Nicholas Edward Cave was born in Wangaratta, Australia, on the 22nd of September 1957.



After moving to Melbourne to pursue his studies at Caulfield High School, where he was refered to as being "sleazy" because of his art work, Nick meets the future members of The Boys Next Door: Mick Harvey, Tracy Pew and Phil Calvert. He also falls in love with Anita Lane to whom he will dedicate his novel. To this day, the two still collaborate on occasions, even though the romance is dead.

At first, The Boys Next Door tours colleges and sings oldies, which is surprising since punk was at its height. In 1979 Rowland S. Howard joins the band and they write some songs such as World Panic and Masturbation Generation. Real progress is achieved as a label gives the band studio time, enabling them to work on their first album Brave Exhibitions, which will never be released.

But in May 1979, the album Door Door comes out, it includes some pop song and reflects the inexperience of the band. But the group is getting more and more confrontational in live performances and they get banned form clubs and hassled by the police. They record more songs that come out on a new album: Hee Haw (December 1979). The new songs reflect the punk atmosphere better and Nick's texts are starting to be little stories.



As the band moves to London to bigger and better things, they change their name to The Birthday Party, inspired by one of their songs: Happy Birthday (therefore their name is not a reference to the Pinter play or to the film of the same name). As soon as it arrives in London, the band's sound becomes harsher, more pressing and energized.

In 1981 their first album comes out. Prayers on Fire is everything fans and critics hoped it would be. But soon, english audiences become colder and the band has some inner tensions, with some of its members under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. After a few more explosive albums, the tension gets too great and the imminent split up is close at hand.

However, while touring in Berlin, the band catches the performance of an "incredibly weird group" called Einstürzende Neubauten. Nick meets its lead singer Blixa Bargeld and they understand each other at once. The Birthday Party moves to Berlin where the last album recorded, Mutiny, is thought of as a masterpiece by many.



Right before their Australian tour, Mick Harvey quits the band and the tension between Nick and Rowland Howard gets too strong and the split up occurs. RIP The Birthday Party...

In the last months of 1984, Nick writes the 50 - 1 - Page - Plays with Lydia Lunch, all based on pornography and violence and all with the same title: Fresh Cunt in A Can. Other than that, he writes other one-acters, poems, lyrics and he drifts between London and Berlin.

Finally, in 1984, Cave and his so-called Cavemen perform a serie of shows known as Nick Cave, Man or Myth?. On stage with him are Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld and Barry Adamson. In May, their first single, In the Ghetto, is released, it is a cover of an Elvis Presley song, whom Nick admires more and more.



The B-side is The Moon is in the Gutter and there are rumors of "softening" in the crowd. The single is credited to Nick Cave "featuring the Bad Seeds," stressing the temporary nature of this association.

But in May 1984, the album From Her to Eternity is released and the name Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is finally adopted as a name for the band.

All the musicians in the band are involved in their own muscial projects and they come and go, but the nucleus of Mick and Blixa never changes. The rest, as they say, is history...




DISCOGRAPHY
From Her to Eternity CD/LP STUMM17, 1984 The First Born Is Dead CD/LP/C STUMM21,1985 Kicking Against The Pricks CD/LP/C STUMM28, 1986 Your Funeral My Trial CD/DLP/C STUMM34, 1986 Tender Prey CD/LP STUMM52, 1988 The Good Son CD/LP STUMM76, 1990 Henry's Dream CD/LP/C STUMM96, 1992 Live Seeds CD STUMM122, 1993 Let Love In CD/LP/C STUMM123, 1994 Murder Ballads CD/LP/C STUMM138, 1996 The Boatman's Call CD/LP/C STUMM142, 1997