About A Boy Next DoorA Nick Cave BiographyTaken from Bad-Seed-FAQ at www.bad-seed.org |
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Family & influences | Nicholas
Edward Cave was born in Warracknabeal, Australia on 22
September 1957. His mother's name is Dawn, a librarian;
his father Colin was an English teacher. He has two older
brothers, Tim (1952) and Peter (1954) and a sister, Julie
(1959). He was raised an Anglican, which explains the
apparent influence of The Bible in his work. Nick Cave
was living together with Viviane, born in Sao Paulo,
Brazil, and has a son with her, Luke, born in 1991. Nick
and Viviane split up and according to rumours, Nick has
had some kind of an affair with PJ Harvey. |
Education | His education:
Caulfield Grammar School, Melbourne and an Art School
(Art department of Caulfield Institute of Technology, now
Monash University) which he attended only two years. An
example of Nick's art is on the back of the Birthday
Party's "Prayers On Fire" album, signed
"Nicholas Cave". At Caulfield, Nick met Mick
Harvey, with whom he founded a high school band that
would become The Boys Next Door. The first recording
released by NC was "These Boots Are Made For
Walking" in 1978, a single that was soon followed by
the album "Door Door" the next year. The band
consisted of Nick, Mick Harvey, Tracy Pew, Phillip
Calvert and Rowland S. Howard (from 1979 on).
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From The Boys Next Door To The Birthday Party | The Boys Next Door
slowly dissolved into "The Birthday Party" in
1980 when the album of the same name came out: some
copies stated "The Birthday Party by The Boys Next
Door", others only "The Birthday Party".
When they changed their name, the band moved from
Australia to London. The Birthday Party had a huge impact
on the British rock scene of that time, especially
because of the expression of raw emotion, wit and
essential dumbness in their music, though it took some
time for them to really break through. The LP
"Prayers on Fire" was released in 1981,
"Junkyard" in 1982. The band moved to
West-Berlin and fell apart in 1983 after releasing 3
studio albums and 2 EP's. Their last EP,
"Mutiny", was the ultimate manifestation of
everything punk pretended to be. Here, Blixa Bargeld,
from Einstuerzende Neubauten, appeared for the first time
with Nick Cave. |
The Bad Seeds | Part of the BP
members continued to form The Bad Seeds, recording the
first NC&BS album in 1984: "From Her To
Eternity". The line-up at this time was: Nick Cave,
Blixa Bargeld (guitar), Mick Harvey (drums), Barry
Adamson (guitar and piano), Hugo Race (guitar), Tracy Pew
(bass, only during the Australian tour), with
cooperation of Anita Lane. The name "Bad Seeds"
may come either from the Bible (e.g. St. Matthew 13) or
from the film "Bad Seed" by Mervin LeRoy, 1956,
based on a play by Maxwell Anderson and a novel by
William March. The year 1985 saw the release of the
second NC&BS album, "The Firstborn Is
Dead". The Bad Seeds were now reduced to Cave,
Harvey, Bargeld and Adamson. The song "Tupelo" contains some of the initial ideas for the novel Cave would publish a few years later: "And The Ass Saw The Angel" (1989). In fact, the greater part of the songs written during the conception of "The Ass" can be seen as parallels of the book (e.g. The Carny and Sad Waters from Your Funeral... My Trial). It is the story of a criminal idiot hounded by a lynch mob. The novel got very good reviews and was translated into ten languages. The next year, 1986, two albums were released; one album, "Kicking Against The Pricks" was a compilation of covers of mainly blues songs. The Bad Seeds were extended by Thomas Wydler and there are guest appearances of Tracy Pew and Rowland S. Howard. The second album was "Your Funeral... My Trial", released on two EPs. In 1988, Wim Wender's film "Der Himmel Ueber Berlin" ("Wings of Desire") saw the light of day, featuring "The Carny" and Nick doing "From Her to Eternity" live ("I'm NOT going to tell them about a girl..."). Other Wim Wenders films that feature NC's music are "Bis ans Ende der Welt (Until The End Of The World" and "Faraway... So Close", the follow-up to "Wings...". The album "Tender Prey" was released in 1988. After this, Cave moved from Berlin to Sao Paolo, Brazil, where he had met Viviane Carneiro during a tour. The influence of Brazil is apparent in "The Good Son", the album released in 1990. The music is much more melodious and friendly than on any other album released before. Kid Congo Powers (Cramps, Gun Club) made his appearance as a member of the Bad Seeds on this album, although he already played in the band for a longer period, during the YFMT and KAtP times. In 1989, a film called "Ghosts... of the Civil Dead" was released, co-written by Nick, the soundtrack of which was written by Nick, acted in by Nick. It is a prison movie. Not until 1992, the seventh album was released: "Henry's Dream", followed by a worldwide tour. Again, the line-up was changed: Nick, Blixa, Mick, Thomas, Martyn P. Casey and Conway Savage. The tour was used to record their only official live CD to be released in 1993: "Live Seeds". The CD was intended as a celebration of the ten years' existence of The Bad Seeds and is sold together with a photo book by Peter Milne. The book contains photographs from the 1992/3 tour. During the spring of 1993, Nick Cave moved to London, where part of the ninth Bad Seeds album--"Let Love In" was recorded. In 1996, "Murder Ballads" was released. The album contains songs which exclusively deal with the subject of murder. Record-breaker for the longest song by NC is "O' Malleys Bar", which lasts about a quarter of an hour. Duets are sung with P.J. Harvey and Kylie Minogue. Other artists featured are Shane McGowan and Warren Ellis (from The Dirty Three). Apart from this, Nick Cave features on the compilation Album "Songs In The Key Of X", which has songs on it from the TV serial "The X-Files". Nick does "Red Right Hand" and can be found on a "Hidden Track" called "Time Jesum transeuntem et non reverendum" (Dread the passage of Jesus for he will not return) with The Dirty Three. Nick Cave was shortlisted for "Best Male Artist" of 1996 by MTV Music Awards. He declined the honour, stating that he did not want to compete with other people where Art was concerned. 1997 brought From Her To Eternity inner sleeve a new album, again, called "The Boatman's Call", released in February. Now Warren Ellis and Jim Sclavunos are listed as members of the Bad Seeds. A European tour
started in April in France and ran through July. Nick
Cave and the Bad Seeds will not play in the US in the
next eight months or longer. |
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