Nick Cave reveals work “repelled” him after death of his sons
Nick Cave has opened up about the tragic loss of his two sons, Jethro and Arthur, who passed away in 2022 and 2015, respectively. The Bad Seeds musician revealed, on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs, the impact of that loss on his artistic drive and how it caused him to reassess his priorities in life.
In 2022, Cave’s eldest son, Jethro Lazenby, passed away at the age of 31 in Melbourne, days after his release from prison after assaulting his mother. The death came seven years after Cave’s other son, Arthur, died at the age of 15 after falling from a cliff in Brighton while under the influence of LSD.
Appearing on the BBC’s long-running radio programme, the 67-year-old Cave opened up about his changing attitude towards music and creative writing as he has gotten older. He told Lauren Laverne, “It has a lot to do with Arthur and Jethro,” explaining, “I always just thought art was, kind of, at the end of the day, everything.”
Explaining his previous take on art being his everything, Cave said, “I mean, it’s a terrible thing to say, but it was, it was always there. It was always reliable.” He went on to share that he would often go into his office, lock the door, and “work away […] in awe of my own creative potential.”
This artistic process changed drastically in 2015 following the death of Arthur. “I think after Arthur died, I just shut the office, and I haven’t gone. I just locked it up,” the songwriter remembered. “I was just repelled by it in some way. It seems so indulgent.” Of course, Cave has remained hard-working and prolific in his work despite the grief and loss of his sons.
“I find my responsibility towards my children and my wife, and to be a citizen, a husband, these things are the actual animating force behind, or should be the animating force behind, our creativeness,” he explained.
Since 2015, Nick Cave has released three acclaimed studio albums alongside the Bad Seeds. The songwriter has always been very open about the grief he faced following the death of his sons and how that loss has changed his outlook on life.
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