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Nick Cave Says the Bad Seeds Are “Messing Around” in the Studio With a New Record in Mind
Nick Cave says The Bad Seeds are “messing around” in the studio, with a new record only vaguely in mind after 2024’s Wild God.
Nick Cave has quietly suggested that The Bad Seeds may already be circling their next album. In a new post on his Red Hand Files blog, the singer said the band are “messing around” in the studio with the “vague idea of perhaps making a new record,” a small but notable update from a group whose last studio album, Wild God, arrived in 2024.
The comment surfaced in the middle of a response to a fan asking about Cave’s sleeping habits. After describing a routine built around two separate three-hour sleeps, he wrote that once he gets up and puts on a suit, he goes to work. “This morning, I am going to Islington to mess around in the studio,” he said, naming Martyn P. Casey, Thomas Wydler, Jim Sclavunos and Warren Ellis as the Bad Seeds joining him there.
That phrasing does some work. It’s not a formal album announcement, but it does suggest Cave and the band are past the point of simply idling between tours. For a group that released its 18th studio album just last year, the idea of another record coming into view this early hints at a band still very much in motion, even as the live schedule remains packed.
The Bad Seeds are due to play a major homecoming show at Brighton’s Preston Park on July 31 as part of their UK and European tour. The bill is unusually stacked, with The Flaming Lips, English Teacher, Cate Le Bon and Warmduscher all set to support. There is also a large date at Dublin’s Malahide Castle in June. Find any remaining tickets here.
The summer run also takes in a string of festivals, including Mad Cool, NOS Alive, Best Kept Secret, Montreux Jazz Festival, Open’er and Øya. Before that, the band were on the road in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, extending a period of activity that has kept Cave and company in constant circulation.
Meanwhile, Cave has been cropping up elsewhere too. He appears on Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea’s recent debut solo album, Honora, alongside Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. He also recorded a new version of “Red Right Hand” for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
There is also a forthcoming career-spanning anthology for the late Bad Seed Conway Savage, set for release on July 17.
Wild God was awarded four stars by NME in 2024, with the review noting that Bad Seeds albums are often associated with “gothic doom and gloom,” before pointing to a more open, less boxed-in version of Cave’s writing on the record. “With a lust for life, the once-dark prince is letting the light in,” it concluded.
