Speaking exclusively in the new issue of MOJO - on sale now - Nick Cave has discussed the backlash surrounding his decision to attend King Charles’ coronation in May 2023.
“I was a bit [surprised by it]. A lot of Australians quite rightly think we shouldn’t be part of the monarchy. So that enraged some people. Personally, I think it’s crazy to be invited to the coronation and not go. I’m curious about stuff. This is a monumental event. Why wouldn’t I go?” he told MOJO’s Dorian Lynskey, before speculating why he was invited in the first place. “I don’t [know]. Maybe I was the only one they thought would go.”
-
READ MORE: Nick Cave's 30 Greatest Songs Ranked
Cave is no stranger to criticism or engaging with those who might disagree with him. In 2018 the singer launched the Red Hand Files, an online blog where he answers questions from the public, many of which are sometimes hostile.
“I think the conversation only moves forward if you’re prepared to engage with people who don’t agree with you,” says Cave. “I feel the divisiveness that’s going on, where you have to choose your camp, is a fundamental evil. I don’t really like the counter-arguments to be honest, and I wish everyone agreed with everything I said, but I know that would be really very bad for me as a human being. We need our ideas to knock against other people’s ideas.”
During an in depth ranging and emotion conversation, Cave also speaks about the forthcoming Bad Seeds album, Wild God. In stark contrast with recent Bad Seeds records – steeped in the grief that followed the death of his son Arthur in 2015 – the album reflects a more positive mindset and contains more telling contributions from his Bad Seeds bandmates. “There’s a deep anxiety that runs through it, like all my records,” he says, “but in spite of that it keeps leaping out into these very joyful moments. Regardless of our essential brokenness we – as human beings and the world – remain systemically beautiful. Regardless of how bad it seems, we just keep doing beautiful things. And that’s what the record feels like to me.”
“There was a feeling that I’d never felt before – of stepping into a kind of outpouring of love…” Read the full interview with Nick Cave only in the new issue of MOJO, on sale now. More info and to order a copy HERE!
Pictures: Ian Allen/Jeff Spicer/Stringer/Getty