Nick Cave has celebrated the 300th entry of his Red Hand Files blog by asking his fans a question of their own.
In the 299th entry, a fan, Simon, suggested that Cave mark the 300th File by asking the blog’s fans a question, as opposed to the usual format of a fan asking him a question.
Simon said, “I realise this could be a bit of an everyone-answering-at-once shit-show kinda thing, but this Q&A relationship has worked out more than fine thus far, and I think we’re grown up enough to deal with it sensibly.
“This is a one-time deal – one shot, one question. After this, we’ll be back asking the questions again forevermore.”
Cave replied by thanking Simon for his “encouraging words” and calling his idea “excellent” – he then posted a question, and said he’d print his favourite answer in the 300th issue.
The question is as follows: “I have a full life. A privileged life. An unendangered life. But sometimes the simple joys escape me. Joy is not always a feeling that is freely bestowed upon us, often it is something we must actively seek. In a way, joy is a decision, an action, even a practised method of being. It is an earned thing brought into focus by what we have lost – at least, it can seem that way. My question is, where or how do you find your joy?”
He finished off, “I very much look forward to your answers. It may take me a little while to read them all as I am about to begin tour rehearsals with The Bad Seeds – now, there is an unadulterated, full-blown joy right there! See you in a few weeks!
Meanwhile, Cave’s Bad Seeds bandmate Warren Ellis spoke to NME earlier this month, and touched on Cave’s personal struggles – two of Cave’s sons, Arthur and Jethro, have died in the last seven years. He said, discussing Cave’s recent work, “Clearly, Nick has a very personal slant on these records – particularly the last few. They have been very different to anything he’s ever done. He’s lost two of his kids; that’s something I could never understand. I’ve been around him when it’s happening and made the records with him, but I’ve never had something like that happen to me.
“All that I could do was go in and work with him on the records. You wade in and do what you can, and try to do the right thing by the person. The best that you can do is to be there. It’s been a real privilege to have been involved in those records and to be with Nick.”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their most recent album, ‘Wild God’ in August. In a four-star review, NME said, “Once the godfather of goth, now a freewheelin’ preacher of joy, Cave elevates above the grief on this colourful 18th album,” adding, “Bad Seeds records are infamously loaded with gothic doom and gloom. Of course, this ain’t a poptastic LOLfest, and still coloured with the many shades of a life so challenging and weathered. But never has Cave been so freewheelin’ than on the giddy ‘Frogs’, “Jumping for love and the opening sky above” as “Kris Kristofferson walks by kicking a can in a shirt he hasn’t washed for years“. With a lust for life, the once-dark prince is letting the light in.”