhood girlfriend introduced him to the Canadianfolk artistLeonard Cohen, who he later described as "the greatest songwriter of them all".[15]
When Cave was nine he joined the choir of Wangaratta'sHoly Trinity Cathedral.[7] At 13 he was expelled fromWangaratta High School,[11] and sent by his parents toMelbourne to become a boarder and later day student atCaulfield Grammar School.[10] His family moved to Melbourne the following year, settling in the suburb ofMurrumbeena. After his secondary schooling, Cave studied painting at theCaulfield Institute of Technology in 1976, but dropped out the following year to pursue music.[16] He also began usingheroin around the time that he left art school.[17]
Cave attended his first music concert at Melbourne'sFestival Hall. The bill consisted of the English rock bandsManfred Mann,Deep Purple andFree. Cave recalled: "I remember sitting there and feeling physically the sound going through me."[16] In early 1977, he saw the Australianpunk rock bandsRadio Birdman andthe Saints live for the first time. Cave was particularly inspired by the show of the latter band, saying that he left the venue "a different person."[18][19]
Cave was 19 when his father was killed in a car collision; his mother told him of his father's death while she was bailing him out of aSt Kilda police station where he was being held on a charge of burglary.[20]He would later recall that his father "died at a point in my life when I was most confused" and that "the loss of my father created in my life a vacuum, a space in which my words began to float and collect and find their purpose".[11]
In 1973, Cave founded a band with fellow students at Caulfield Grammar. With Cave as lead vocalist, the band includedMick Harvey (guitar),Phill Calvert (drums), John Cochivera (guitar), Brett Purcell (bass guitar), and Chris Coyne (saxophone). Their repertoire consisted of cover versions of songs byLou Reed,David Bowie,Alice Cooper,Roxy Music andAlex Harvey, among others. Later, the line-up slimmed down to four members including Cave's friendTracy Pew on bass guitar. In 1977, after leaving school, they adopted the name the Boys Next Door and began playing predominantly originalpunk rock material. Guitarist, songwriter and ex-Young Charlatans memberRowland S. Howard joined the band in 1978.
The Boys Next Door emerged as the linchpin of the Melbournepost-punk scene in the late 1970s, securing a residency atSt Kilda'sCrystal Ballroom venue, where they attracted acult following.[21] They played hundreds of live shows in Australia and toured interstate before changing their name to the Birthday Party in 1980 and moving toLondon, England. Cave's girlfriend and museAnita Lane accompanied the band. They struggled initially with financial instability and limited connections, and grew to detest London and much of its music scene, which Cave later described as "dead, ... we felt really ripped off, robbed". He did however greatly admirethe Pop Group,[22] and the Birthday Party shared a mutual affinity withthe Fall.
By the end of their first year in London, the Birthday Party had gained notoriety for their aggressive, confrontational live shows and Cave's unhinged stage presence, with him shrieking, bellowing and throwing himself about the stage, backed up by harsh pounding rock music laced with guitar feedback. Drawing onOld Testament imagery, Cave's lyrics frequently revolved around sin, debauchery and damnation.[23] The band found a champion in prominent radio DJ and taste-makerJohn Peel, and went on to record fourPeel Sessions.
Cave's droll sense of humour and penchant for parody is evident in many of the band's songs, including "Nick the Stripper" and "King Ink". "Release the Bats", one of the band's most famous songs and John Peel's single of the year in 1981, was intended as an over-the-top "piss-take" ongothic rock, and a "direct attack" on the "stock gothic associations that less informed critics were wont to make". Ironically, it became highly influential on the genre, giving rise to a new generation of bands in England.[24]
The Birthday Party relocated toWest Berlin in 1982. After establishing acult following in Europe, Australia and the United States, they disbanded in the following year.
The band with Cave as their lead vocalist has released eighteen studio albums.Pitchfork calls the group one of rock's "most enduring, redoubtable" bands, with an accomplished discography.[25] Though their sound tends to change considerably from one album to another, the one constant of the band is an unpolished blending of disparate genres, and song structures which provide a vehicle for Cave's virtuosic, frequent histrionics. CriticsStephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey wrote: "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk."[3]
Reviewing the band's fourteenth studio albumDig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008),NME used the phrase "gothic psycho-sexual apocalypse" to describe the "menace" present in the lyrics of the title track.[26] Their most recent work,Wild God, was released in August 2024.
