Grinderman
BIOGRAPHY-
Formed in 2006 as a side project of Nick Cave’s, Grinderman could be seen as the grubby and slightly intimidating alter ego of the Bad Seeds, especially when you consider the fact that all of the members play in both bands.
After touring with the Bad Seeds in 2005 for their 13/14th album Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus (a double, no less), Cave began to write some new material on the guitar, an instrument that he rarely played. He soon began recording in London with Warren Ellis (electric bouzouki, Mandocastor, violin, viola, acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Martyn Casey (bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals) and Jim Sclavunos (drums, percussion, backing vocals) under the name Grinderman, releasing an album in March 2007 that was recorded in 4 days (the self-titled Grinderman).
Prior to its release, John Hillcoat, the Australian director with whom Nick Cave made the 2005 film The Proposition, made three promotional music videos for ‘Get It On’, ‘No Pussy Blues’ and ‘(I Don’t Need You To) Set Me Free’. The album itself was praised for its much simpler and rawer feel in comparison to Cave’s work with the Bad Seeds; thanks in part to his limited proficiency on the guitar. He frequently ad-libbed the lyrics, leading to lines like “Get it on, Get it on, on the day that you were born” and “I got the No Pussy Blues”, a stark contrast to some of his startlingly eloquent previous songwriting. In fact, comparisons were more readily drawn with Nick Cave’s previous band in the early 1980s, The Birthday Party.
Within a few months of the album’s release, the band were playing on Later… with Jools Holland and The Late Show with David Letterman as well as supporting the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden later that year. Not bad. In July 2008, Grinderman headlined Roskilde Festival alongside Neil Young, Jay-Z and Radiohead.
However, the band soon had to be put on hiatus as the members began to make room for the Bad Seeds’ next album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Yet the break was only to be brief, as they began recording again in late 2008 for what would become their second album, named perhaps unsurprisingly Grinderman 2. The record was released in September this year, once again to widespread critical acclaim.
The second album, according to Cave, was a much more serious effort than its predecessor, supported by the fact that the animal on the album cover isn’t furiously masturbating this time. Grinderman seems to act as a kind of catharsis for Cave and co. others, allowing them to explore dramatically different sounds and lyrical themes (“no piano, no god, no love” became the band’s mantra) and directions that might seem too out of place on a Bad Seeds album. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship between the two bands develops in the future.
For now, Grinderman plans to tour until early next year and then once again shift its attention to making another Bad Seeds’ album, meaning that there probably won’t be any new material for a few years - but you can probably guess what the next album’s going to be called.
Stay tuned this week for reviews of Grinderman 2 and the band’s recent London Hammersmith Apollo gig.
- Robbie Steadman 2010
LINKS:
VIDEOS
Heathen Child
No Pussy Blues (Live Jools Holland 2007)
Honey Bee (Live David Letterman 2007)