Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to release live album, ‘Australian Carnage’
Nick Cave and his longtime collaborative partner Warren Ellis are gearing up to release a new album documenting their tour in Australia, titled Australian Carnage – Live At The Sydney Opera House.
Last year, the musicians, embarked on a tour of Cave’s native country to perform their acclaimed 2021 album Carnage, as well as tracks from the Bad Seeds’ catalogue. The climax of the tour was a series of three shows at the Sydney Opera House on December 16th, 17th, and 18th — all of which will be immortalised in the upcoming album.
“Touring Australia with Warren after so much time away was one of the highlights of recent years,” said Cave following the announcement. “Every show was moving and unforgettable, from the intimacy of playing in theatres and arts centres, to the vast and uplifting nights at Hanging Rock, through to our final three nights at the inimitable Sydney Opera House.”
For these performances, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis were joined by Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood, regular Bad Seed Larry Mullins, and backing vocalists Wendi Rose, Janet Ramus, and T Jae Cole.
Ben Marshall, the Head of Contemporary Music at the Sydney Opera House, described the live album as an extraordinary record that captured the unique connection between the artists and the audience during their performances at the Sydney Opera House. “Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ Australian Carnage live album is an extraordinary record of two of the most beautiful and brilliant artists of their time reaching for something else with their immensely talented on-stage collaborators. They were more than concerts that Nick & Warren brought to Australia and Sydney Opera House; something profound and numinous was happening in the Concert Hall between the artist and the audience at their performances here, and I hope this album touches you too,” he said.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have a rich history of collaboration, both as members of The Bad Seeds and as individual artists. Their creative partnership dates back to 1993 when Ellis played violin on songs for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ album Let Love In. Ellis later became a full-time member of the band. They’ve also worked together as Grinderman and composed various film, TV, and theatre soundtracks over the years. This tour marked their first time touring Australia as a duo.
The album will be available on digital and streaming services starting August 25th, with an 8-track vinyl version set to be released on December 1st by Goliath Records. One of the tracks from the album, ‘Balcony Man’, is already available for streaming.
