6 Music - Music News

Always a musician willing to expand on the traditional role of songwriter/performer, Nick Cave has just embarked on a literary tour of Europe.

For the next two weeks Cave will be appearing at small theatres for An Audience With Nick Cave, reading extracts from his latest novel The Death Of Bunny Munro.

Speaking to 6 Music he issued two apologies; to pop icon Kylie Minogue and teen idol Avril Lavigne, on whom the protagonist is fixated.

"I would like to publicly apologise to both of them, especially Avril Lavigne actually, because the writing about her is darker and more invasive I guess," explained Cave.

"At the time that the book was set, which was about eight years ago, or seven years ago, Kylie Minogue and her hot pants were all the tabloids wrote about in this country."

Nick Cave

"I thought that Avril Lavigne was the right kind of person [Bunny Munro] for this particular person to obsess upon. She has a wonderful face to write about."

As for Minogue, he said: "I know Kylie and at least, I hope, she will take it in the spirit it was written."

She collaborated with Cave back in 1996 on their alternative ballad, Where The Wild Roses Grow, from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ ninth album Murder Ballads.

"At the time that the book was set, which was about eight years ago, or seven years ago, Kylie Minogue and her hot pants were all the tabloids wrote about in this country," Cave added.

Different world

The novel focusses on a wild road trip which the central character, a middle aged lothario, embarks on with his son, after his constant womanising and boozing reaches a climax when his wife commits suicide.

Cave stressed there was a big difference between him and Bunny.

"I take great pains to create a distance from the way that I live and the way that my imaginative world operates," he explained. "What keeps me writing is the need to retreat into this world, which is a different one to the one that I actually live in."

As for what’s next, the prolific musician said writing books is to be put to one side: "At the moment I’ve finished the novel and all I want to do is get back to music and after I’ve done a record all I’ll want to do is something else.

"I just run from one thing to the next but I certainly enjoyed writing this novel a lot and would like to do more."

See below for his literary tour dates:

Palace Theatre, London (11 October)
Vicar Street, Dublin (12)
Picture House, Edinburgh (13)
Arenbergschouwburg, Antwerp (15)
Théâtre Marigny, Paris (19)
China Theatre, Stockholm (20)
Teatro Dal Verme, Milan (22)
Casino Aliança Poble Nou, Barcelona (24)
Palace Theatre, London (25)