In a September 2013 interview, Cave explained that he returned to using atypewriter for songwriting after his experience with their twelfth studio albumNocturama (2003), as he "could walk in on a bad day and hit 'delete' and that was the end of it". Cave believes that he lost valuable work due to a "bad day".[16]
In 2006, Cave formed Grinderman with himself on vocals, guitar, organ and piano,Warren Ellis (tenor guitar, electric mandolin, violin, viola, guitar, backing vocals),Martyn P. Casey (bass, guitar, backing vocals) andJim Sclavunos (drums, percussion, backing vocals). The alternative rock outfit was formed as "a way to escape the weight of the Bad Seeds".[27] The band's name was inspired by aMemphis Slim song, "Grinder Man Blues", which Cave is noted to have started singing during one of the band's early rehearsal sessions. The band's debut studio album,Grinderman, was released in 2007 to positive reviews and the band's second and final studio album,Grinderman 2, was released in 2010 to a similar reception.[28]
Grinderman's first public performance was atAll Tomorrow's Parties in April 2007, whereBobby Gillespie fromPrimal Scream accompanied Grinderman on backing vocals and percussion.[29][30]
In December 2011, after performing at theMeredith Music Festival, Cave announced that Grinderman was over.[31] Two years later, Grinderman performed both weekends at the 2013Coachella Festival, as did Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.[32]
Cave's music was featured in a scene of the 1986 film,Dogs in Space by Richard Lowenstein.[33] Cave performed parts of the Boys Next Door song "Shivers" twice during the film, once on video and once live.
Another early fan of Cave's was German directorWim Wenders, who lists Cave, along withLou Reed andPortishead, as among his favourites.[34] Cave and the Bad Seeds appear in the 1987 filmWings of Desire performing "The Carny" and "From Her to Eternity".[35] Two original songs were included in Wenders' 1993 sequelFaraway, So Close!, including the title track. The soundtrack for Wenders' 1991 filmUntil the End of the World features, another Cave original, "(I'll Love You) Till the End of the World". Cave and the Bad Seeds later recorded a live in-studio cover track for Wenders' 2003 documentaryThe Soul of a Man, and his 2008 filmPalermo Shooting features two original songs from Cave's side project Grinderman.[36]
Cave's songs have also appeared in a number ofHollywoodblockbusters – "There is a Light" appears on the 1995 soundtrack forBatman Forever, and "Red Right Hand" appeared in a number of films includingDumb and Dumber (1994),The X-Files (1998);Scream (1996), its sequelsScream 2 (1997) and3 (2000), andHellboy (2004; performed byPete Yorn). InScream 3, the song was given a reworking with Cave writing new lyrics and adding an orchestra to the arrangement of the track. "People Ain’t No Good" was featured in the filmShrek 2 (2004) and in the television seriesMobland (2025), appearing in season 1, episode 5 ("Funeral for a Friend").[37]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) music supervisor Matt Biffa chose to use Cave's "O Children" in the film because it was "really uplifting".[38]
In 2000,Andrew Dominik used "Release the Bats" in his filmChopper. Other films that use Cave's songs includeThe Freshman (1990),Gas Food Lodging (1992),Box of Moonlight (1996),Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000),Mr In-Between (2001),Romance & Cigarettes (2005),Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009) andAbout Time (2013).
His music also appear in a number of major television shows, includingTrauma,The L Word,Traveler,The Unit,I Love the '70s,The Others,Nip/Tuck,Californication,After Life andJack Irish. "Red Right Hand" is the theme song forPeaky Blinders, which also features cover versions by artists such as his ex-partnerPJ Harvey,Arctic Monkeys,Laura Marling,Iggy Pop andJarvis Cocker ofPulp,Patti Smith andAnna Calvi. In a 2019 interview withVice,Cillian Murphy, who playsTommy Shelby inPeaky Blinders, mentioned that Cave personally approved the use of the song for the series after watching a pre-screening of the show.[39]
During the 1982 recording sessions for the Birthday Party's third studio albumJunkyard, Cave, together with band-mates Harvey and Howard, joined members ofthe Go-Betweens to formTuff Monks. The short-lived band released one single, "After the Fireworks", and played live only once. Later that year, Cave contributed to the concept albumHoneymoon in Red. Intended as a collaboration between the Birthday Party andLydia Lunch, the album was not released until 1988, by which time Lunch had fallen out with Cave, who she credits on the release as "Anonymous", "Her Dead Twin" and "A Drunk Cowboy Junkie".[40]
During the Birthday Party's Berlin period, Cave collaborated with local post-punk andpost-rock bandDie Haut on their studio albumBurnin' the Ice, released in 1983. In the immediate aftermath of the Birthday Party's break-up, Cave performed several shows in the United States as part ofthe Immaculate Consumptive, a short-lived "super-group" with Lunch,Marc Almond andClint Ruin.[40] Cave sang on anAnnie Hogan song called "Vixo" which was recorded in October 1983: the track was released in 1985 on the 12" inch vinyl "Annie Hogan – Plays Kickabye".[41]
A lifelong fan ofJohnny Cash, Cave covered his song "The Singer", originally "The Folk Singer", for the studio albumKicking Against the Pricks (1986), which Cash seemingly repaid by covering "The Mercy Seat" onAmerican III: Solitary Man (2000). Cave was then invited to contribute to the liner notes of the double-compact disc compilation albumThe Essential Johnny Cash, released to coincide with Cash's 70th birthday. Subsequently, Cave recorded a duet with Cash, a cover version ofHank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", for what would be Cash's final studio album,American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002). Another duet between the two artists, the American folk song "Cindy", was released posthumously onUnearthed, a boxset of outtakes. Cave's song "Let the Bells Ring", released on the studio albumAbattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus (2004), is a posthumous tribute to Cash.
