During 1980 it became evident that despite the immense strength and innovation of the Boys Next Door, their audience wasn't going to grow in Australia. The same fifty to a hundred people kept coming to the shows. A relocation to England, the mecca of punk/post punk, was clearly the answer, and they saved their gig revenue for air fares.
A name change was necessary, as there was a UK group called the Kids Next Door. Some options such as 'The Glib Rakes' were tossed around, but the band settled on 'The Birthday Party' after the Harold Pinter play.
Arriving in London in late 1980 the band lived a meagher existence for the first year, without a UK record deal, few gigs and little income. Two factors were pertinent to their conquest of the land.
First up, they had hoped that the scene would be alive with radical noisy groups, birds of a feather such as The Pop Group and PiL. Sadly, they discovered a jaded scene populated by light, airy minimalist pre-Romo bands. This led to a strategy based on 'attack'. The suits were dumped for leather. The hair was spiked up to new heights. The music was taken to an extreme of unearthly noise hitherto unexperienced in the history of music. Nick Cave took an 'Iggy in the Stooges' approach to the audience, diving on them, at them and walking on them like a second coming of messianic rock didactisiscm. England was a stone wall. But The Birthday Party had become an atomic warhead.
The second factor was the decision to seek out the key to the fortress, rather than taking down the walls. The key in England, was John Peel. Persistent efforts by Phill Calvert and Mick Harvey to track him down, led to Peel being immediately enthused by the quality of the band. One or two Peel sessions later, they were the talk of the town. New Musical Express featured them and audiences flocked to see this new force in rock unleashed. The atomic warhead had been let in through the front door!
The Birthday Party recorded and performed relentlessly in England, continental Europe, a little of America and Australia for two and a half short years. Their records and shows were incendiary, fiery violent rock escapades. Fine art and the gutter merged as this dirty jazz, ear splitting circus train travelled until the wheels came off.
At the end, they were obviously exhausted - burned out. Mick Harvey was perhaps the first to see that this travelling war zone had run its course. The others tried to keep going a little, but they couldn't. After their final show, at the Venue in their hometown, the heartland - Melbourne's St Kilda, where it all began, they took taxis home to their mums, penniless, exhausted and feeling beaten, unaware, perhaps that history would determine that they had given the world one of its most inspired music acts of all time.
All of the members of The Birthday Party were in some way central to the success of the band. Phill Calvert's magnificent drumming and his seeking out of John Peel was crucial. Tracy Pew personified the butch Aussie cowboy and rumbled harder on the bass than anyone ever had. He became an icon of the band. Mick Harvey was the glue, musically and administrively that held the group together. Nick Cave had the voice, the looks, the performance skills, the songwriting, the leftist art perspective and more.
But without Rowland S. Howard, it might not have happened. The quality of Rowland's songwriting should not be underestimated. And his guitar work, though technically limited, brought to the fore a degree of inspiration and intensity never heard before. Not even the finest classically trained heavy metal band could have as visceral an effect as the sheer hellish noise of Rowland on guitar in The Birthday Party. Ironically the man who once wrote of a shiver down his own spine, now sent shivers down more spines than any guitar player ever.
Missing Link (1980) 1982 rerelease, Boys Next Door not mentioned
Prayers On FireLP/CD
Zoo Music Girl (Music: R. S. Howard, Lyrics: N. Cave)
Cry (Music & Lyrics: N. Cave)
Capers (Music: R. S. Howard, Lyrics: G. McGuckin)
Nick The Stripper (Music & Lyrics: N. Cave)
Ho-Ho (Music: G. McGuckin, Lyrics: R. S. Howard)
Figure Of Fun (Music: N. Cave & R. S. Howard, Lyrics: N. Cave)
King Ink (Music: R. S. Howard & N. Cave, Lyrics: N. Cave)
A Dead Song (Music: N. Cave, Lyrics: A. Lane)
Yard (Music & Lyrics: N. Cave)
Dull Day (Music & Lyrics: R. S. Howard)
Just You And Me (Music: M. Harvey, Lyrics: N. Cave)
Blundertown (CD) (Music & Lyrics: R. S. Howard)
Kathy's Kisses (CD) (Music & Lyrics: N. Cave)
Nick Cave -
Vocals, piano on King Ink
Rowland S. Howard -
Guitar, vocals on Ho-Ho, backing vocals on Cry and Capers, saxophone on Just You and Me
Mick Harvey -
Organ on Zoo Music Girl and Figure Of Fun, guitar on Cry, Yard, Nick The Stripper and A Dead Song, backing vocals on Cry and A Dead Song, piano on Capers, Dull Day, Just You And Me and Kathy's Kisses, snare drum on King Ink
Tracy Pew -
Bass, clarinet on A Dead Song, and double bass on Yard
Phill Calvert -
Drums
4AD (1981) Multiple releases, including remastered CD
Tracks 1-4: Live 26 November 1981, at The Venue in London. Track 5: Lydia Lunch Tracks 11-12: The Birthday Party without Tracy Pew and Phill Calvert. With Grant McLennan, Robert Forster and Lindy Morrison of The Go-Betweens. Credited as Tuff Monks (Au-Go-Go, 1982).
