People often paint a dark picture of you. But these songs seem like your way of casting those feelings away. To me that’s ultimately optimistic.
Well, I find the whole process of writing and recording a positive thing to do. It can’t be anything else. If you want to use that language, it is an optimistic thing to do. I know I’ve written some heavy going songs in my days. And I apologize to everyone for that. But I’ve never considered them depressing.
Do you remember when music touched you in a way where you knew it would always be part of your life?
I’m still surprised that it is. It was never what I was going to do. It was just an accident. I wanted to be a painter. But through a series of accidents I ended up being a musician.
We talked earlier about how for you, it’s always about moving on to the next project.  What were you working on today?
Well, I’m writing a novel. And today I killed off the central character. I’m quite pleased about that. It was a big day for him. (laughs) He is now officially dead, which means I’m nearly finished the book.  So that’s been quite exciting.
What inspires you to write?
Everything inspires. Other peoples’ art inspires me. Everything that I see. But in the end, I work. I sit down, put my head down and I work. And inspiration doesn’t really have that much to do with it. It’s more about writing one word after the next.
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds perform at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in NYC on Oct. 4. For more information, visit nickcaveandthebadseeds.com or myspace.com/nickcaveandthebadseeds.
