The Birthday Party (band)

The Birthday Party was an Australian rock music group, active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It launched the careers of the internationally renowned singer and songwriter Nick Cave and of the respected musicians and songwriters Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard. Their early music found them sometimes classed as goth rock, but they disliked the label, and in retrospect, sound very different from most goth rockers.

London and beyond

After recordings and moderate success in Australia (including hundreds of live shows) they headed for London in 1980, changing their name to the Birthday Party and launching into a period of innovative and aggressive music-making. They resided in London, with trips back to Australia and tours through Europe and the U.S. before relocating to West Berlin in 1982.

Related Topics:
London - West Berlin

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Above the barely-controlled racket, Cave's vocals ranged from desperate to simply menacing and demented. Critics have written that "neither John Cale nor Alfred Hitchcock was ever this scary." http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=birthday_party), and that Cave "doesn't so much sing his vocals as expel them from his gut"http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:2sj20roal4aj. Though Cave drew on earlier rock and roll shriekers; especially Iggy Pop and Suicide's Alan Vega; his singing with the Birthday Party remains powerful.

Related Topics:
John Cale - Alfred Hitchcock - Iggy Pop - Suicide

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Calvert was ejected in 1982; he was "unable to nail down the beats for 'Dead Joe' to everyone's satisfaction" http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:08jgtq4zzuhp, and Harvey moved to drums. When Pew was jailed for drunk driving and petty theft also in 1982, Barry Adamson and several others replaced him on records or live appearances. He rejoined the band, but died some years later during an epileptic fit.

Related Topics:
1982 - Drunk driving - Barry Adamson - Epileptic

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In 1983 Blixa Bargeld from a german band Einstürzende Neubauten joined The Birthday Party.

Related Topics:
1983 - Blixa Bargeld - Einstürzende Neubauten

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The Birthday Party disbanded in 1984, due in part to creative tension between Cave and Howard.

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Several groups rose from the Birthday Party's ashes: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (featuring Cave, Harvey and Bargeld), Crime and the City Solution (featuring Harvey and Howard, later just Harvey) and These Immortal Souls (featuring Howard). All of these bands shared a similar aesthetic, though perhaps they showed unequal deftness in expressing it.

Related Topics:
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Crime and the City Solution - These Immortal Souls

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