Photo by Andrew Dominick
The austere Sanders Theatre of Harvard seems like the right place to see a cult hero of post-punk murder balladry. So naturally when the opportunity to see Nick Cave, who’s been forging away from Birthday Party to Bad Seeds and beyond since the late 70s, we had to go check what it was all about. Part musical performance, part “ask me anything” style conversation, it proved an interesting cross-examination of an artist and his dedicated following. Cave has been putting on this series of discussion as an in-person continuation of the Red Hand Files, a sort of AMA that’s been happening on Cave’s website for a handful of months.
According to Cave, it wasn’t too long before the questions became more expansive; more often than not, the people writing in weren’t looking for any answers, but rather to express something fundamental part of themselves, and to have that heard not just by their hero, but by a community of onlookers who sought out this lanky, thin, ghost-poet who made his name writing murder ballads about deranged killers. Cave said that need to be heard and understood is a driving motivation for all of us. Perhaps he feels the need to, in some small part, facilitate that for whom he can. If you read through the files, you can learn a lot about his work, his life, and, most interestingly, the way he’s seen by his fans.
For all of Nick Cave’s reputation and depiction in the media based off the dark characters and murderous psyches he (formerly) wrote about in his music, he seems like a pretty well-adjusted guy. Responding to a question about this portrayal in the media, Cave basically laughed it off. According to him, he’s never tried to craft any sort of persona for himself. He’s no “psycho preacher,” a persona that’s been tossed around in the past; he’s always been Nick Cave, an artist who happens to have once been a vessel for some dark imagery.
That comfort with himself as an individual seemed all-encompassing right from the beginning, when Cave fielded two early questions regarding the death of his son and his history of heroin addiction. These questions definitely got him off guard a bit, but though intensely personal, he answered them with patience, grace, and honesty.
Nick Cave at the Sydney Opera House – Photo by Daniel Boud
In regards to why he was doing these talks and whether he felt capable of offering any advice when it was sought from him, he responded maturely, albeit cautiously. He says he has an enormous respect for anyone willing to bear themselves honestly like that, but that he’s also gotten some questions – both in the talks and in the Red Hand Files – that are out of his depth. He feels an enormous responsibility to honestly answer the questions, but also to ensure that his answers are delivered with all due sensitivity and respect.
Though he regularly downplayed his own potential abilities as a sage capable of offering any lost souls guidance, he inevitably gave some pretty solid tips. Beyond his songwriting, Cave is a poet and novelist, and his CV indicates that he’s able to produce at a prolific rate. Naturally, there were plenty of fans asking questions about how to keep that creativity energy flowing. In response to a pair of brothers asking how to overcome writer’s block, Cave rejected the notion. To him, a block implies that there is something within himself that he needs to get out; he said when he writes, he feels empty, that he is being filled with inspiration from an outside source.
Overall, the event ran for nearly three hours, and there were far too many interesting topics covered to relay them all, including Nick’s love for Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and the Saints. But the addition of Cave on the grand piano interspersing this open, honest dialogue – held with so many people that loved and adored him and admittedly felt like they had grown close to him through his music and art – made this such an intensely moving experience. In particular, tracks like “Love Letter” and “Into My Arms” – both originally tender, loving piano ballads in their album forms – proved to be profoundly moving.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ 17th album Ghosteen comes out on Friday, October 4th.
