In January 1985, 19-year-old journalist Antonella Gambotto-Burke interviewed Nick Cave in the early hours of the morning on a houseboat moored at the Chelsea Embankment in London. Just before the interview, Cave disappeared into the bathroom only to emerge with blood dripping down his arm. Gambotto-Burke recorded every detail of his incapacitation. The resulting story made rock journalism history. Enraged on reading it, Cave threatened to kill Gambotto-Burke and publicly stated that she had sought to have sexual relations with him. As Gambotto-Burke had the interview tape in which Cave's belligerent incoherence could clearly be heard, the paper was forced to issue an apology. Her editor Mick Mercer wrote a letter to the paper which was published on June 8, 1985: "I heard the tape and have yet to recover fully ... the piece eventually stated what other writers hadn't been brave enough to write. So what's the problem? Little Nick whittles his woodenly creative brain and makes sly insinuations about Antonella hauling in the bunk beds, anxious for the earth to move ... Cave dribbling in one corner ... Up yours, sincerely, Mick Mercer." Frustrated, Cave then wrote a song about her ("Scum"), resurrecting the sexual slurs. In print, Gambotto-Burke retorted, "In your dreams."
The interview continues to be cited by Cave's biographers with varying degrees of accuracy.
Length: 2800 words.
The interview continues to be cited by Cave's biographers with varying degrees of accuracy.
Length: 2800 words.
