Nick Cave reveals hatred of songwriting process: “That’s just not fun”
Over the last 40 years, Nick Cave has been a prolific figure in the alternative music scene, but despite dedicating his adult life to his craft, the Australian has now revealed he doesn’t enjoy the songwriting process.
Cave has teamed up with the Bad Seeds once again for their upcoming 18th studio album, Wild God, which is set for release on August 30th. While he and Warren Ellis teamed up for Carnage in 2021, the forthcoming LP marks the first Bad Seeds record since 2019’s grief-stricken, Ghosteen.
The album has been in the works for the last 18 months, with Cave officially making a start on Wild God on New Years Day in 2023. By beginning the creative process on the first day of the year, it demonstrates the clinical and considered approach that Cave takes to songwriting.
In a new interview with Mojo, Cave reveals that he often procrastinates and distracts himself until a deadline is looming, meaning he has to face his fears by starting work. He explained: “I don’t like writing songs. To write a song is this deeply mysterious, abstract, anxiety-ridden process that’s just not fun. Playing around with the kid is fine but to get the kid out is a fucking nightmare. So I put it off until I can’t put it off any further.”
For somebody who has created such an extensive body of work over the course of his career to make this admission is somewhat surprising, however, considering how much of himself that Cave gives to each record, it makes more sense.
In 2019, Cave wore his heart on the sleeve on Ghosteen as he dealt with the devastating loss of his son, Arthur, who tragically passed away aged in 2015. While he’s proud of what he created with the record, Cave said of the LP: “I’m happy that it exists but it was a painful thing to make. I fucking hate hearing bands talk about the pain of making a record, because I don’t believe them. But Ghosteen had its attendant agonies for sure, and not something I’d want to repeat.”
Previously, Cave said to CBS of the album in 2023: “It felt like these songs were sort of reaching towards him in some way…grief is just a great big swirling confusing thing, you know, and you try and make sense of it as best you can but when I finished that record I felt I’d done something for my child”.
In contrast, with Wild God, Cave said “there’s no fucking around with this record”. He added, “When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves you. I love that about it.”
Boasting ten songs, Wild God is set for release on August 30th.
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