The Birthday Party

小簡介
The Birthday Party,最為黑暗的后朋克樂隊之一，音樂的挑戰(zhàn)性一直是The Birthday Party最為看中的事情。衰敗的噪音和刺耳的吉他和主唱Nick Cave冷酷無情的深邃男中音，以及涉及到宗教、暴力、邪惡的小故事（那甚至不是歌詞的標準形式）在80年代初期迅速成為了后朋克的又一個極端代表。Nick Cave是個充滿神秘感的天才，其充滿神經(jīng)質(zhì)色彩經(jīng)常出沒在它的繪畫和詞作中，并變成了他個人魅力的一部分。他仿佛天生就一種頹廢色彩――他最為真實的存在方式，他本身就是為后朋克量身定做的。在某種意義上，他幾乎可以代表了整個后朋克的面貌。The Birthday Party也僅僅存在了兩三年。1983年，樂隊在開始創(chuàng)作更加實驗化的后朋克作品，Lydia Lunch和E.N.的作品深為樂隊欣賞。不過，此時的Nick Cave更多地開始了個人創(chuàng)作，樂隊在當(dāng)年解散，后來的The Bad Seeds其實成為了他的伴奏樂隊。新樂隊風(fēng)格也逐漸改變成為簡約的陰暗樂風(fēng)，雖然依然晦澀不堪，但已經(jīng)全然沒有了The Birthday Party時期的狂躁，取而代之的是大氣安詳?shù)囊魳犯杏X，民謠、鄉(xiāng)村音樂、甚至歌劇和藝術(shù)搖滾成為了主要的音樂素材。
The Birthday Party were one of the darkest and most challenging post-punk groups to emerge in the early 80s, creating bleak and noisy soundscapes that provided the perfect setting for vocalist Nick Caves difficult, disturbing stories of religion, violence, and perversity. Under the direction of Cave and guitarist Rowland S. Howard, the band tore through reams of blues and rockabilly licks, spitting out hellacious feedback and noise at an unrelenting pace. As the Birthday Partys career progressed, Caves vision got darker and the bands songs alternated between dirges to blistering sonic assaults.
Originally, the Australian band was called the Boys Next Door, comprising Cave, Howard, Mick Harvey (guitar, drums, organ, piano), bassist Tracy Pew, and drummer Phill Calvert. After the Door Door album and Hee Haw EP under that name, the band moved to London and switched its name to the deceptively benign Birthday Party. Once they arrived in Britain, their demented, knotty post-punk began to gel. They released their first international album, Prayers on Fire, in 1981, earning critical praise in the U.K. and U.S. While the band was preparing to record the follow-up, Pew was jailed for drunk driving; former Magazine member Barry Adamson, Harry Howard, and Chris Walsh filled in for the absent Pew on 1982s Junkyard.
After the release of Junkyard, the Birthday Party fired Calvert and moved to Germany, where they began collaborating with such experimental post-punk acts like Lydia Lunch and Einstürzende Neubauten. Harvey left in the summer of 1983. The group briefly continued with drummer Des Heffner, but it soon disbanded after a final concert in Melbourne, Australia. Cave had the most successful solo career, recording a series of albums in the 80s and 90s that maintained his status as a popular cult figure; Harvey joined Caves backing band, the Bad Seeds. Howard joined Crime & the City Solution, which also featured his brother Harry and Harvey.