Nick Cave said that he was “an incomplete or unformed human being” with a narrow worldview before the death of his teenage son.
And the Bad Seeds musician said that writing about his son’s death in his upcoming memoir had helped to “strengthen his faith”.
The Australian singer-songwriter spoke to the BBC television programme Newsnight about the book – Faith, Hope and Courage. To read our review, click here.
And he touched on the death of his son Arthur Cave in 2015. Arthur was 15 when he fell off a cliff in Ovingdean.
Cave was asked whether Arthur’s death had strengthened his faith and he replied: “Yeah, I think a lot of things happened. I think the writing of the book, weirdly enough, did that.
“The book itself starts with a kind of nervousness around questions of faith and ends more firm about those sorts of things.”
Speaking more broadly about his life after Arthur’s death, he said: “I don’t know if I say this in the book – but I think after my son died, I personally think I became an actual person.
“Before that happened, I was an incomplete or unformed human being. I had a very narrow view of the world.”
Cave suffered another loss in May this year with the death of his elder son Jethro, aged 31.
He later thanked fans for their support, writing on his blogging site The Red Hand Files: “Many others have written to me about Jethro, sending condolences and kind words.
“These letters are a great source of comfort and I’d like to thank all of you for your support.”
Fashion model Jethro had previously been jailed after assaulting his mother Beau Lazenby and had schizophrenia diagnosed, according to the Guardian.
Newsnight is due to air the interview tonight (Thursday 10 November) at 10.30pm on BBC Two.
glad you promoted this interview, book and Red Hand otherwise it would have passed me by: Arthur’s grave is at St Wulfran’s Church, Ovingdean at the top field overlooking the Downland valley.