The Phantom Interrogation: Nick Cave

Q. Is it true you once said you wanted to make music that was as sad as someone snapping a little finger? Which songs, either your own or someone else’s would you say come close to matching that?

A. The last time I wept to a song wasn't actually that long ago. I was in my car and a song by Nina Simone called My Father, which is a terrible title, but the song is extraordinary and it gets me every time. It's the most measured piece of songwriting, sentimental but very beautiful at the same time and she just sings it extraordinarily. So, there are those songs out there. I don't know if I've written any I don't respond that way to my own stuff because that's a little narcissistic isn't it - to have yourself weeping from singing your own songs?

Q. Given your prolific output in a number of mediums - is there one that gives you more satisfaction than the others? For instance do you feel more of a sense of achievement having finished writing a screenplay than you do when you finish recording an album?

A. I love screen writing I'm not sure if I get the same long term satisfaction out of it but I love the process. You can just do it anywhere I guess. I'm not sure how to explain it properly without sounding completely stupid but to write a screenplay it's a different discipline altogether, it doesn't require every ounce of heart of heart and soul that writing a song does. To write a song is often a very taxing, sometimes agonising thing, because it's so difficult to catch a good song. Whereas writing a film script is a craft thing. You just sit down and write a story and I've learnt how to do that stuff now and so I find it much easier.

Q. Grinderman was my highlight of the Connect festival in 2008 and the Bad Seeds were my highlight of last years T in the Park- do you still enjoy live performance as much now as you did when you first started out? Perhaps enjoy is the wrong word. Can you ever see a point where you think you’ll want to stop?

A. Well no. The thing about the live stuff that I used to find difficult is that it took so long just to do the same thing over and over. I mean, you go on tour for three months or something, but now I've worked out ways to use that time in another way and work on things at the same time. It makes the experience a little less repetitious. To do a show is always a unique thing and something you put everything into, but there's just so much other time spent doing nothing on tour. Any band will tell you the same thing. I've worked out ways to use that time to do other stuff. the last tour I went on I wrote Bunny Monroe the novel, on the bus.

Q. Is it true that you are working on a script for a remake of The Crow?

A. Ah, so the internet is saying. Not at the moment.