AskNiCa

February 1, 2022 10:55 AM

For three years, musician Nick Cave has maintained a public correspondence with his fans called The Red Hand Files. There, he expounds openly, tenderly, and compassionately on a tremendous range of subjects, often difficult or controversial ones. On grieving the loss of loved ones. On the world being shit. On art and mental illness. On forgiving the unforgivable. On loneliness and vegetarianism. On exploring and transcending gender. On exorcism. On suffering and transmutation. On AI writing songs. On not-knowing and God. On the poetry of Lucille Clifton. And lastly, delightfully, on the two squirrels who are ruining his and his wife's life.

n.b. Cave has a number of complex writings about more fraught subjects (the BDS movement, cancel culture, and such); I don't agree with his conclusions, but appreciate his thoughtfulness, and intentionally kept them out of the post because I'm not sure anything good would come of it. They're on the site if you're curious, but I don't think they'd spark discussion without immediately dominating the conversation, and, in my opinion, the overall project is much more interesting than those remote slivers, which Cave tends to tackle once apiece and then return to silence on.

posted by rorgy (24 comments total)

Previously.
posted by rorgy at 10:55 AM on February 1, 2022

Also, it's worth noting that his 2019 album Ghosteen—not "about" the death of his teenage son so much as an exploration of grief, loss, love, faith, and transcendence—is available in full on YouTube, and is an astonishing, beautiful, meditative hourlong experience. I hadn't heard any Nick Cave music for a long time, still thought of him as somewhere in the realm of punk-rock-goth, and was utterly stupefied at what a profound piece of music it is. Nothing has stuck with me like this has in years.
posted by rorgy at 11:03 AM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]

Do I think Nick Cave is perfect? No, but I do love that he does this, that he takes the time to answer when most musicians would likely not bother, or just tweet a certain amount of characters.

I still love Nick Cave is what I'm saying.
posted by Kitteh at 11:04 AM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]

I am so far removed from a big fan, mainly for lack of trying? I love his work, not really sure how I failed to sink my teeth in.. perhaps it was all the friends who shared his music, was I just lazy? I will say, when I watched The Proposition and heard the music he'd scored and performed, it hit so hard I was out to purchase the (CD at the time) original soundtrack within the week.
posted by elkevelvet at 11:09 AM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

Also, this is a great project. "On the world being shit" not surprised to see a Blake illustration.. knowing very little of Nick Cave, if you told me he composed a work of music based on e.g. Book of Urizen or Songs of Innocence and Experience, it would not surprise me
posted by elkevelvet at 11:24 AM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is one of my favorite weekly missives. His compassion and tenderness shine.
posted by PhineasGage at 11:33 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Admittedly I went straight to the squirrel post and it is hilarious. Highly recommend.
posted by Glinn at 11:42 AM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]

I wanna be a squirrel in the next life.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:52 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I speak to him in hushed tones.
He climbs all over me.
He has no boundaries. He is Chaos.
He wasn’t our idea.
He is never going away.
We are not in control. We never were.

There's your lyrics to a new Bad Seeds song right there. I suggest calling it He Is Chaos.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

Frustratingly, I cannot find the pictures of the squirrel on instagram!
posted by tavella at 12:55 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Omicron better not fuck up my second row front and centre seats at Massey Hall in two weeks

Also please note he and Ellis just scored a film about fwuffy kitties
posted by avocet at 2:09 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

have never seen cave's correspondence with fans before. so gentle and thoughtful.

listening to ghosteen for first time. thanks.
posted by 20 year lurk at 2:26 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

have never seen cave's correspondence with fans before. so gentle and thoughtful.

He is an example for us all in this, no?
posted by y2karl at 3:04 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

if you told me he composed a work of music based on e.g. Book of Urizen or Songs of Innocence and Experience, it would not surprise me

Jah Wobble did. It's not essential listening (some of his other albums are) but worth checking out if you're into PiL/dub/weird.
posted by Candleman at 3:10 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

Omicron better not fuck up my second row front and centre seats at Massey Hall in two weeks

He's coming to Toronto???? And I was not informed????

(Shepherd and I have seen him twice with the Bad Seeds, and twice as Grinderman, and that's how I know it's love between us)
posted by Kitteh at 3:13 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cave wrote the screenplay for The Proposition, as well. So, this immediately goes on my list of things to watch.
posted by Silvery Fish at 3:21 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I meant two months! End of March!

Fwuffy kitty movie
posted by avocet at 3:30 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm almost jealous you get to watch it for the first time, Silvery Fish. I don't know much about Australia, but between The Proposition and Robert Hughes' Fatal Shore I felt like I was experiencing highly complementary visions of the place.. it was like The Proposition picks up from the book, in a way. Now I want to hang out and talk about the movie, re-watch it, etc. And Guy Pearce! that and Ravenous, two of my favorite Pearce films with Priscilla being right up there.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:31 PM on February 1, 2022

I was pretty touched by Do You Believe In Signs.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:28 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

You know, some of it bounces off me, but he’s done a lot of good art over the years and this falls on the right side of the line for me.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:48 PM on February 1, 2022

The Proposition is brutal and deeply sad, but it’s easily my favorite “Western”.

Gonna see him in a month and a half and I can’t wait. I think it’s just him and the Warren Ellis show (the good Warren Ellis) at this point, no Bad Seeds racket to be found, and Blixa left years ago anyway, but still. Having just had the bejesus kicked out of me by ye ol Omicron I need something to look forward to.
posted by hototogisu at 8:46 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

"A perfect moment nested in a shared human catastrophe" is an absolutely killer line.
posted by babelfish at 6:47 AM on February 2, 2022

Back in 2017 I went viral and it was briefly terrifying, and a bunch of people started following my public Twitter account, including the cute guy on the loading dock at work

I posted a pic of Nick from a few rows back at Massey Hall with "I'm transforming, I'm vibrating..."

One of my very first interactions ever with the cute guy on the loading dock was him replying "Look at me now!"

Soon after that we moved in together and he just managed to hide the 7LP B-Sides and Rarities box set from me for SIX WHOLE WEEKS for my birthday
posted by avocet at 8:56 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

For anybody who has not yet gone and is generally on the fence about going to ever see Nick Cave live: if you get the chance... just do it.

It's a revelation. Always has been (I first saw him in Frankfurt, Germany around 1988) and still is (saw him most recently here in LA not all that long ago).

I'm not going to try to put it into words other than that it's intense and profound and, to this not-at-all-religious person, the closest I've come to experiencing what I imagine preaching in the archetypal sense must be like.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:12 PM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]