Cave played withShane MacGowan on cover versions ofBob Dylan's "Death is Not the End" andLouis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". Cave recorded a cover version ofthe Pogues' song "Rainy Night in Soho", written by MacGowan. MacGowan also sings a version of "Lucy", released onB-Sides & Rarities (2005). Cave provided guest vocals on the title track ofCurrent 93's studio albumAll the Pretty Little Horses (1996), as well as the closer "Patripassian". For his studio albumMurder Ballads (1996), Cave recorded "Where the Wild Roses Grow" withKylie Minogue, and "Henry Lee" withPJ Harvey.
Cave also took part inThe X-Files compilation CD with some other artists, where he reads parts from the Bible combined with own texts, like "Time Jesum ...", he outed himself as a fan of the series some years ago, but since he does not watch much TV, it was one of the only things he watched.
In 2004, Cave gave a hand toMarianne Faithfull on her sixteenth studio album,Before the Poison. He co-wrote and produced three songs ("Crazy Love", "There Is a Ghost" and "Desperanto"), and the Bad Seeds are featured on all of them. He is also featured on "The Crane Wife 3" (originally bythe Decemberists), on Faithfull's seventeenth studio album,Easy Come, Easy Go (2008).
He collaborated on the 2003 single "Bring It On", withChris Bailey, formerly of the Australian punk group,the Saints. Cave contributed vocals to the song "Sweet Rosyanne", on the studio albumCatch That Train! (2006) by Dan Zanes & Friends, a children's music group.
In 2010, Cave began a series of duets withDebbie Harry ofBlondie forThe Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project.[42][43][44]
In 2011, Cave recorded a cover version ofthe Zombies' "She's Not There" withNeko Case, which was used at the end of the first episode of the fourth season ofTrue Blood.
In 2014, Cave wrote the libretto for the operaShell Shock by the Belgian composerNicholas Lens.[45][46][47] The opera premiered at the Royal Opera HouseLa Monnaie inBrussels on 24 October 2014[48]and was also set up at the international Weekend of War and Peace,Paris[49] on 10 and 11 November 2018 performed by L'Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France atCité de la Musique (Philharmonie de Paris)[50] with live television broadcasting onArte[51] andFrance Musique.[52]
In 2020, Cave wrote the libretto forL.I.T.A.N.I.E.S, a trance-minimal chamber opera byNicholas Lens. A recording produced by both writers was released byDeutsche Grammophon.[53][54][55][56]
In 2004, Cave said: "I'm forever near a stereo saying, 'What the fuck is this garbage?' And the answer is always theRed Hot Chili Peppers." The line is widely quoted in discourse around the band; their bassist,Flea, a fan of Cave, wrote that it had hurt him. In 2025, Cave wrote an apology on his website, saying it was "an offhand and somewhat uncharitable remark" with "no malice intended", and announced that he had recently contributed to a record by Flea.[57]
"When Cave makes a brief appearance in the film's waning minutes—playing a grungy troubadour, of course, strolling the length of a bar as he growls the oft-sung folk tribute toJesse James—you almost get the feeling that in some ways it's been Cave, by way of his score, telling the story all along."
Cave creates original film scores with fellow Bad Seeds band memberWarren Ellis—they first teamed up in 2005 to work on Hillcoat'sbushranger filmThe Proposition, for which Cave also wrote the screenplay.[59]
In 2007, Cave and Ellis composed the music forAndrew Dominik's adaptation ofRon Hansen'sThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.[60] By the time Dominik's film was released, Hillcoat was preparing his next project,The Road, an adaptation ofCormac McCarthy'snovel about a father and son struggling to survive in apost-apocalyptic world. Cave and Ellis wrote and recorded the score for the film, which was released in 2009.[61] In 2011, Cave and Ellis reunited with Hillcoat to score his latest picture,Lawless. Cave also authored this screenplay based onMatt Bondurant's novelThe Wettest County in the World (2008). Set in Depression-eraFranklin County, Virginia, the film was released in 2012.[62]
In 2016, Cave and Ellis scored the neo-Western filmHell or High Water, directed byDavid Mackenzie. The following year, they scoredTaylor Sheridan's neo-WesternWind River, as well as Australian directorDavid Michôd'sWar Machine.
