






Brokenmouth Review
(from The i )

By JAYNE MARGETTS
"ELVIS struggled to establish a happy medium between what he wanted
to be and what he was expected to be. This Is Elvis shows Elvis run
down and fighting to be what he was supposed to be, and failing
because he was not the public Elvis. His hypnotic public decline was
emotionally powerful, captivating and it follows that Nick's public
position, with all its contradictory forces, would present a
similarly powerful spectacle..."
So saith Melbourne author and biographer Robert Brokenmouth of Saint
Nick Cave in his tribute and parable, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party
& Other Epic Adventures. Should Cave, himself, have agreed to
contribute his own perceptions of himself to this biography then it
would be interesting to see whether he agreed with the analogy and
comparison.
Two years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Nick Cave for the
release of his tortured and gutturally raw album Let Love In. It was
a sultry and humid 39-degree summer's day. The location was the
Mediterranean port town of Fremantle in Western Australia. Nick, in
his usual temperamental and volatile manner, sauntered into the tea
rooms of the New Edition Bookshop looking alternatively cool and
flustered.
Clearly he was not happy.
He pouted and grimaced and sniffed that he didn't want to do the
interview. But after a firm glance in his direction and the
suggestion that maybe he should "chill". He agreed. What followed was
a metaphysical and inspirational epiphany into the domains of the
savaged, dark angel's music, life, literary endeavour And The Ass Saw
The Angel , that lived up to - and far surpassed - any expectations
one could have when faced with the potential wrath and passion of
Melbourne's cult god.
Cave enjoyed the thrill of the chase. He was elusive without
descending into the domains of opaqueness.
He was fiery, volatile and one of the most magnetic and beguiling
personalities to spar and share coffee with. But what Cave seemed to
fear above all was the ability for any one person to burrow beneath
his carefully constructed suit of armour to what lay beneath. An
there was an unspoken decree that should the conversation become too
personal he would lash out and live up to his reputation of fire and
brimstone retaliation.
Melbourne, home to Cave and The Birthday Party, has an underlying
essence of darkness both in its nooks and open expanses of land. The
Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda, even on a quiet weekday evening has the
same feral and sleazy residue from its sticky carpets, peeling
archways, battered stages and PA units through to its walls adorned
by posters announcing weekend gigs of the likes of Tex Perkins.
The sniff and legacy of The Birthday Party is felt all round and to
Brokenmouth's credit, he has captured that very ambience and
motivation that spurned The Birthday Party onwards towards not only
the history books, but as purveyors of a sound that has been imitated
and long regarded as the quintessential "Melbourne Sound".
Interviewing the survivors, guitarists Mick Harvey and Rowland
Howard, drummer Phil Calvert, close friends of their late bass player
Tracy Pew and producer Tony Cohen, Brokenmouth has assembled a
critical and meticulous homage to - and diary of - the rise and fall
of The Birthday Party through to the genesis and realisation of The
Bad Seeds.
The picture that emerges is one of the archetypal and oft sprouted
sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, but it also the story of an enigmatic
frontman and the struggles between personalities, creative
recognition and the self-destructive purging that they all succumbed
to on a regular basis while constructing a snapshot of the cultural
ramifications and the sights, smells and sounds of the late '70s
through to today.
The chronicle begins in Melbourne 1976 and a chapter titled Out After
School in which Brokenmouth via Calvert, Tracy Pew's mother Nancy,
Mick Harvey, Keith Glass, Dave Graney and fans construct an insight
into the events that would shape The Boys Next Door as a band and
their effect on the live scene amid the heady reign of The Saints and
Radio Birdman.
Seen through the eyes of a fan, Brokenmouth extracts a sense of the
humble origins of The Boys Next Door; "Nick was so dynamic, always
striking a pose. He wore eyeliner, which made his body look more
emaciated and scarecrow-like than ever, nattily dressed in a suit and
white shirt and no tie. He's look elevated, helpless, enraged and
finally alien by stages."
By March 1980, The Boys Next Door had changed their name to The
Birthday Party and embarked on the next phase which saw them arrive
in London, ride the highs and lows and making a name for themselves
on the British live scene ...
From this point onwards Brokenmouth immerses himself wholeheartedly
into The Birthday Party's musical involvement and analysis of their
recorded works, and paints a rounded picture from the band members of
what really happened during those turbulent and defining years.
Fundamentally, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party & Other Epic
Adventures is rich and pungent in seedy atmosphere and traces with
meticulous ease the complexities and musical, biographical rise to
prominence and fame. It is also a pulpit in which, the other members
of The Birthday Party and Mick Harvey vocalise with raw honesty their
true feelings about that phase of their lives.
Robert Brokenmouth has done a remarkable job on a very difficult
biography. He has captured the spirit, the colour and the
personalities at play in one of history's most influential bands.
The irony however of a project such as this is in the fact that Nick
Cave is unable to refute or agree with Brokenmouth or band members
summations, yet he was always the voice for The Birthday Party.
If there is a suspicion that lurks it is that Cave was approached by
Brokenmouth to be a part of this historical piece of literaryism. But
knowing that cool and detached look Cave is notorious for, he more
than likely dismissed the idea and sniffed "No!".
The burning question remains however, what will be Cave's response?
And if he does respond, well, that could catalyse a whole other
book.
Note:
Cave's response, incidently, was that if he ever met
Brokenmouth, he would do everything within his power to make the
author look like his namesake. ----------Karl.
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