They are the primal howl of the creature that lurks in the darkest, dankest corner of the human psyche, they are the animal urge made sound and they are called Grinderman. The band comprising Nick Cave and several of the most badass Seeds is more than a side project. Instead it represents the side of our personalities that polite society demands we keep subdued. Lewd, lascivious and full of vital life force, Grinderman first sleazed across our consciousness in 2007 with their self-titled debut album.
Described by The Wire as an “infamously elegant degenerate”, the band’s towering percussionist Jim Sclavunos here discusses facial fuzz, rebetiko, Electric Picnic and the ‘No Pussy Blues’.
I read a recent interview with Nick in which he talks about the Grinderman debut almost being “thrown out”. He then suggested that the follow-up would be done in a more considered manner. Can you tell me anything more about your thinking at this stage with regards to the second Grinderman album?
“I don’t know who Nick was trying to comfort there but we actually take everything we do seriously, even when we’re doing it quickly. It’s all relative, it’s not really that quick compared to the way that some records are made. In all fairness we did talk about making the record for a long time, so we were mentally grappling with all the things that might go on the first Grinderman record for quite some time.”
Can you tell me any more with regards to your thinking regarding the next Grinderman record?
“Hmmm, no! You know we’ve toyed with a few different things and written some new songs, but no, it’s too soon to say. Why spoil the surprise?”
I believe that with the Grinderman sessions you take a somewhat looser approach than when you’re working with the Bad Seeds?
“Well, yes and no. Grinderman opened the way to certain ways of working and of course you can imagine how – it being the same group of people more or less – we carried those methods of working with us. We brought it onboard consciously and found it a useful way of working. It’s always been to some degree part of the way that we go about working with the Bad Seeds. I remember when we did Murder Ballads, Nick came in with a few things prepared and a few things we just did off-the-cuff. I don’t know if it’s customary for bands to do that these days, but over the years I’ve seen a lot of bands work that way. If you have the luxury of time in the studio than it’s a great way to work, you can afford to be spontaneous.”
Does the dynamic between the band members change much depending on whether you’re working on a Grinderman or Bad Seeds record?
“I guess not. Things are always changing slightly, you know. For me personally things have changed a bit. I’m playing drums a lot more than when I first joined the band. I came in as a percussionist / organ player. I guess Nick has come to expect a certain approach from me. It comes as a kind of counterbalance to the sort of things he would expect from Tommy [Wydler]. I think Warren [Ellis] has very much asserted himself as a presence in the band. When Blixa [Bargeld] left you might have felt there would be an absence in the band but actually it changed the whole thing altogether. It became a very different kind of band. That’s only appropriate, because no one could have really filled Blixa’s shoes.”
Were you surprised at just how successful Grinderman has proven, making the end of year ‘Best Of’ lists etc?
“It’s always nice to be appreciated. I think it kind of won over a few people who’s always been resistant to the Bad Seeds. People that thought they had Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds pegged and then they heard ‘No Pussy Blues’ and it kinda took ‘em by surprise. Two things about the Bad Seeds, particularly Nick’s songwriting, one thing is that people haven’t really given him enough credit for being humorous. He’s got quite a sense of humour. People tend to take things at face value and think it’s all dreary and depressing, something I’ve never found it to be. The other thing is that there was a certain phase when Nick was writing a lot of piano-based ballads, it happened to be a phase when we were becoming more widely known and people thought that was what the band was all about. So I think there were a few misconceptions about the Bad Seeds, both from the fans and the non-fans. Grinderman kind of shakes that up a bit, shows that there are other dimensions to these musicians and hopefully opens people’s ears to the broader scope of the Bad Seeds’ work.”
Although using some of the same key personnel, Grinderman is very much a distinct entity from The Bad Seeds, what initially prompted the decision to embark on this separate endeavour?
“It just seemed kind of inevitable. We had been playing as a four-piece as Nick Cave’s solo backing band, going out and playing Bad Seeds songs as a special quartet. Nick had had a solo band for a number of years already before Marty [Casey] and I had come onboard. He’d gone through a number of personnel changes. We kind of joined in with it by accident, just happening to be in town when some of the other people weren’t available, so we just filled in. I guess Nick had never really heard me or Marty playing in any context other than the Bad Seeds and he didn’t know the scope of what we were capable of. Nick and Warren got quiet excited about the possibilities and Marty and I were up for it and we just started playing in this solo band for the next four years.
“After a while you just start getting your own distinct sound, just without trying to. It seemed like the logical next step to try doing material that wasn’t the Bad Seeds, material that was written especially for the four-piece. The name of Grinderman and the whole idea of doing it as a separate thing, that came later. We had imagined that we could do something as a four piece for quite a while and then, when we finally knuckled down and did it, we were pretty pleased with the results and emboldened to give it a name and put it out.”
Posted on: August 25, 2008
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