Cave and Ellis have also scored a number of documentary films, includingThe English Surgeon (2007),West of Memphis (2012),Prophet's Prey (2015) andThe Velvet Queen (2021). Cave and Ellis created music for the Icelandic theatre groupVesturport productionsWoyzeck,The Metamorphosis andFaust.[63]
Cave released his first book,King Ink, in 1988. It is a collection of lyrics and plays, including collaborations withLydia Lunch. This was followed up withKing Ink II in 1997, containing lyrics, poems, and the transcript of a radio essay he wrote for theBBC in July 1996, "The Flesh Made Word", discussing in biographical format his relationship with Christianity.
While he was based inWest Berlin, Cave started working on what was to become his debut novel,And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). Significant crossover is evident between thethemes in the book and the lyrics Cave wrote in the late stages of the Birthday Party and the early stage of his solo career. "Swampland", fromMutiny, in particular, uses the same linguistic stylings ('mah' for 'my', for instance) and some of the same themes (the narrator being haunted by the memory of a girl called Lucy, being hunted like an animal, approaching death and execution).
In 1993, Cave andLydia Lunch published an adult comic book they wrote together, with illustrations by Mike Matthews, titledAS-FIX-E-8.
On 21 January 2008, a special edition of Cave's novelAnd the Ass Saw the Angel was released.[64] Cave's second novelThe Death of Bunny Munro was published on 8 September 2009 byHarperCollins.[65][66] Telling the story of a sex-addicted salesman, it was also released as abinaural audio-book produced by British ArtistsIain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and aniPhone app.[67] The book originally started as a screenplay Cave was going to write forJohn Hillcoat.[68]
The Death of Bunny Munro was made into a television series starring Matt Smith in 2025[1]
In 2015 he released the bookThe Sick Bag Song, followed in 2022 byFaith, Hope, and Carnage, collected from a series of phone conversations conducted between Cave and Irish writerSean O'Hagan during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[69]
Cave's writing has also attracted significant academic interest. Edited collections such asCultural Seeds: Essays on the Work of Nick Cave (2009) andThe Art of Nick Cave: New Critical Essays (2013) situate his lyrics and prose within literary and cultural studies. Scholars have emphasized his recurring biblical imagery, gothic motifs, and use of myth, with one contributor describing him as "a master of the disturbing narrative".[70]
Aside from their soundtracks, Cave also wrote the screenplays forJohn Hillcoat'sThe Proposition (2005) andLawless (2012).
Cave wrote the foreword to aCanongate publication of theGospel According to Mark, published in the UK in 1998. The American edition of the same book (published byGrove Press) contains a foreword by the noted American writerBarry Hannah.
Cave was a contributor to a biography of the alternative rock and pop bandthe Triffids,Vagabond Holes: David McComb and the Triffids (2009), edited by Australian academicsNiall Lucy and Chris Coughran.[71]
Cave's first film appearance was inWim Wenders' 1987 filmWings of Desire, in which he and the Bad Seeds are shown performing at a concert in Berlin.
Cave has made occasional appearances as an actor. He appears alongsideBlixa Bargeld in the 1988 Peter Sempel filmDandy, playing dice, singing and speaking from his Berlin apartment. He is most prominently featured in the 1989 filmGhosts… of the Civil Dead, written and directed byJohn Hillcoat, and in the 1991 filmJohnny Suede withBrad Pitt.
Cave appeared in the 2005 homage toLeonard Cohen,Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, in which he performed "I'm Your Man" solo, and "Suzanne" withJulie Christensen andPerla Batalla. He also appeared in the 2007 film adaptation of Ron Hansen's novelThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, where he sings "The Ballad of Jesse James".[72] Cave and Warren Ellis are credited for the film's soundtrack.[73] Nick Cave and his son Luke performed one of the songs on the soundtrack together. Luke played the triangle.[74]
His interest in the work ofEdward Gorey led to his participation in theBBC Radio 3 programmeGuest + Host = Ghost, featuringPeter Blegvad and the radiophonic sound of theLangham Research Centre.[75]
Cave lent his voice in narrating the animated filmThe Cat Piano (2009). It was directed byEddie White andAri Gibson (ofthe People's Republic of Animation), produced by Jessica Brentnall and features music byBenjamin Speed.[76]
He provided the voice of the character Bill Clarke in the stop-motion filmMemoir of a Snail (2024) byAdam Elliot.[77]
Cave wrote the screenplay forThe Proposition, a film aboutbushrangers in the Australianoutback during the late 19th century. Directed by John Hillcoat and filmed inQueensland in 2004, it premiered in October 2005 and was later released worldwide to critical acclaim.[78] Cave explained his personal background in relation to writing the film's screenplay in a 2013 interview:
I had written long-form before but it is pure story-telling in script writing and that goes back as far as I can remember for me, not just with my father but with myself. I slept in the same bedroom as my sister for many years, until it became indecent to do so and I would tell her stories every night—that is how she would get to sleep. She would say "tell me a story" so I would tell her a story. So that ability, I very much had that from the start and I used to enjoy that at school so actually to write a script—it suddenly felt like I was just making up a big story.[16]
The film critic for British newspaperThe Independent calledThe Proposition "peerless", "a star-studded and uncompromisingly violent outlaw film".[79] The generallyambient soundtrack was recorded by Cave and Warren Ellis.
