

While it contains over twice as many images as the earlier book/catalogue, “Nick Cave Stories", Nick seems to have written only five pages of large print, a one-page lyric/poem about his wife, Susie, and a one-page reminiscence of when they first met. The advance publicity for this book described it as an autobiography of Nick Cave. For those unable to attend, I would highly recommend this book for the insights it provides into the life and works of its subject. Personally, I'm still with him where he said, “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” Still, the younger, saltier Cave of that era now seems a far cry removed from the older, more mellowed version of today, and the two of them finally chance to meet within the pages and on the cover of this gorgeously intimate book.Ĭataloguing a lifetime's worth of writing, artwork, and various other artifacts from Cave's childhood through this present day, Stranger Than Kindness represents a selection of pieces from the exhibit of the same name, which finally opened last month at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen. Nick Cave changed my life when I first discovered him, sometime back in the mid-90s, by which point he'd already built a career spanning decades and the musical landscape I perceived at the time was growing ever more bleaker by the second. The American publication of the same book contains a foreword by a different author. A collectors' limited edition of the book appeared in 2007.Ĭave wrote the foreword to a Canongate publication of the Gospel according to Mark, published in the UK in 1998. "Swampland", from Mutiny, 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). Significant crossover is evident between the themes in the book and the lyrics Cave wrote in the late stages of the Birthday Party and the early stage of his solo career. While he was based in West Berlin, Cave started working on what was to become his debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989).

It is a collection of lyrics and plays, including collaborations with American enfant terrible Lydia Lunch. He currently lives in Brighton & Hove in England.Ĭave released his first book King Ink, in 1988. His music is characterised by intensity, high energy and a wide variety of influences. He has a reputation, which he disowns, for singing dark, brooding songs which some listeners regard as depressing.

He is best known for his work in the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and his fascination with American music and its roots. Nicholas Edward Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional actor.
