The Vampire’s Pursuit of Togetherness, Voice and an Obligation to Creation.
“Art exists so that the unsayable can be said without actually saying it. We cloud it in secrecy and obfuscation.The mind is free to roam and all things can be imagined, under the cover of darkness. How nice that is, the unsayable…how nice it is, when people just shut the fuck up” - Nick Cave
Few artists of Australian descent, or any descent for that matter, can claim the sustained success and cult following boasted by Nick Cave. In a career spanning nearly 40 years, the singer, songwriter, poet, author, and alleged vampire has consistently developed his craft and continues to produce work of equal parts darkness and light whilst reminding us to pursue what lies on the other side of an idea; change, growth, redemption.
Nick is a personal hero of mine and while I have long been a fervent admirer, listener and observer of his creative output, my admiration and veneration towards his work seems to be at its summit. I recently read and was deeply moved by Nick’s book Faith Hope and Carnage with Sean O’Hagan. This book exposed to me a side of Nick previously unseen and as I read, I found myself developing an intense connection with the subject and subject matter. The way Nick navigates his faith in a world so intent on challenging it, his delicate yet powerfully raw accounts of unimaginable grief and perhaps most incredibly his unyielding and undying commitment to art, is frankly awe inspiring and had an effect on me of which its extent remains to be seen.
From his humble beginnings in rural Victoria, to the beginning of his musicianship as the front man of The Birthday Party, all the way to his continued and evergreen output as the nucleus of the iconic Bad Seeds, Nick has sustained his cult following through a consistent development of sound that most artists would be lucky to achieve across four years much less four decades. But while Nick’s musical catalogue is extensive and hugely impressive, one of his more recent endeavours is of equal appeal to me. After the tragic passing of his son Arthur, Nick embarked on a series of “In Discussion” shows where he would invite questions and navigate discourse around faith, grief and art with his admiring fans. These shows were a success and as a result Nick decided to continue this discussion in the form of a Q&A blog dubbed “The Red Hand Files”. The site continues today and serves as a platform for Nick to connect with fans by answering one of hundreds of entries each week. Through this blog, Nick fosters a participatory environment with his fans where no moderation and no monetisation is present, only honesty, openness and utter vulnerability.
What I love about The Red Hand Files, and Nick as an artist, is his unwavering assuredness of himself and what he believes. The platform is continually used by fans to challenge Nick on his beliefs, his lyrics and his actions and with each challenging and often impatient submission, Nick responds with elegance, tolerance and calmness. It is this rare and admirable attitude that has no doubt been born from his incalculable grief that draws me to Nick. There is much I disagree with him on surrounding faith and politics but his commitment to negating the dangers of cancel culture and contemporary censorship is something I have come to admire and respect about him. The beauty of The Red Hand Files is, as Nick puts it; “A soul enriching exercise in commonality and togetherness”. It is a place to celebrate the shared human experience, in its similarities and its differences.
Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files are a gentle reminder to us that we are all human. We are all so different but alas the same. It is as important now than perhaps ever to allow each other a voice and the respect to disagree but to love each other anyway. Our humanity, in its glory and tragedy, is a beautiful thing and must be celebrated whenever and wherever we can.
(Header Image Credit: oannes.gr)