At the request of his friendRussell Crowe, Cave wrote a script for a proposed sequel toGladiator which was rejected by the studio.[80]
An announcement in February 2010 stated thatAndy Serkis and Cave would collaborate on a motion-capture movie of theBrecht andWeill musicalThe Threepenny Opera. As of November 2024, the project has not been realised.[81]
Cave wrote a screenplay titledThe Wettest County in the World,[82] which was used for the 2012 filmLawless, directed again by John Hillcoat, starringTom Hardy andShia LaBeouf.[83]
Cave currently maintains a personal blog and an online correspondence page with his fans calledThe Red Hand Files which is seen as a continuation ofIn Conversation, a series of live personal talks Cave had held in which the audience were free to ask questions. On the page, Cave discusses various issues ranging from art, religion, current affairs and music, as well as using it as a free platform in which fans are encouraged to ask personal questions on any topic of their choosing.[84][85] Cave's intimate approach to the Question & Answer format onThe Red Hand Files was praised byThe Guardian as "a shelter from the online storm free of discord and conspiracies, and in harmony with the internet vision ofTim Berners-Lee."[85]
In January 2023, after being sent a song written byChatGPT "in the style of Nick Cave",[86] he responded onThe Red Hand Files (and was later quoted inThe Guardian) saying that act of song writing "is not mimicry, or replication, or pastiche, it is the opposite, it is an act of self-murder that destroys all one has strived to produce in the past." He went on to say "It's a blood and guts business [that] requires my humanness", concluding that "this song is bullshit, a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human, and, well, I don't much like it."[86][87]
In 2010, Cave was ranked the 19th greatest living lyricist inNME.[88]Flea of theRed Hot Chili Peppers called him the greatest living songwriter in 2011.[89] Rob O'Connor ofYahoo Music listed him as the 23rd best lyricist in rock history.[90]The Art of Nick Cave: New Critical Essays was edited by academic John H. Baker and published in 2013. In an essay on the studio albumThe Boatman's Call (1997), Peter Billingham praised Cave's love songs as characterised by a "deep, poetic, melancholic introspection".[91] Carl Lavery, another academic featured in the collection, argued that there was a "burgeoning field of Cave studies".[92] Dan Rose argued that Cave "is a master of the disturbing narrative and chronicler of the extreme, though he is also certainly capable of a subtle romantic vision. He does much to the listener who enters his world."[93]
Songs written about Cave include "Just a King in Mirrors" (1983) bythe Go-Betweens,[94] "Sick Man" (1984) byFoetus,[95] and "Bill Bailey" (1987) bythe Gun Club.[96]
A number of prominentnoise rock vocalists have cited Cave's Birthday Party-era work as their primary influence, includingthe U-Men's John Bigley,[97] andDavid Yow, frontman ofScratch Acid andthe Jesus Lizard. Yow stated: "For a long time, particularly with Scratch Acid, I was so taken with the Birthday Party that I would deny it",[98] and that "it sounded like I was trying to be Birthday Party Nick Cave—which I was."[99] Often compared to Cave in his vocal delivery,Alexis Marshall ofDaughters said that he admires the personality and energy within Cave's voice, and that his early studio albums "exposed [him] to lyrical content as literature".[100]
Due to his contributions to the world of culture and art, Nick Cave was awarded the insignia of Knight of theOrder of Arts and Letters ofFrance in 2025.[101]
Cave left Australia in 1980. After stints living in London, Berlin, and São Paulo, he moved toBrighton, England, in the early 2000s.[102] The film20,000 Days on Earth (2014), about Cave's life, is set around Brighton.[103] Cave left Brighton after the death of his teenage son, Arthur, finding it "too sad", but returned "once we realised that, regardless of where we lived, we just took our sadness with us".[104][105] The lyrics of the song "Heart That Kills You" (from the compilation albumB-Sides & Rarities Part II) express the subject.[105] In 2021, Cave said he and his wife were living in London.[105]
Cave was a guest at theCoronation of Charles III and Camilla in May 2023.[106][107]
In June 2023, inThe Archbishop Interview withJustin Welby, thearchbishop of Canterbury, onBBC Radio 4, Cave spoke about being aheroin addict for 20 years. Although his life during that time was admittedly "a terrible shambles", his second decade of addiction was much more stable and characterised by regularly taking heroin in the morning and in the evening and being able to work on writing during the day.[20] On his blog, Cave discussed practicingTranscendental Meditation, saying "from the first time I meditated, I stopped fearing the end of the world."[108]
