Grinderman Makes Rare, Powerful Appearance

Nick Cave has made a career of sticking to his guns. He has certainly changed musical direction, band members, and hairstyles since his first howls with The Birthday Party, but his unique vision and determination remain.

Grinderman is another fine example of Cave’s adherence to doing it his way and doing it well (one reason you won’t see them in your hometown any time soon). Given that the group is comprised of some stray Bad Seeds, it’s no surprise that they have already found their footing as a band.

The group’s self-titled song, “Grinderman,” opened a set at Chicago’s Metro on Wednesday with a small arsenal of percussion before the wild stomp of “Get It On” and “Depth Charge Ethel.” Cave commanded the stage like some kind of untamed beast throughout the evening, switching almost at whim between organ, stage-edge theatrics, and yes, electric guitar.

He and violinist Warren Ellis (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dirty Three) kicked up deafening sheets of noise and feedback, taking the primal assault of the record even further.”No Pussy Blues” was the highlight, a two-chord, Stooges-style, can’t-get-laid ditty that erupted into furious white noise for its chorus with the newly mustachioed Cave raving over the top of it all.

Grinderman’s hold on the audience was so great that half of it could have been eviscerated and left in a giant quivering pile, and the survivors wouldn’t have noticed. When they finally ran out of powerful Grinderman material, the crowd was treated to a few Bad Seeds tunes, including “Red Right Hand,” and “The Lyre Of Orpheus,” all benefiting from this stripped-down setting. Five thumbs up.

- Mike McGovern

Grinderman: “Grinderman”