4AD (1982) Missing Link (1994) CD
JunkyardLP/CD
Blast Off! (CD) (Music & Lyrics: R. S. Howard)
She's Hit (Music: N. Cave & T. Pew, Lyrics: N. Cave)
Dead Joe (Music: N. Cave, Lyrics: A. Lane & N. Cave)
The Dim Locator (Music & Lyrics: R. S. Howard)
Hamelt (Pow, Pow, Pow) (Music: R. S. Howard, Lyrics: N. Cave)
Several Sins (Music & Lyrics: R. S. Howard & H. Howard)
Big-Jesus-Trash-Can (Music: M. Harvey, Lyrics: N. Cave)
Kiss Me Black (Music: N. Cave, Lyrics: A. Lane & N. Cave)
6" Gold Blade (Music: M. Harvey, Lyrics: N. Cave)
Kewpie Doll (Music: M. Harvey, Lyrics: N. Cave)
Junkyard (Music: N. Cave, Lyrics: N. Cave & R. S. Howard)
Dead Joe (second version) (CD) (Music: N. Cave, Lyrics: A. Lane & N. Cave)*
Release The Bats (CD) (Music: M. Harvey, Lyrics: N. Cave)
*Not on Missing Link CD (1992)
Nick Cave -
Vocals
Rowland S. Howard -
Guitar, saxophone on Blast Off!
Mick Harvey -
Guitar (except on Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow), Several Sins and Kewpie Doll), organ on Blast Off!, drums on Dead Joe, Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow) and Release The Bats, saxophone on Big-Jesus-Trash-Can, bass on Kewpie Doll
Tracy Pew -
Bass
Phill Calvert -
Drums
Barry Adamson -
Bass on Kiss Me Black and Dead Joe (second version)
4AD (1982)
Hee HawEP
A Catholic Skin (N. Cave)
The Red Clock (R. S. Howard)
Faint Heart (N. Cave)
Death By Drowning (R. S. Howard)
The Hair Shirt (N. Cave)
Missing Link (1983) Originally a Boys Next Door release
The Bad SeedEP
Sunny's Burning (N. Cave, M. Harvey, R. S. Howard, T. Pew)
Wildworld (N. Cave, M. Harvey)
Fear Of Gun (N. Cave, M. Harvey)
Deep in the Woods (N. Cave, M. Harvey)
Nick Cave -
Vocals
Rowland S. Howard -
Guitar
Mick Harvey -
Drums and guitar
Tracy Pew -
Bass
4AD (1983)
Mutiny!EP
Jennifer's Veil (N. Cave, M. Harvey)
Mutiny In Heaven (N. Cave, M. Harvey)
Swampland (N. Cave, M. Harvey, R. S. Howard, T. Pew)
Say A Spell (R. S. Howard)
Nick Cave -
Vocals
Rowland S. Howard -
Guitar
Mick Harvey -
Drums and guitar
Tracy Pew -
Bass
Blixa Bargeld -
Guitar on Mutiny In Heaven
Mute (1983)
It's Still LivingLP/CD
King Ink
The Dim Locator
She's Hit
A Dead Song
(Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn
Junkyard
Blast Off!
Release The Bats
Nick The Stripper
Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
Dead Joe
Live at the Astor Theatre in Melbourne on 15 January 1982.
Missing Link (1985) LP Missing Link (1991) CD
A Collection...LP
Blast Off!
The Hair Shirt
King Ink
Junkyard
Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
Release The Bats
Blundertown
Kathy's Kisses
Ho-Ho (sung by N. Cave)
The Friend Catcher
Scatterbrain
The Plague
CD of the same name (Missing Link, 1987) contains a different track listing, excludes 4 "rare" tracks.
