Nick Cave has mentioned his expertise with tinnitus, calling it “the musician’s curse” and “a pain in the arse”.
The musician was replying to a query on his Red Hand Files web site, from a fan who requested whether or not Cave suffered from tinnitus himself.
“Do you have tinnitus?” the fan – Denise from New York City – requested: “What do you do when the ringing gets loud? I have had it for 15 years and have adjusted but as I get older and seek more solitude the crickets choir is always with me, blaring at top volume. I try to appreciate their alarm as the message “we are alive” however in a nonetheless and quiet home they’re very noisy company who by no means go away.”
Cave then replied: “Warren [Ellis] claims his tinnitus is so dangerous that different folks can hear it. I believe that is nonsense and have advised him so, however he says the rationale I can’t hear his tinnitus is as a result of my very own tinnitus drowns it out.
“Still, it’s funny I should read your question now because I am sitting here alone in my hotel room in Melbourne, having just come back from rehearsals with Warren and the band, and my very own ‘choir of crickets’ is screaming its idiotic head off. I’m debating whether I should go down to the hotel restaurant, which for some reason thinks it’s cool to play unbelievably hideous music extremely loudly while you are eating, to drown the little fuckers out.”
Cave went on: “Dear, candy tinnitus — the musician’s curse. Mine is definitely fairly manageable more often than not, it comes and goes, and solely actually kicks off when I’m enjoying reside music, which now I come to think about it’s more often than not. An ear specialist as soon as advised me there was not a lot I may do aside from to ‘love my tinnitus’ — after which charged me 300 quid. But, you realize, I don’t love my tinnitus, I don’t love my tinnitus in any respect, it’s a ache within the arse.
“So, I feel for you, Denise, sitting there in your solitude, with your tinnitus for company, and I don’t really have any advice for you, other than to say, if it is any consolation, that not only my cricket choir is singing, loud and very clear, but Warren’s is too, and Larry’s and Colin’s (Greenwood), and Wendy’s and Janet’s and T Jae’s — all our dreary crickets singing their moronic and endless serenade back to you, you wonderful, tortured person, in your quiet but noisy house in New York City.”
Ending the reply with a joke, Cave mentioned: “Don’t try calling a tinnitus helpline, it just keeps on ringing.”
After a busy summer season of pageant dates and the discharge of his new e book Faith, Hope and Carnage, Cave and his frequent collaborator Warren Ellis are heading house to Australia this month for a headline tour, which wraps up on December 17 in Sydney.
The singer additionally confirmed that he plans to start writing a brand new album on the finish of this 12 months. At a Q&A at London’s Southbank Centre final month (October 27), the place he spoke with journalist Sean O’Hagan about their new e book as a part of the London Literature Festival, Cave confirmed that, after the tour ends, he’ll start writing a brand new document.