Nick Cave talks being a centrist: “I am simply not certain about things”
Nick Cave has touched on politics before on his The Red Hand Files site, where he answers fan questions each week, and he's explored the topic again in his latest missive, which is in response to two questions: "Where do you sit politically," from Alister in New Zealand, and "Do you like raisins?," from Daphne in France. "There is much in your letters that resonates with me," Nick says, "and that is the raisin why I am writing to you."
Nick describes himself as inhabiting "a particular space within the world" politically, "somewhere in the midst of things, somewhere in the centre." He continues:
Séan O’Hagan, my dear friend, and co-author of the publishing sensation, Faith, Hope and Carnage, said to me this morning, ‘You centrists are the worst. You don’t know where you stand. You’re like fucking leaves in the wind,’ by which I think he meant that I had no conviction, which is to some degree true. It is often the case with us songwriter types because we have found that a more inquiring, more expansive, less-entrenched position serves us better in the pursuit of the illusive but beautiful idea. In the centre we feel freer, less restricted, less dogmatised, less bigoted. We see the world as essentially mysterious, often mystical, and we are humbled by it, in so far as we do not claim to know or fully understand it. We dance nimbly about, following our distinctive desires, our interests, wherever they may take us, with humility, with curiosity, with uncertainty. We feel we don’t need to live within the prescribed imaginations of others. We are open to persuasion, yet forever ourselves. We understand too that the centre is indeed held together by its extremities, and we need the radicals to mark out the boundaries within which we play.
I tried to make my position, such as it is, feel more dangerous and sexy, by describing myself to Séan as alt-centre, but he wasn’t having it. ‘You guys just blow whichever way the wind goes,’ he muttered, gloomily. He was in a dark and defeated mood this morning. ‘Jesus, man, what’s wrong with you?’ I asked, ‘Have you been reading the Guardian?’
Still, Séan, ever astute, was on to something. He understands me well, better than most. At the end of the day, I just don’t really know about anything for sure. I am simply not certain about things, except perhaps this – on those rare occasions when I am irrevocably convinced of my own position and have that surge of righteousness roaring through my raisins, I am often plain wrong.
Mainly, though, I feel I’m just tossed around like that leaf, batted this way and that, by those broad and inquisitive winds, baffled and humbled by the world, curious and mostly awed, with no real port of call but God, Himself.
Returning to raisins, Nick says, "they do have a grim, scrotal horribleness, but like all things in this world – you, me and every other little thing – they have their place. Be kind."
Nick is going on a solo tour with Radiohead's Colin Greenwood this fall, and we're giving away tickets to two of the NYC shows. See all dates below.
NICK CAVE: 2023 SOLO TOUR
September 19, 2023 - Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
September 21, 2023 - Durham, NC @ DPAC
September 23, 2023 - Washington, D.C. @ Lincoln Theatre
September 25, 2023 - Cleveland, OH @ Playhouse Square
September 27, 2023 - Milwaukee, WE @ Riverside Theater
September 29, 2023 - Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre
October 2, 2023 - Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
October 6, 2023 - Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
October 7, 2023 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
October 8, 2023 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
October 10, 2023 - Boston, MA @ Wang Theatre
October 12, 2023 - Montreal, QC @ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
October 14, 2023 - Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
October 15, 2023 - Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral Theatre
October 17, 2023 - Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
October 20, 2023 - Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall
October 22, 2023 - Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre
October 23, 2023 - Austin, TX @ ACL at The Moody
October 27, 2023 - Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
October 28, 2023 - Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
October 29, 2023 - Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre