Nick Cave: 'I Don’t Like Writing Songs'

Over a year after Nick Cave described songwriting as “the pits,” the Australian post-punk icon has shared that he hates writing songs once again, this time calling the process a “fucking nightmare.”

In a new interview with Mojo Magazine, the Jubilee Street singer spoke of the discomfort of writing music, stating: “I don’t like writing songs.”

He added, “To write a song is this deeply mysterious, abstract, anxiety-ridden process that’s just not fun. Playing around with the kid is fine, but to get the kid out is a fucking nightmare. So, I put it off until I can’t put it off any further.”

Discussing the pain that went into the creation of the Bad Seeds’ 2019 album, Ghosteen, which contained ruminations on loss following the loss of Cave’s son, Arthur, in 2015, he continued: “I’m happy that it exists, but it was a painful thing to make.”

“I fucking hate hearing bands talk about the pain of making a record because I don’t believe them,” he shared. “But Ghosteen had its attendant agonies for sure, and not something I’d want to repeat.”

Last year, Cave responded to a fan named Fred after he was asked what his plans were for 2023: writing a new Bad Seeds album. However, he wasn’t so keen on writing the thing.

“Writing lyrics is the pits,” Cave wrote. Showing a sense of humour, he added, “It’s the shits. It’s the bogs. It actually hurts. It comes in spurts, but few and far between. There is something obscene about the whole affair. Like crimes that rhyme.”

Somehow, he made it through. Next month, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will release their 18th studio album, Wild God.

Described as a “complicated” album, Cave added that it’s also “deeply and joyously infectious”.

“There is never a master plan when we make a record,” he said. “The records rather reflect back the emotional state of the writers and musicians who played them. Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems we’re happy.”

Cave continued, “Wild God… there’s no f*cking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves you. I love that about it.”

So far, the band have released two singles from Wild God: the title track and follow-up single Frogs, which “puts a big fucking smile” on Nick Cave’s face.