17-year-old Eugenio from Rome is part of a band with which he wants to release an EP soon. Since the young singer says he lacks self-confidence, he asked Nick Cave in his blog “Red Hand Files” for some advice. He asked him what would be better – wait until he created something he was 100 percent proud of or just record and release something he already had?
Even Nick Cave once had “no idea about singing”
“I’m 17 years old and I don’t know if I want to record and release an EP that I worked on with a band with some friends of mine and that I’m very proud of as far as the instrumental part goes, but I know that my singing could be better and that I could wait a little longer to create something that I’m 100% proud of, but still I don’t want to wait any longer because we have the chance to record in a great studio and I don’t want to slow down the process. “So what should I do?” was the message from the teenager.
Nick Cave answered him and encouraged the young singer by talking about his own beginnings. It wasn’t easy for him at first either and his career was so successful not because he was talented, but because he was stubborn. He wrote: “When I started singing, I was the same age as you are now, and I had no idea how to sing. In my band, which was made up of school friends, I was generally considered the tone-deaf one. I became a singer not because I was particularly talented, but because I had the tenacity to put myself before people with nothing but flaw and bravado, and blithely condemn those who had the misfortune of hearing me . I sang and sang and sang some more because I knew singers do that.”
Cave further explained: “Eventually I found a voice that I could call my own and, most importantly, that could carry a melody. This taught me something valuable – a kind of defiant resilience in the face of the messages, mostly in my own head, that told me that my singing could be better. I toughened up and protected my vision and learned that what could be better was actually the everlasting energy that pushed me forward.”
“You have to sing!”
“If you want to be a singer, Eugenio, you have to sing and sing and sing some more. Whether you go to the studio or not when you get the chance isn’t really up for debate. It is your duty to yourself to do this. If you don’t take advantage of these opportunities to sing, you may forever be that melancholy boy looking through the window of a dream you were never confident enough to achieve, and there are few things sadder in this world than someone losing their dreams give up,” he encouraged his fan.
In order to strengthen the teenager’s self-confidence, Cave explains to him that he is not alone with his thoughts and that he once felt the same way: “Fifty years have passed since I was a boy your age – I doubted and questioned myself the same things you do now – but here I am, still singing. I’m writing to you from a studio in Western New York where I’m mixing my latest record, and as the new and beautiful songs wash around me, I feel inspired to tell you that it’s the privilege of practicing that most vulnerable of professions – being a singer – is immeasurable. And as I sit here and think about it, I can say – with no small amount of pride – that my voice has gotten pretty good, but it could still be better.”
“So are you a singer, Eugenio? Is it you? If so, then there’s really no other option – go to the studio and try it out. We are obliged to do our best to become what we want to be, otherwise we will forever remain the sad companions of our own defeat. Sing, Eugenio, sing. With love, Nick,” he ended his letter to the 17-year-old.
New music from Nick Cave
In addition to his encouraging words for the young singer, the 66-year-old recently announced that he has begun mixing the new record with his band, The Bad Seeds. He made this public on Facebook after they finished their tour. There he wrote: “I’m packing to leave Los Angeles today and then heading to Buffalo to mix the new Bad Seeds album.”
The album will be the successor to “Ghosteen,” which was released in 2019.