Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band from Melbourne. Formed by eponymous vocalist Nick Cave and multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey after the breakup of The Birthday Party in August 1983, the original lineup of the group also included German guitarist Blixa Bargeld and English bassist Barry Adamson.[1] The band's first tour, later in the year, featured guitarist Hugo Race in place of Bargeld (who was touring with Einstürzende Neubauten) and bassist Tracy Pew (also formerly of The Birthday Party), the latter of whom left early the next year.[2] They released their debut album From Her to Eternity in June 1984.[3] Race left later in the year, although performed as a guest on several Bad Seeds releases later.[4] The group continued briefly as a four-piece, releasing The Firstborn Is Dead in June 1985.[5]
Shortly after the release of the band's second album, Thomas Wydler joined as the new drummer for Bad Seeds, with Harvey moving to focus primarily on guitar and keyboards.[1] Two albums followed in 1986 – Kicking Against the Pricks and Your Funeral... My Trial –the latter of which featured Adamson on only two tracks, having recently left.[6] Harvey took over on bass, with Kid Congo Powers joining on guitar and keyboardist Roland Wolf also joining.[7] Tender Prey was released in 1988, before Wolf was dismissed the next year due to personality conflicts with Cave.[8] The 1990 follow-up The Good Son was also the last Bad Seeds album for Powers, who left later in the year.[1] Harvey took over from Powers on guitar, as bassist Martyn P. Casey and keyboardist Conway Savage joined to expand the group to a six-piece.[1]
The lineup of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds remained stable throughout the 1990s, save for two additions. First was second drummer and percussionist Jim Sclavunos, who joined in 1994 during the promotional tour for Let Love In.[9] Second was violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, who became an official members of the group in 1997 after having featured as a session and touring musician.[10] In March 2003, founding member Bargeld left the Bad Seeds in order to "concentrate on other creative areas in [his] life", describing his departure as "nothing to do with artistic or personal differences with the band".[11] The guitarist was replaced by James Johnston, who had previously toured briefly with the group in 1994.[1] Johnston remained a member of the group until after the release of Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! in 2008.[1]
On 22 January 2009, it was announced that Harvey, the last remaining original member of the Bad Seeds besides Cave, had left the band in order to pursue other projects.[12] He was replaced for shows later in the year by Ed Kuepper.[13] After a brief hiatus, the band returned in 2013 with Push the Sky Away, during which time Barry Adamson returned to the band on drums and keyboards, filling in for Wydler who was absent to illness.[14] Kuepper briefly toured with the group again, before being replaced later by George Vjestica.[1] Adamson remained until early 2015, when Wydler returned to touring and keyboards were taken over by Larry Mullins (also known as Toby Dammit).[15] Savage was forced to leave the touring group in early 2017 after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.[16] He died the following September.[17]
| Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Cave | 1983–present | all Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds releases | |||
| Thomas Wydler | 1985–present | all Bad Seeds releases from Kicking Against the Pricks (1986) onwards, except Live from KCRW (2013) | |||
| Martyn P. Casey | 1990–present | all Bad Seeds releases from Henry's Dream (1992) onwards | |||
| Jim Sclavunos | 1994–present | all Bad Seeds releases from Murder Ballads (1996) onwards | |||
| Warren Ellis | 1997–present | all Bad Seeds releases from Let Love In (1994) onwards | |||
| George Vjestica | 2013–present |
| Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mick Harvey | 1983–2009 | all Bad Seeds releases from From Her to Eternity (1984) to Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2008) | |||
| Blixa Bargeld (Christian Emmerich) | 1983–2003 | ||||
| Barry Adamson | |||||
| Hugo Race | 1983–1984 | ||||
| Kid Congo Powers (Brian Tristan) | 1986–1990 | ||||
| Roland Wolf | 1986–1989 | ||||
| Conway Savage | 1990–2017 | all Bad Seeds releases from Henry's Dream (1992) to Push the Sky Away (2013), except Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008) | |||
| James Johnston | 2003–2008 |
| Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracy Pew | 1983–1984 | bass | Pew performed between December 1983 and January 1984, with Adamson substituting for Bargeld on guitar. | |
| Edward Clayton-Jones | 1984 | guitar | Clayton-Jones substituted for Blixa Bargeld, who was unavailable, during a European tour in May 1984. | |
| Rowland S. Howard | 1985 | Howard temporarily replaced Blixa Bargeld, who was unavailable, during a UK tour in April 1985.[18] | ||
| Christoph Dreher | 1985 | bass | Dreher temporarily replaced Barry Adamson, who was unwell, during a UK tour in April 1985. | |
| Ed Kuepper | guitar | Kuepper filled in on guitar following Harvey's departure in early 2009, and again in early 2013. | ||
| Larry Mullins (aka. Toby Dammit) | 2015–present | Mullins took over keyboards in the touring lineup of the Bad Seeds from Adamson in early 2015 and substituted Wydler as drummer for the 2022 European Tour. | ||
| Carly Paradis | 2022–present | Paradis joined the band on their 2022 European tour on keyboards filling in for Mullins who took over drumming duties. | ||
| Janet Ramus | backing vocals | Ramus, Cole and McCalla joined the band on their 2022 European tour. Ramus and Cole previously toured with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis on their 2021–2022 Carnage tour. | ||
| T Jae Cole | ||||
| Subrina McCalla |
| Period | Members | Releases | |
|---|---|---|---|
| August – November 1983 |
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| December 1983 – January 1984 | none | ||
| February – April 1984 |
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| May 1984 |
| none | |
| Mid-1984 |
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| Late 1984 – early 1985 |
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| April 1985 |
| none | |
| May 1985 – July 1986 |
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| July – August 1986 |
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| September 1986 – July 1989 |
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| August 1989 – May 1990 |
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| May 1990 – March 1994 |
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| March – July 1994 |
| none | |
| July – September 1994 |
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| October 1994 – March 1997 |
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| March 1997 – March 2003 |
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| March 2003 – April 2008 |
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| April 2008 – January 2009 |
| none | |
| May – July 2009 |
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| July 2009 – January 2013 |
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| February – April 2013 |
| none | |
| May 2013 – early 2015 |
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| Early 2015 – May 2017 |
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| May 2017 – October 2018 |
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| June 2022 – present |
| N/A |