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Cave dated singer/songwriterAnita Lane from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.[109] Cave and Lane recorded together on a few occasions. Their most notable collaborations include Lane's "cameo" verse on Cave'sBob Dylan cover version "Death Is Not the End" from the studio albumMurder Ballads (1996), and a cover of theSerge Gainsbourg andJane Birkin song "Je t'aime...moi non plus/ I love you...me neither".[110] Lane co-wrote the lyrics to the title track for Cave's studio album,From Her to Eternity (1984), as well as the lyrics of the song "Stranger Than Kindness" fromYour Funeral...My Trial (1986).[111]
Cave then moved toSão Paulo, Brazil, in 1990, where he met and married his first wife, Brazilian journalist Viviane Carneiro. She gave birth to their son Luke in 1991. Cave and Carneiro were married for six years and divorced in 1996.[112]
Cave's son Jethro was also born in 1991, just 10 days before Luke, and grew up with his mother, Beau Lazenby, in Melbourne, Australia. Cave and Jethro never met until Jethro was about seven or eight.[113] He died at age 31 in May 2022.[114]
Cave briefly dated English singer/songwriterPJ Harvey during the mid-1990s, with whom he recorded the duet "Henry Lee". Their break-up influenced his studio albumThe Boatman's Call (1997).[115]
In 1997, Cave met English modelSusie Bick; they married in 1999. Their twin sons, Arthur andEarl, were born inLondon in 2000 and raised inBrighton.[116][117][118][119] Bick is the model on the cover of Cave's studio albumPush the Sky Away (2013).[120]
When he was 15 years old, Cave's son Arthur fell from a cliff atOvingdean, near Brighton, and died from his injuries on 14 July 2015.[121][122][123] An inquest found that Arthur had takenLSD before the fall and the coroner ruled his death was an accident.[124] The effect of Arthur's death on Cave and his family was explored in the documentary filmOne More Time with Feeling (2016), and the studio albumGhosteen (2019).
Cave is the godfather toMichael Hutchence's daughterTiger Hutchence-Geldof;[125] he performed "Into My Arms" at the televised funeral of Hutchence, but insisted that the cameras cease rolling during his performance.[125]
Cave is an avid reader of theChristianBible. In his recorded lectures on music and songwriting, Cave said that any true love song is a song forGod, and ascribed the mellowing of his music to a shift in focus from theOld Testament to theNew. He has spoken too of what attracts him to belief in God: "One of the things that excites me about belief in God is the notion that it is unbelievable, irrational and sometimes absurd"[126] When asked if he had interest in religions outside of Christianity, Cave quipped that he had a passing, sceptical interest but was a "hammer-and-nails kind of guy".[127] Despite this, Cave has also said he is critical oforganised religion. When interviewed byJarvis Cocker ofPulp on 12 September 2010, for his BBC Radio 6 showJarvis Cocker's Sunday Service, Cave said that "I believe in God in spite of religion, not because of it."[128]
Cave has always been open about his doubts. When asked in 2009 about whether he believed in apersonal god, Cave's reply was "No".[129] The following year, he stated that "I'm not religious, and I'm not a Christian, but I do reserve the right to believe in the possibility of a god. It's kind of defending the indefensible, though; I'm critical of what religions are becoming, the more destructive they're becoming. But I think as an artist, particularly, it's a necessary part of what I do, that there is some divine element going on within my songs."[130] Previously, he had summarised his approach as "my relation with God is open and questioning, doubtful at times but alive."[126]
Cave's religious doubts were once a source of discomfort to him, but he eventually concluded:
Although I've never been anatheist, there are periods when I struggled with the whole thing. As someone who uses words, you need to be able to justify your belief with language, I'd have arguments and the atheist always won because he'd go back to logic. Belief in God is illogical, it's absurd. There's no debate. I feel it intuitively, it comes from the heart, a magical place. But I still I fluctuate from day to day. Sometimes I feel very close to the notion of God, other times I don't. I used to see that as a failure. Now I see it as a strength, especially compared to the more fanatical notions of what God is. I think doubt is an essential part of belief.[131]
In 2019, Cave expressed his personal disagreement with both organised religion and atheism (in particularNew Atheism) when questioned about his beliefs by a fan during a question and answer session on hisRed Hand Files blog.[84] On the same blog, Cave confirmed he believed in God in June 2021.[132] By 2023, Cave characterised himself as not being a Christian but 'act[ing] like one'[133] and detailed in his 2022 bookFaith, Hope, and Carnage that he regularly attends church. Earlier in his career, he'd spoken of his frustration at not being more interested in organised religion. "It would be so much more practical and neater. I enjoy the ritual. Some part of me does like that there is a community of people there, coming together with the same belief. That is a comforting thing. But there's another part of me that wants to run a million miles away from that."[126]
