Grinderman: Cave and Co.’s Ragged, Freewheeling Blues Rock

Grinderman: “Heathen Child” (Anti-, 9/13/2010)

Grinderman: “Heathen Child”

Grinderman 2
Grinderman: Grinderman 2

In 2007, Nick Cave and three of his Bad Seeds introduced a debauched alter-ego to the world—a blues-rock engine fueled by testosterone and longing. Named Grinderman, the subset produced music that was more ragged and looser than the Bad Seeds’ compositions. Cave and his cohorts — multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn Casey, and drummer Jim Sclavunos — recorded the self-titled debut quickly and with a live feel, subsequently turning the veteran musicians’ process inside out. Sclavunos notes that at Grinderman’s inception, “We didn’t know what Grinderman was, what it would sound like, or if it was in any way viable. In fact, the band didn’t even have a name yet.”

On Grinderman, Cave played guitar for the first time, and Ellis played almost no violin, his signature instrument. Instead, Ellis focused on creating sonic loops. According to Sclavunos, “Warren is both a loop guru and a loup-garou. His loops are a great platform for us all to improvise over. And once he’s set up a nice one, he can just let it ramble on and play other things on top.” Grinderman delivered “No Pussy Blues,” an instant classic that was strong enough to render the entire Grinderman experiment a success. Yet there are other tracks such as “Go Tell the Woman,” an itinerant romp that borders on performance art, and the swirling, furious “Depth Charge Ethel” that embody the freewheeling Grinderman spirit.

“We didn’t know what Grinderman was, what it would sound like, or if it was in any way viable. In fact, the band didn’t even have a name yet.”

It took three years for Grinderman to bring forth Grinderman 2. According to Sclavunos, the goals for the record were different, but Grinderman’s unique recording process was the same. “We went into the studio for five days and recorded pretty much non-stop,” he says. “All the sounds, rhythms, and riffs are impromptu.” The band chose the most promising sections of the raw tapes for Cave to take away and work over. Almost magically, Cave proceeds to “come up with some lyrics to sing over them, and before you know it, we’ve got an album’s worth of songs.”

Before the first minute of Grinderman 2 is over, the band has offered a tiny sonic overture that encapsulates its second full-length. It begins with a few subtle bluesy notes that stop and then slam into crunching guitars while Cave warbles, “I woke up this morning and thought / What am I doing here?” When Cave sings, “See a lupine child with her hair on fire / little burning girl,” the song strikes another thematic mother lode: women. If women were on Cave’s mind, though physically absent from the debut, they are fully present on Grinderman 2. The full-frontal assault of “Heathen Child,” Grinderman 2’s first single, suggests an anti-heroine who, despite being armed with guns and poison, remains completely vulnerable to visits from Wolfman and Abominable Snowman while she is “sitting in the bath tub / sucking her thumb.”

Grinderman 2’s sonic range is wider than the band’s debut, perhaps because Cave is now composing on the guitar. According to Sclavunos, “Playing an altogether different and unfamiliar instrument, he’s jettisoned all those songwriting habits that he’s built up over the years composing on the piano.” Sclavunos added a heavily processed drum synth, which he notes “is definitely an unheard-of first for Grinderman.” Nowhere is the new breadth more evident than on the melodic and almost uplifting “Palaces of Montezuma.” Sclavunos explains, “[The song] didn’t come from the original session. We decided that it made for a sunny respite from the unrelenting malevolence of the bulk of Grinderman 2.” And by embracing the experimental spirit that inspired its inception, Grinderman enables songs such as “Palaces of Montezuma” and “Heathen Child” to coexist.

“Now that the world is a bit more acquainted with Grinderman, we thought it appropriate to make the music more expansive, more ambitious, and more challenging,” Sclavunos says. Despite its formation from loose, clamorous connections, Grinderman’s music holds. Grinderman 2 documents the band’s ability to ransack and dredge rock music’s craggiest recesses.

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