Nick Cave discusses how playing live helped his grief: “The care from the audience saved me”
In a new interview with the New York Times, Nick Cave has revealed how performing live and receiving support from fans has helped him to grieve following the death of two of his sons.
In 2015, his 15-year-old son Arthur tragically fell off a cliff near Brighton, and just this May, Cave’s 31-year-old son Jethro also passed away. Recalling the period of Arthur’s death, Cave said: “I was thrust into the darkest place imaginable, where it was almost impossible to be able to see outside of despair.”
The singer also discussed how he and his wife Susie felt unable to make it through the grief, however, the response from fans, who sent messages such as “this happened to me, and this is what’s happening to you, and this is what can happen” helped them greatly.
Cave explained that when he played gigs shortly after Arthur’s death: “The care from the audience saved me. I was helped hugely by my audience, and when I play now, I feel like that’s giving something back. What I’m doing artistically is entirely repaying a debt.”
He also touched upon the recent death of Jethro, his eldest son, saying: “It’s difficult to talk about, but the concerts themselves and this act of mutual support saves me. People say, how can you go on tour? But for me it’s the other way around. How could I not?”
Cave described how writing for his website The Red Hand Files has helped him process his grief. He said: “The terrifying thing about when Arthur died was that it felt like, how could this feeling ever be any different? I don’t want everything I talk about and everything I am to revolve around these losses, but I feel compelled to let people in the same situation of grief know — and there are hundreds of people like that writing in to The Red Hand Files — that there is a way out.”
The musician’s new book, Faith, Hope and Carnage, is set for release on September 20th, which is based on interviews with Sean O’Hagan of The Observer. The pair will also be embarking on a book tour around the UK next week.