Having lost two of his sons over the last seven years, Nick Cave has been grappling with an immense amount of grief. While his son Jethro Lazenby passed in May, he has continued to tour — and has also been preparing for the release his memoir Faith, Hope & Carnage, which in part details the loss of his son Arthur Cave, who passed in 2015.
Ahead of Faith, Hope & Carnage's release, Cave spoke with The New York Times and opened up about how the deaths of his sons affected his music, as well as how his fans helped him cope through the darkest moments of his life:
When Arthur died, I was thrust into the darkest place imaginable, where it was almost impossible to be able to see outside of despair. Susie and I somehow managed to pull ourselves out of that, and — I know this sounds corny — that did have something to do with the response I started to get from people who kept writing to me and saying, mostly, This happened to me, and this is what's happening to you, and this is what can happen. This was extremely affecting for me. The concerts that I did following that, too — 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. It's — my other son has died. 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?
He went on to explain that he has a new appreciation for his fans following their support through his loss:
I just see them in a different way than I used to, like the scales have fallen off my own eyes in respect to what they are both as a community and as individuals. In the past, I've gone onstage and done shows and they're good or they're bad, but I'd never experienced being deeply moved by the audience themselves and their own joys and sufferings and insecurities and all the stuff that you see when you actually look at the eyes of the people. I don't know if I'm making any sense, but to now see an audience moved by what you're doing — it's an enormous privilege. I know all musicians say that, but it actually is. That feeling is extremely infectious with an audience. As is the opposite, complacency, when you see a band phoning it in.
Faith, Hope & Carnage arrives on September 20. Pre-order it from Nick Cave's website.
Ahead of Faith, Hope & Carnage's release, Cave spoke with The New York Times and opened up about how the deaths of his sons affected his music, as well as how his fans helped him cope through the darkest moments of his life:
When Arthur died, I was thrust into the darkest place imaginable, where it was almost impossible to be able to see outside of despair. Susie and I somehow managed to pull ourselves out of that, and — I know this sounds corny — that did have something to do with the response I started to get from people who kept writing to me and saying, mostly, This happened to me, and this is what's happening to you, and this is what can happen. This was extremely affecting for me. The concerts that I did following that, too — 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. It's — my other son has died. 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?
He went on to explain that he has a new appreciation for his fans following their support through his loss:
I just see them in a different way than I used to, like the scales have fallen off my own eyes in respect to what they are both as a community and as individuals. In the past, I've gone onstage and done shows and they're good or they're bad, but I'd never experienced being deeply moved by the audience themselves and their own joys and sufferings and insecurities and all the stuff that you see when you actually look at the eyes of the people. I don't know if I'm making any sense, but to now see an audience moved by what you're doing — it's an enormous privilege. I know all musicians say that, but it actually is. That feeling is extremely infectious with an audience. As is the opposite, complacency, when you see a band phoning it in.
Faith, Hope & Carnage arrives on September 20. Pre-order it from Nick Cave's website.
