Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have announced new the live album ‘Live God’, capturing the acclaimed tour of their 2024 album ‘Wild God’. Check out details below, along with footage of the title track and our interview with drummer Jim Sclavunos.
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The stellar ‘Wild God’ tour saw the band play across the UK, Europe and North America in 2024 and ‘25. Now, a live album of 18 tracks recorded across the dates will arrive on Friday December 5 in partnership with Play It Again Sam on premium double gatefold vinyl LP, double CD and digital formats. A first taster comes with a live recording of the song ‘Wild God’ from their Paris show.
The record captures the entirety of ‘Wild God’ – which NME hailed as “with a lust for life, the once-dark prince letting the light in” – along with a smattering of classics and fan favourites including ‘Into My Arms’, ‘From Her To Eternity’, ‘Tupelo’ and ‘Red Right Hand’, as well as cuts from Cave and Warren Ellis‘ lauded collaborative album ‘Carnage’.
Cave described the shows as “an antidote to despair”, with longtime drummer and percussionist Jim Sclavunos agreeing that “this tour seemed distinctly more embracing of a love of life”.
“‘Transcendental’ is too pretentious a word, but it’s something like that,” he told NME. “There was a really buoyant, joyous spirit to the whole thing. We’ve trodden down the path of being doom and gloom for a long time – surly men in black and all that jazz – but we’ve obviously moved on some time ago.”
Describing the mindset that led to the euphoric mood of the tour, Sclavunos admitted that “we’re all just happy campers these days”. When asked about Cave’s vibe in recent years, he replied: “I don’t know, I can’t be objective about that. We’ve been touring together since 1994. I’ve lost all perspective, frankly. In some ways he’s exactly the same, but in others so different.”
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The buoyant approach to the gigs came aided by some new live musicians, including Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood.
“Having the whole gospel gang on board brings a very different mood to proceedings and the tour bus and everything,” the percussionist and solo star told NME. “They’re great fun to tour with. Colin is a very nice fellow, our keyboard player Carly Paradis is a lovely lady (despite the fact that she’s Canadian!) I also love playing with Larry [Mullins, drums] – I’ve known him a long time. I love locking in with him on percussion and stuff. Then there’s that guy Nick and the hairy one, Warren – they’re alright too!”
Sclavunos also noted how the band and fans had found the shows to be a tonic, given the current turmoil of world events.
“You can’t really escape the news these days,” he said. “Even the most banal detail of life is political, it seems. You can’t escape it, and I don’t try. I’m not addicted to watching the news either. You get all that information heavily bombarding you one way or another anyway. Everybody’s got an opinion about something.
“I don’t believe in strictly apolitical music, but I don’t believe it’s strictly a requirement to deliver a political message in music, and I don’t think we ever do that. But I do think that a spirit of hope is a nice and essential thing to be communicating to people at this point in the 21st century. We’ll do our part in that respect.”
This comes after Cave recently repeated his political stance that he is “neither on the left nor on the right” of the spectrum, “finding both sides indefensible and unrecognisable”. He ultimately called for a human approach for a “broken but beautiful” world where it is everyone’s “urgent and moral duty to repair it where we can and not to cause further harm, or worse, wilfully usher in its destruction”.
“The thing is, someone will always try and hang a tag on you, and they’ve been doing that all our lives,” Sclavunos responded. “Everybody gets compartmentalised and identified as one thing or another, whether they want to or not, whether they believe it or not. That’s unavoidable and how humans behave.
“We know that what we do has reverberations. I’m sure Nick, like all of us, deeply considers where he stands on things and has opinions. We’re all human, and Nick isn’t any different to anyone else. He’s just magnificently talented!”
The musician and former Sonic Youth and The Cramps drummer remained tight-lipped about The Bad Seeds’ plans for their huge summer 2026 outdoor shows.
“Well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?” he said when quizzed. Yes, it would. Please do so.
“No! Something will be different, and hopefully it will be very impressive,” he replied. “We do what we do and we do it intensely. It’s not like we’re going to start playing pop hits. It’s very different looking out to a concert hall of devotees to a field of people at a festival – the challenge is to grab them and hold them.”
Sclavunos was equally coy about progress on any new Bad Seeds material, but said he “absolutely” hoped and believed that the positive and larger-than-life energy of ‘Wild God’ and the tour would bleed into it.
“I’m not going to impart any top secret information, even if it doesn’t exist,” he laughed. “I hate to be coy. When there’s something to talk about, you can be sure we’ll talk about it.”
Sclavunos was also a member of Bad Seeds’ beloved garage rock offshoot Grinderman alongside Cave, Ellis and Martyn P. Casey. The band recently reissued their full discography on eco-friendly vinyl and CD, with Ellis telling NME that he’d “never say never” to a reunion (but that they’d “better get on with it” as they reach an age beyond acceptance for the four-piece’s brand of sleaze).
“I think me and Warren are very keen. It’s down to Nick if he dares, if he’s man enough, if he’s Grinderman enough!” joked Sclavunos on the chances of a return.
This comes after Cave told NME: “We could do a Grinderman record, because Grinderman is essentially improv. It’s musically challenging and you don’t really know what you’re going to get, but I don’t think we could make a four-on-the-floor rock’n’roll record any more.”
Responding to his bandmate’s comments, Sclavunos added: “It remains to be seen, but I’ll tell you this much: it’s an awful lot of fun to play in a small ensemble. Grinderman compels you to play in a very different way as a four-piece, compared to a very large band like the Bad Seeds. They’re both great but both different. I hope we do it again.”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds release ‘Live God’ on Friday December 5. Pre-order it here, and check out the full tracklist below.
‘Frogs’
‘Wild God’
‘O Children’
‘From Her to Eternity’
‘Long Dark Night’
‘Cinnamon Horses’
‘Tupelo’
‘Conversion’
‘Bright Horses’
‘Joy’
‘I Need You’
‘Carnage’
‘Red Right Hand’
‘White Elephant’
‘O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She is)’
‘Papa Won’t Leave You Henry’
‘Into My Arms’
‘As The Waters Cover The Sea’
The band will hit the road again next year by touring Australia and New Zealand for the first time in nine years before a run of UK and European headline and festival dates, including a massive outdoor show at Brighton’s Preston Park. Visit here for tickets and more information.
Meanwhile, the TV adaptation of Cave’s cult classic novel The Death Of Bunny Munro starring Matt Smith received its London premiere last week – with Cave and Warren Ellis having recorded the score.
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