Nick Cave needed Grinderman to break free. After a decade that saw two albums of mournful love songs, one career-first critically reviled (and since rehabilitated) release, and a double-LP that felt like a spiritual rebirth, there appeared to be little room for the aching sexual nastiness and sardonic lyricism that marked earlier Bad Seeds records. Longtime guitarist Blixa Bargeld, unhappy with the band’s direction, quit during this period after 20 years of playing with Cave.
Though technically a side project, Grinderman saw Cave grow a porn ’stache, strap on a guitar, and play noisy garage rock with fellow Bad Seeds Warren Ellis (multi-instrumentalist), Martyn P. Casey (bass), and Jim Sclavunos (drums). Billed as “foul-mouthed, noisy, hairy, and damn well old enough to know better,” the project spawned two albums—Grinderman (2007) and Grinderman 2 (2010)—with a remix album of the latter appearing in 2012. With Bad Seeds record Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008)—which also features a similar sort of scuzzy rock—forming an unofficial trilogy, Grinderman allowed Cave the freedom to write songs with titles such as “Get It On,” “No Pussy Blues,” and “Worm Tamer” and explore dirty old man energy without staining the more ornate work of recent Bad Seeds albums.
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While the two Grinderman albums, along with the remix record, have been out of print for some time, they were re-released on eco-conscious black vinyl on July 18, allowing fans to experience the music in all its ragged glory without digging deep into their wallets for a secondhand copy. However, these reissues contain no new material.
The first Grinderman record feels more like a warm-up. Recorded in just four days with producer Nick Launay in Metropolis Studios in London, the record features two very strong singles, surrounded by a handful of energetic but slightly less memorable tracks. With Cave writing on guitar, an instrument he only had a basic understanding of, “Get It On” feels more raw and ragged than Bad Seeds material. Meanwhile, “No Pussy Blues” is a tongue-in-cheek look at sexual frustration that could be a rallying anthem for modern incels. A razor-wire tension fuels the track, finally bursting into a hailstorm of howls and guitar noise. No one has ever written a song about not getting pussy that is as savage. Meanwhile, “Man in the Moon” is an uncharacteristically quiet track about an absent father that Cave would make even more beautiful in future solo performances.
Unlike its predecessor, every track on Grinderman 2 is excellent. According to Cave, the group took a more serious approach, leaning more heavily into psychedelia, stoner rock and, according to Ellis, the influence of Sly Stone. Produced again by Launay, the record feels more polished than the first one and features blazing garage rock songs (“Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man”), slow-burning psych (“When My Baby Comes”) and even one of Cave’s sweetest love songs (“Palaces of Montezuma”). A darker edge hangs over the record as Cave paints lurid landscapes on songs like “Evil” and “Bellringer Blues.”
The remix album–Grinderman 2 RMX–allows artists such as Nick Zinner, UNKLE, and Josh Homme to reimagine the songs while avoiding dance music found on similar remix projects.Grinderman never existed to replace the Bad Seeds and after two tours, the project vanished as Cave moved onto the more rarified and heady territory that has defined his music since Push the Sky Away (2013). However, this trio of newly reissued records allows fans to explore not only an interesting diversion for Cave, but a period in time where being a little naughty helped reignite the creative spark for one of our most important living artists.
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