FLASHBACK: Grinderman

'No Pussy Blues' was my ringtone for a year. An entire year. And I told the boyfriend when I went to Big Day Out back in 2011 that if I happened to throw myself at Nick Cave it didn't count as cheating. It was just... necessary. He made the eyes at me though, and that was enough. 

GRINDERMAN formed in 2006 as a side project for Warren Ellis and Cave himself. It was a way to 'escape the weight of the Bad Seeds.' They enlisted the help of fellow Bad Seeds, Martyn P. Casey and Jim Sclavunos to fill the roles of bassist and drummer respectively, and the rest is musical history. They released two genius albums, Grinderman and Grinderman 2. And now after a hiatus they've reformed for Coachella. The gig will be bold. It will be brutal. And it will be a little bit sexy.

Grinderman opens with 'Get It On.' It's a song about birthday sex. That's it. That's all there is. It sets the entire album off on a high energy tangent, full of roaring guitar solos and a harsher sound, more akin to The Birthday Party's manic feel than to the Bad Seeds' forays into the romantic and gloomy. 'No Pussy Blues' continues in the same way, with the sound of tapping at a typewriter building tension.

Another song about women and sex from a man who knows exactly what he's talking about. Other highlights include 'Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)' and 'Depth Charge Ethel'. You know that when Cave is in control there's no going back and there's no getting out. You're enraptured by his throaty vocals and ultra-articulate lyrics. These are coupled with grinding bass and gothic guitars. It's a kind of alternative bliss.

Grinderman 2 picks up where Grinderman left off. There are haunting vocal arrangements and some genuinely creepy moments. But there's also a bit of fun had with songs like 'Heathen Child' where Cave switches from whispers in the verses to exclamations in the chorus.

It's all very catchy and even danceable, thanks to a smattering of tambourine. 'Palaces of Montezuma' is a change of pace from the other loud and fast tracks like 'Evil.' It's a sweet love ballad, more like a pop song, and perhaps a little jarring in the context of the album. 'Come on baby, let's get out of the cold. Give me, give me, give me your precious love for me to hold. The epic of Gilgamesh, a pretty black a-line dress, I give to you. The spinal cord of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroe's negligee, I give to you.' 

Grinderman gave Ellis and Cave the opportunity to reinvent themselves and have a little bit of fun with it. I'm glad this is what they came up with.

Words by Hannah Story

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