In a few weeks Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds will release their new album Wild God. That’s a big deal. But these days, Nick Cave is known less as a slightly vampiric and decadent rock frontman and more as a charming and erudite international treasure. That’s not to diminish his status as a musician, which is unimpeachable. This new position is more an accident of fate and a testament to how he has processed his grief publicly with grace and empathy. This is just one way to explain why Cave’s promotional efforts for the new album are based less on playing music and more on speaking on television.
In yesterday’s episode of Stephen Colbert’s Late ShowNick Cave was not performing with the Bad Seeds. Instead, he was there for an interview and he did a great job. Cave is incredibly handsome and elegant, but also looks like the 66-year-old man he is, and he has that great voice. He answered all of Colbert’s questions with great dignity, but was also funny. When Colbert talked about how the pervasive hostility of Cave’s early stage presence might have been a mask for his anxiety, Cave said, “Yeah, maybe. I was just a mean little guy.”
In the interview, Cave also told a great story about singing background on Johnny Cash’s version of his song “The Mercy Seat,” and he also talked about how the “joyful, uplifting” mood of his new album contrasts with so much of the other stuff he’s recorded over the years. The part where they deal with processing their grief – something both Cave and Colbert have struggled with in their public lives – gets heavy and moving. The online version of the interview is over 20 minutes long and is worth watching. You can do that below.
This was actually the second in-depth interview with Nick Cave to air on television this week. On Monday evening, Cave was the subject of an in-depth profile on Australian Historya news magazine in his home country. Cave actually gave the interview on the second anniversary of the death of his son Jethro – something interviewer Leigh Sales did not know when she scheduled the interview. Cave talks about how the loss of both of his sons made him rethink what he calls the “shameful complacency” of his own self-image. He also described his newsletter Red Hand Files as “this bizarre opportunity for people to indulge their grief to a certain extent.” Watch the story below.
Wild God will be released on August 30th by Bad Seed Ltd./Play It Again Sam. Tonight Nick Cave will give a live interview and present a playback of the album at the National Sawdust in Brooklyn.
