Nick Cave has recently shared what he thinks it takes to make it in the music industry, via his personal website: The Red Hand Files.
Cave’s personal website, The Red Hand Files, is a platform which allows fans to submit questions, which are then answered by Cave himself and posted online.
A recent question posed to Cave, pondered the notion of talent and how important it is for a musician, as reported by Spin. Going full disclosure as per usual, Cave recalls the music scene in Melbourne back in the ’70s. And how there was absolutely no shortage of talented people.
He wrote, “You couldn’t walk through St Kilda or Carlton waving a stick without hitting a talented musician. I was one of those talented people – I just wasn’t that talented.”
“I couldn’t play an instrument as well as most other musicians, I was a less than-capable-singer, and my songwriting was in no way as strong as that of some of my contemporaries. I was acutely aware of these shortcomings, and felt set apart from that world.”
Cave continues, “Having said that, I was also aware that there was a force at work inside of me that other musicians didn’t seem to possess, at least not to the same degree. This also set me apart, and caused me no end of trouble.”
You’re wondering what exactly it was that propelled Cave to reach his success today?
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“A shameless and pathological belief in my own awesomeness,” which by the sounds of it, fuelled his dream which, “was always, always, world domination.”
He also says, “Now this may sound unattractive, and it was, but that’s what my youthfulness was like – an energetic and aspirational collision of the beautiful and the deeply unpleasant, with an emphasis on the latter.”
As he begins to conclude his advice to those who wrote in, he ensures them that “nothing came naturally”.
“Any competency I display now, such as the ability to write, record or perform songs, came about through repetition and practise and a bloody-minded pursuit of my own particular vision… talent is nice if you have it, but in some ways, it is a secondary requirement.”
Earlier this year, Cave released his new album CARNAGE with longtime collaborator, Warren Ellis.
Listen to ‘Hand of God’ by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
