A book about a conversation that covers more than any conversation I’ve ever read before about a conversation. Faith, sex and God (in the belly of a black winged bird).
I have a friend who thinks Nick Cave is a miserable f***er and I get it, I really do. Even before the various tragedies that befell the man happened he could come across, well, miserable, and angry (but as he said last time I saw him on stage “that’s kind of my thing”).
I don’t think there is anything wrong with being miserable and angry. There is plenty to be miserable and angry about. But, we need to find more to be happy about it to counteract these normal and acceptable feelings. Balance, and all that. I find that we live in a world that is trying to deny or police two of our most basic emotions, and deny us aspects of our nature just because we don’t like the look pr sounds of them – everything in moderation eh?
“Life is hard” according to Bob Dylan’s track on Together Through Life, and it is. What I loved most about Faith, Hope and Carnage is that it doesn’t shy away from this fact and its surroundings. If anything, it shows that in the face of grief, tragedy, addiction and more, that hope and love shine through and life is good and beautiful and everything will be ok. It is one of the most positive and life affirming books I have read in a long time.
The conversation in the book between Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan tackles various aspects of modern western society, and manages them really well. His take on arts and the artistic process and the freedom it needs versus the modern hell that is social media, cancel culture and the alt right is an argument game changer. He manages to put in words what so many of us can’t and he gives a freedom to people and spirits that they, and we, all deserve.
It amazes me how he can turn so much tragedy into so much amazing art. And how he does it in a manner that elevates respect for the dead above anything I’ve ever seen, heard or read.
I went to see him perform at The Beacon in New York City in 2023. It was just him (Nick Cave) and Colin Greenwood (Bass player for Radiohead). They played old and new songs in way that was reminiscent of his Idiot Prayer lockdown album. He brings so much passion, creativity, humour, wisdom and playfulness to the stage that it’s very hard to do him justice.
He just keeps going. In the face of everything.
And he wears a cracking suit.
Favourite bit:
“People can question the existence of cancel culture or they can rebrand it as a culture of accountability, but I don’t think anyone can question the stifling and deadening effect of the fear of cancellation – or even just getting it wrong – on art, writing, public discourse and even comedy. It has made the world of ideas so relentlessly uninteresting. […] But it’s understandable that certain people behave in this way. We are, as a species, meaning-seeking creatures. That is what defines us.
What do you mean by ‘meaning-seeking’?
I just think the traditional institutions in which people once sought meaning and validation have been eroded, certainly in this country. It is natural for people to look for meaning elsewhere, to look for unity and a sense of belonging. Ironically, I think the rise of woke culture is akin to a fundamentalist religious impulse. Come to think of it, it may reflect an unconscious desire to return to a non-secular society. […] Well, it’s as if autocratic ideas of virtue and sin have come into play, and, as a result, prohibitions and punishments have been put in place, enforced by a kind of moral callousness that, in my view, is akin to the very worst aspects of religion – the fundamentalist, joyless, sanctimonious aspects that have nothing to do with mercy. Cancellation is a particularly ugly part of its weaponry and can end up as a kind of sadism dressed up as virtue.”
Favourite themes
- The dangers of cancel culutre
- Overcoming adversity grief and it’s effect on relationships
- The delicate process of creating mind bogglingly great music
- Why he avoids social media
- The argument for and against the existence of God (he does a wonderful job of sitting on a barbwire fence here.
The vinyl of Carnage by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is excellent also.
Have a listen below on Spotify…