In 2023, Cave wrote on his blog that he had sympathised with feminist authorAyaan Hirsi Ali's conversion fromIslam to atheism after reading her bookInfidel: My Life (2006), and had also considered himself an atheist. However, he described his growing interest in religion as a "slowly emergent state" and shaped by his upbringing in theAnglican church. He also clarified his view on Christianity was "non-political and fully personal and emotional" and described his religious beliefs as "bound up in the liturgy and the ritual and the poetry that swirls around the restless, tortured figure ofJesus, as presented within the sacred domain of the church itself. My religiousness is softly spoken, both sorrowful and joyful, broadening and deepening, imagined and true. It is worship and prayer. It is resilient yet doubting, and forever wrestles with the forces of rationality." He concluded by describing Hirsi Ali's 2023 article inUnHerd documenting her conversion to Christianity as a "laudable achievement" for its ability to "vex atheists and Christians alike."[134]
In 2025, he said he regularly worships at a 900-year-oldAnglican church in London where he enjoys the traditional solemn liturgy "with no guitars. Thank God."[135]
In 2019, Cave wrote in defence of singerMorrissey ofthe Smiths after the latter expressed a series of controversial political statements, leading to some record stores refusing to stock his upcoming albumCalifornia Son. Cave argued that Morrissey should have the right to freedom of speech to state his opinions while everyone should be able to "challenge them when and wherever possible, but allow his music to live on, bearing in mind we are all conflicted individuals." He also added it would be "dangerous" to censor Morrissey from expressing his beliefs.[136][84]
In response to a fan asking about his political beliefs, Cave expressed a disdain for "atheism,organised religion, radicalbi-partisan politics andwoke culture" on hisRed Hand Files blog. He in particular singled out woke politics and culture for criticism, describing it as "finding energy in self-righteous belief and the suppression of contrary systems of thought" and "regardless of the virtuous intentions of many woke issues, it is its lack of humility and the paternalistic and doctrinal sureness of its claims that repel me."[84] In 2020, Cave also expressed opposition toostracism, particularlycancel culture, and misguidedpolitical correctness, describing both as "bad religion run amuck" and their "refusal to engage with uncomfortable ideas has an asphyxiating effect on the creative soul of a society."[137][138]
Cave has previously described himself as a supporter offreedom of speech in both his liveIn Conversation events and on his blog.[139] He has also argued against boycotting musicians for controversial actions or political opinions while giving a lecture at theHay Festival in 2023, saying that audiences should not "eradicate the best of these people in order to punish the worst of them."[133] Cave believes that "the really great stuff is often made by the most problematic people."[140]
In October 2022, Cave expressed support for the participants of theMahsa Amini protests in Iran on his correspondence blog after being asked by a fan on the matter. He responded by stating "I am in awe of their courage and pray for their safety."[141]
Cave has also expressed support fortransgender people, stating on his personal blog that he "[loves] my trans fans fully" and "[wishes] for them to receive every right inherent to them and for them to lead lives of dignity and freedom, devoid of violence and prejudice".[142]
In 2023, Cave disputed a characterisation of him asright-wing or conservative by theNew Statesman magazine but added "I have these days what I would call a conservative temperament" and described himself as "conservative with a small c." He also clarified he was "not against progress" but "I just see things moving very rapidly and a whole lot of different things worry me a lot, likeAI" and expressed criticism of the idea "that everything is systemically fucked". He also stated that his small-c conservative views had formed following the deaths of two of his sons, explaining "I think that I have an understanding of loss and what it is to lose something and how difficult it is to get that back" and argued that the demise of religion and spirituality "which may or may not be a good thing" had led to a "vacuum that we created that we don't really know what to do with".[133]
In November 2017, Cave was urged by British musiciansBrian Eno andRoger Waters to cancel two concerts inTel Aviv, Israel, while "apartheid remains" but he declined.[143] Cave went on to describe theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as "cowardly and shameful", and that calls to boycott the country are "partly the reason I am playing Israel – not as support for any particular political entity but as a principled stand against those who wish to bully, shame and silence musicians." He wrote anopen letter to Eno to defend his position.[144][145][146]
