13. Nick Cave & The Bad SeedsLet Love In
I went to college after I left school and it was there that I met Ashley Bates, who ended up being the drummer in Chapterhouse. Ashley’s best friend Richard was my first serious boyfriend, basically, before Neil. And we were like the three goths. Ashley and I used to hang out at his house and play music. We used to sit around on a weekend learning how to play Sisters Of Mercy songs like ‘Temple Of Love’ and ‘Alice’. We used to go to a lot of gigs up in London together, and it was Ashley that introduced me to Nick Cave’s The First Born Is Dead. I’m such a fan!
When Nick released his book, King Ink, me, Ashley and another friend went up to London because he was doing a book signing in a bookshop in Camden. And I only had enough money for my train fare to get up there, so I couldn’t buy the book to get it signed. But Ashley and our other friend had enough money for the book, so I queued up with them anyway. Our other friend brought his seven-inch of ‘Tupelo’ and I remember Nick Cave literally scratching his name across the vinyl. I remember being slightly terrified of him and awestruck and also feeling embarrassed that I didn’t have the book, which I’ve since bought.
Let Love In has got so many good songs on it. That whole period of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds was pretty epic, really. It’s such a good album. And I still love them today and still look forward to the releases. The last time I saw them live was at Brixton Academy in the 90s. Every time I’ve tried to see them since I’ve been on tour. There was one night in 2018 where we were in Amsterdam on the same night as them. They were playing the Ziggo Dome, obviously, and we were playing the Paradiso, but still couldn’t get across there because we were on stage at the same time. I haven’t seen them live since they became massive, but I’ve got very fond memories of seeing them in much smaller places.
