Nick Cave says the death of his sons has “fundamentally changed” his view of the world

Singer Nick Cave said the death of two of his sons had “fundamentally changed” his view of the world.

The 66-year-old said he was now “less sensitive about his own place in the world,” adding that his music had become bolder as a result.

Cave's 15-year-old son Arthur died in a cliff jumping accident in 2015, while his eldest son Jethro died in 2022 at the age of 31.

He told The Big Issue: “We change, sometimes several times, shaken by events.

“This can fundamentally change the way you perceive the world and how you behave.

“I think that happened to me to some extent and made me care a little less about my own place in the world. The worst had happened. Maybe it made me a little braver.”

He then talked about the song “O Children,” which was first released in 2007 and is still his most listened to song on Spotify.

The Australian said he wrote the song about “not being able to protect his children,” adding that the song is still relevant today.

He added: “I wrote (O Children) 22 years ago while watching my children when they were little and playing in a playground.

“I wrote about this shitty world we created and couldn't protect our children from. It seemed relevant when it came out, but it always found its subject.

“Personally, I was not able to protect my children. Even today, thousands of children are dying everywhere. And the same question arises: what kind of world are we creating for our children?”

Cave first came to public attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer of the influential noise rock band The Birthday Party before forming his band The Bad Seeds in 1984, with whom he released music for five decades.

The singer also founded the garage rock band Grinderman in 2006 and released two albums with the group.

Cave also has two other sons, actors Earl Cave and Luke Cave.

The Red Right Hand singer went on to talk about the increasing influence of technology on the music industry, saying he feels that artificial intelligence will soon be able to write songs in his style as well as he can.

Cave said: “I don’t know what the tech world has in store.

“I tried Suno, the song generator, and the song was good. In two or five years it will be great.”

“No doubt at some point you will be able to make a Nick Cave song that is as good or even better than what I can make myself. But it will have no inner meaning.”

“Sometimes I see signs that people aren't really interested in these kinds of things and the idea of ​​artistic struggle is maybe just a kind of artistic indulgence.

“But I do care. I also realize that I'm just an old guy whining about these things in the wilderness.”

Later in the interview, Cave described social media as “a binary, polarized this-side-that situation” that does not represent “how things actually are.”

He also spoke about the recent UK general election, saying he had “no such political allegiance”, but added that he saw “no really significant differences between these parties”.

You can read the full interview in the latest edition of The Big Issue, out Monday 19 August.