{"id":553224,"date":"2026-04-27T12:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/553224\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:06:10","slug":"how-brighton-changed-nick-caves-creative-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/553224\/","title":{"rendered":"How Brighton changed Nick Cave’s creative world"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nick<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Ian Allen)<\/p>\n

Mon 27 April 2026 7:00, UK <\/p>\n

In 1999, Nick Cave<\/a> moved to Brighton. In 2014, in the film 20,000 Days on Earth, he tries to talk about life there as if he\u2019s the Patrick Bateman of the seaside: \u201cI wake. I write. I eat. I watch TV. This is the place. This is where we live\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard\u2019s strange but brilliant semi-documentary, a look into Cave\u2019s world is offered through the guise of a kind of day in the life, but with a surrealist twist. Cave will be driving down the road, and suddenly, Kylie Minogue will appear in the back of his car. He monologues beautifully about art, creation and especially about the idea of what it is to be an artist, but it\u2019s hard to ignore that the backdrop to all of it is a gloomy day on Brighton\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n

Cave\u2019s residency by the beach is one of those things you often hear stories about. In the city, it\u2019s one of those classic celebrity moments where everyone and their aunty seems to have a story. A friend once told me they saw him cycling around in a long black coat like an omen, which seems like it would check out. Another told me that his house had a back gate that led directly onto Sussex Square, the garden where Alice in Wonderland author, Lewis Carroll, used to write. Again, that feels like it would check out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But overwhelmingly, there\u2019s something about the idea of Cave living in Brighton that has forever felt a little bit odd. He suits the insane backdrop of his old Berlin crash pad, or it would make sense if he lived in some expensive mansion somewhere in London. Brighton feels too suburban, even too cheerful and even Cave, at first, would agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll say it wasn\u2019t my idea to move here, it was my wife\u2019s idea, and I just kind of followed her really,\u201d Cave said at a Q and A. He spoke about how, at first, he actually kind of hated it, finding that it was always dreary or just generally feeling kind of bored in the small city.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was also used to being transient, telling the BBC, \u201cI usually last about three years, then leave and go somewhere else\u201d. However, with his opinion turned, he added, \u201cBut this place is wonderful!\u201d<\/p>\n

Brighton charmed Cave on so many levels, and all of them seemed to seep into his work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Credit: Alamy<\/p>\n

First, there was the matter of the quiet. \u201cTo be honest, I often ask myself that question, you know, why Brighton when there\u2019s a lot of possibly more exciting places to live in the world,\u201d he said to a fan, but added, \u201cI find that I can come back to Brighton and kind of hunker down there and be left alone and do the stuff that I\u2019m happy doing, so it serves me really well as a place to live, at least at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was in Brighton where Cave got his office and started up his more structured practice of waking up and going to work. \u201cI start writing at nine o\u2019clock and finish at 5:30 and have a lunch break,\u201d he said on the This Cultural Life podcast. To The Sunday Times, he detailed it in rigorous detail, even saying that he settled into a routine of always getting lunch from the same place, always wearing a suit<\/a>, smoking at certain hours and making coffee at certain hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brighton, with its reduced distractions, seemed to give Cave discipline. \u201cThe last thing I want to do on any day is try to write a song. It\u2019s not fun,\u201d he said, but in this new life where he had his office and a family at home, he fell in line. <\/p>\n

When looking at the albums he made during that time, they\u2019re as rigorous and dense as his daily routine. There is still experimentation, but he seems to get deeper into more classic songwriting, managing to find a way to weave his signature storytelling and looseness, which he always branded as distinctly Australian, into a firmer package. Abattoir Blues \/ The Lyre of Orpheus feels like the ultimate example of that, as those songs feel timeless but still bear all his markings.<\/p>\n

Overwhelmingly, though, Brighton changed Cave\u2019s work because it seemed to fundamentally change him as a person. While in the trailer for 20,000 Days on Earth, he\u2019s doing a whole Bateman thing, the actual movie is so full of tenderness between him and Warren Ellis and his family. There\u2019s a domestic side as Cave grew solid in the fact that he didn\u2019t want to burn his life away solely on art: \u201cI\u2019m a father, and I\u2019m a husband and a grandfather and a kind of person of the world. These things are much more important to me than the concept of being an artist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This is undeniably found in his work now. Especially on Ghosteen and Wild God<\/a>, both written after the tragic death of his son, which led to them actually leaving Brighton, family and love are front and centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it suits me really well,\u201d he said of the city, and it suited his work too, with both a softer pace and a newfound structure.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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