The Birthday Party
The sidewalks are full of love's ugly children
The Birthday Party was formed in 1980 by Nick Cave (keyboards, saxophone, vocals), Phill Calvert (drums), Rowland S. Howard (guitar) & Tracy Pew (bass). During their active years, from 1980 to 1983, they had 1 other band member: Mick Harvey (bass, drums, guitar, keyboards).
They were The Boys Next Door. They became Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. What are they doing now? still going....
associated bands: The Boys Next Door.
recommended listening:
Links: official website. wikipedia.
They were The Boys Next Door. They became Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. What are they doing now? still going....
associated bands: The Boys Next Door.
recommended listening:
- The Birthday Party (LP)
- Prayers on Fire (LP)
- Release the Bats (single)
- Junkyard (LP)
- Mutiny E.P. and the Bad Seed E.P. (LP)
- The John Peel Sessions (LP)
- go to Recommendations »
Links: official website. wikipedia.
Gods & Alcoves Blog
Blog entries for The Birthday Party:- The Boys Next Door “These Boots Are Made For Walking” video (1978, YouTube)
- Nick Cave & The Cavemen, live at Electric Ballroom, April 1984 (24 minutes, Youtube)
- The Birthday Party, article and audio recalling New Zealand debut, 30 years ago
- Keep calm and release the bats….
- “The Cure & the Story of the Alternative 80s” Magazine
- Nick Cave’s 30 Greatest Songs
- The Quietus – 30 Years On: We Return To The Birthday Party’s Junkyard
- Punk! Lives magazine – “the unacceptable face of modern music” – all 11 magazines available online
- R.I.P. Rowland S. Howard
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The Birthday Party were one of the darkest and most challenging post-punk groups to emerge in the early '80s, creating bleak and noisy soundscapes that provided the perfect setting for vocalist Nick Cave's difficult, disturbing stories of religion, violence, and perversity. Under the direction of Cave and guitarist Rowland S. Howard, the band tore through reams of blues and rockabilly licks, spitting out hellacious feedback and noise at an unrelenting pace. As the Birthday Party's career progressed, Cave's vision got darker and the band's songs alternated between dirges to blistering sonic assaults.
Originally, the Australian band was called the Boys Next Door, comprising Cave, Howard, Mick Harvey (guitar, drums, organ, piano), bassist Tracy Pew, and drummer Phill Calvert. After the Door Door album and Hee Haw EP under that name, the band moved to London and switched its name to the deceptively benign Birthday Party. Once they arrived in Britain, their demented, knotty post-punk began to gel. They released their first international album, Prayers on Fire, in 1981, earning critical praise in the U.K. and U.S. While the band was preparing to record the follow-up, Pew was jailed for drunk driving; former Magazine member Barry Adamson, Harry Howard, and Chris Walsh filled in for the absent Pew on 1982's Junkyard.
After the release of Junkyard, the Birthday Party fired Calvert and moved to Germany, where they began collaborating with such experimental post-punk acts like Lydia Lunch and Einstürzende Neubauten. Harvey left in the summer of 1983. The group briefly continued with drummer Des Heffner, but it soon disbanded after a final concert in Melbourne, Australia. Cave had the most successful solo career, recording a series of albums in the '80s and '90s that maintained his status as a popular cult figure; Harvey joined Cave's backing band, the Bad Seeds. Howard joined Crime & the City Solution, which also featured his brother Harry and Harvey.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Birthday Party