"No one will ever be able to read a book by me, or see me in a film, or read about me robbing a bank without seeing me first as a rock singer." - Nick Cave

I had planned on doing this feature further down the line, but when regular reader Nocturne, suggested Cave in a comment on a previous article, I thought I would make him the focus of my next spotlight feature.

Cave is an artist that I have admired for some time now and he has contributed to a number of movies, which I'll attempt to provide an overview of here. I've followed a similar format to the Waits spotlight piece,  lthough Cave proved to be a little more difficult to categorise, so apologies for the slight repetition from time to time.

Music career

Nick Cave's music career started with post punk outfit The Birthday Party. Perhaps more heavily influenced by blues music than their peers, The Birthday Party made three challenging albums filled with Cave's tales of violence and religion. Following their split in 1983, Cave went solo and recruited a super group backing band, of sorts, featuring members of a number of other post punk bands. The backing band became known as the Bad Seeds, and has experienced continued success to this day.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds proved to be less abrasive, at times, than his previous outfit, despite the focus of Cave's lyrics remaining similar. One significant difference would be the influence of gospel music that remains evident in Cave's work to this day.

Whilst Cave still produces music and tours with the Bad Seeds, in 2005 he formed a side project with fellow Bad Seeds Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martyn Casey. The band was called Grinderman and their eponymous album is a great listen that I'd highly recommend.

Acting career

Nick Cave's acting debut was in John Hillcoat's 1988 directorial debut Ghosts...Of The Civil Dead where he played Maynard, a troubled prisoner who's prone to ranting and self mutilation.

Three years after his acting debut, Cave appeared in the surreal and hit and miss movie Johnny Suede. Cave plays Freak Storm who's an agent, of sorts, to Brad Pitt's star in the making Johnny Suede. This is a difficult film to pinpoint but certainly worth a watch if you're at all curious. Almost worth it for the smashing hairstyles of Cave and Pitt.

Other acting appearances from Cave include the role of Jerry in Michael Haussman's 1997 film Rhinoceros Hunting In Budapest and as a singer in The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, where he performed a song that he wrote for the film.

Soundtrack inclusions

Nick Cave's first foray into composing for a film, was for the same film as his acting debut; Ghosts...of the Civil Dead. His soundtrack here is a tense, claustrophobic and, at times, difficult listen. However, it works really well with the film and the CD is worth tracking down for the voiceovers that accompany Cave's compositions.

Cave and Ellis provided the music for The Proposition. It matches the moods evoked, but works far better within the context of the film than it does as a standalone listen, as is the case with his previous attempt at composing.

His most recent contribution was his brilliant and understated score to The Road. Another score with Warren Ellis for another John Hillcoat directed movie. But unlike the efforts that preceded it, this proves to be a rewarding listen without the film accompanying it. Well, for me, it has.

Aside from what has been mentioned above, Cave's songs have featured in a number of films. The most popular choice is, by far, Red Right Hand, which features in the Scream trilogy, Hellboy and Dumb And Dumber. Other songs appear on soundtracks such as Sin Nombre, Shrek 2, Chopper and, erm, Kevin And Perry Go Large, to name but a few.

Writing career

As with his acting and composing debuts, Cave's first contribution to a screenplay was for Ghosts...of the Civil Dead which he co-wrote with director John Hillcoat, among others.

His second screenplay was The Proposition, which is simply an outstanding movie. The Blu-ray has recently been reviewed by Luke Savage here.This was Cave's second collaboration with Hillcoat, who directed this Cave-penned Aussie Western.

This is a creative team that has produced some outstanding results and with Cave and Hillcoat's names being attached to Death Of A Ladies' Man, it's one that looks to continue. The title of the film is taken from a Leonard Cohen song and is set to star Ray Winstone (who starred in The Proposition) as a sex addicted salesman.

Prior to writing The Proposition, Cave was reportedly approached by Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott to come up with a script for the sequel to Gladiator. The script was rejected as it was considered too surreal to be a marketable sequel to such a successful film. If rumours are to be believed, the sequel would have seen Crowe's Maximus brought back to life by Roman gods and become immortal and having a hand in some of the major battles that have taken place.

In addition to his career as a screenwriter; Nick Cave has also released a number of books. King Ink I & II (released in 1988 and 1997) are collections of lyrics, plays and poems that I have yet to read as I have been unable to find them on sale at a reasonable price.

Cave's debut novel And The Ass Saw An Angel was released in 1989 to reasonable acclaim and features themes that fans of Cave's music would be familiar with. Bleak and brilliant in equal measures.

Nick Cave's latest novel; The Death Of Bunny Munro was released last year and again features the themes that you would associate with Cave. Emotionally exhausting, this won't be to everyone's tastes, but well worth getting if you're interested in Cave's work. My experience of this was through the iPhone app, which is identical to the audiobook - worth getting for the added bonus of having music by Cave and Ellis backing the narration.

I listened to some of Nick Cave's more recent albums whilst researching and writing this piece, so my listening recommendations would be:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Grinderman: Griderman
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

Please provide your thoughts on the great man below.

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