In 2024, when asked by a musician on Cave's The Red Hand Files whether they should boycottThe Great Escape Festival over its ties toBarclays, which increased investments in arms companies trading with Israel, he responded with "play".[147][148] He believes that the BDS movement has been ineffective and is also "used to further [the Israeli government's] nefarious agendas, while, at the same time, punishes ordinary fans."[149]
TheAPRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by theAustralasian Performing Right Association (APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". They commenced in 1982.[160]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Do You Love Me?" | Song of the Year | Nominated | [161][162] |
| 1996 | Nick Cave | Songwriter of the Year | Won | |
| "Where the Wild Roses Grow" | Most Performed Australian Work | Nominated | ||
| Song of the Year | Nominated | |||
| 1998 | "Into My Arms" | Nominated | ||
| 2001 | "The Ship Song" | Top 30 Best Australian Songs | Included | [163] |
| 2014 | "Jubilee Street" (withWarren Ellis) | Song of the Year | Shortlisted | [164] |
| "We No Who U R" (with Warren Ellis) | Shortlisted | |||
| 2021 | "Ghosteen" (with Warren Ellis) | Song of the Year | Shortlisted | [165] |
| 2022 | "Albuquerque" (with Warren Ellis) | Song of the Year | Shortlisted | [166] |
| 2025 | "Wild God" (with Warren Ellis) | Song of the Year | Shortlisted | [167] |
TheARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres ofAustralian music. They commenced in 1987.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Let Love In | Best Group | Nominated | |
| "Do You Love Me?" | Single of the Year | Nominated | ||
| 1996 | Murder Ballads | Album of the Year | Nominated | [168] |
| Best Alternative Release | Nominated | |||
| "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (withKylie Minogue) | Song of the Year | Won | ||
| Single of the Year | Won | |||
| Best Pop Release | Won | |||
| 1997 | The Boatman's Call | Album of the Year | Nominated | [168] |
| Best Alternative Release | Nominated | |||
| "Into My Arms" | Song of the Year | Nominated | ||
| Single of the Year | Nominated | |||
| To Have and to Hold (Nick Cave with Blixa Bargeld & Mick Harvey) | Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Recording | Won | ||
| 2001 | No More Shall We Part | Best Male Artist (Nick Cave) | Won | |
| 2003 | Nocturama | Best Male Artist (Nick Cave) | Nominated | [168] |
| Best Rock Album | Nominated | |||
| 2006 | The Proposition (Nick Cave with Warren Ellis) | Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Recording | Nominated | [169] |
| 2007 | Nick Cave | ARIA Hall of Fame | inducted | |
| 2008 | Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! | Album of the Year | Nominated | [168] |
| Best Male Artist (Cave) | Won | |||
| Best Rock Album | Nominated | |||
| 2013 | Push the Sky Away | Album of the Year | Nominated | [170] |
| Best Group | Nominated | |||
| Best Independent Release | Won | |||
| Best Adult Contemporary Album | Won | |||
| "Jubilee Street" (directed byJohn Hillcoat) | Best Video | Nominated | ||
| National Tour | Best Australian Live Act | Nominated | ||
| Lawless (with Warren Ellis) | Best Original Soundtrack / Cast / Show Recording | Nominated | ||
| 2014 | Live from KCRW | Best Adult Contemporary Album | Nominated | |
| 2015 | Nick Cave Australian Tour | Best Australian Live Act | Nominated | |
| 2017 | Skeleton Tree | Best Group | Nominated | |
| Best Adult Contemporary Album | Nominated | |||
| Australia & New Zealand Tour 2017 | Best Australian Live Act | Nominated | ||
| 2020 | Ghosteen | Best Independent Release | Nominated | |
| Best Adult Contemporary Album | Nominated | |||
| 2021 | Carnage (with Warren Ellis) | Best Adult Contemporary Album | Nominated | [171] |
TheAustralian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. It commenced in 2005.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021[172] | Carnage (with Warren Ellis) | Australian Music Prize | Nominated |
TheEG Awards (known asMusic Victoria Awards since 2013) are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007[173] | Nick Cave & Grinderman – Forum Theatre | Best Tour | Won |
| 2008[174] | Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! | Best Album | Won |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Best Band | Won |
TheGrammy Awards are awarded annually byThe Recording Academy to honor outstanding achievements in the music industry, and are considered the music industry's highest honor.[175]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | One More Time with Feeling | Best Music Film | Nominated | [176] |
| 2022 | Carnage | Best Recording Package | Nominated | [177] |
TheJ Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio stationTriple J. They commenced in 2005.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | "Macca the Mutt" by Party Dozen featuring Nick Cave (directed by Tanya Babic & Jason Sukadana [Versus]) | Australian Video of the Year | Nominated | [178] |
| 2024 | Nick Cave | Double J Artist of the Year | Nominated | [179] |
The Godfather of Goth is back
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Do I personally believe in a personal God? No.
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