Nick Cave reveals how son’s tragic death has brought him back to the church

Aussie rocker Nick Cave has revealed his life has taken a new direction amid the overwhelming grief of his son’s death.

Aussie rocker Nick Cave says the tragic death of his teenage son Arthur has brought him back to the church.

In a conversation with the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams for The Sunday Times, singer-songwriter Cave touched on the themes of grief and creativity.

Arthur, the twin brother of Earl, died aged 15 in 2015 after he fell to death from a cliff near the family’s home in England’s Brighton.

Nick Cave says his son’s death has brought him back to the church. Picture: AFP

Arthur Cave died after falling from the top of a Brighton chalk cliff.

Cave also tragically lost his eldest son Jethro Lazenby, who was found dead at the age of 30 inside the Coburg Motor Inn in Melbourne’s north last May.

Cave told the former head of the Church of England that his book Faith, Hope and Carnage had been a release for him and he had found himself returning to church.

“It allowed me to bring the scattered fragments of my thinking about religion together,” he told Dr Williams in The Sunday Times.

“I don’t feel that sudden cold panic I used to feel when I attended church.”

Cave said he was now in a position to talk openly about his faith and to be taken seriously.

Nick Cave with wife Susie at the memorial for Dame Vivienne Westwood at Southwark Cathedral last month. Picture: Getty Images

The much-loved musician with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a gig in Canberra.

The Warracknabeal-born singer-songwriter said he had long had a “fascination with Jesus”.

“It’s words like worship, gratitude, devotion grace — these words make many people feel uncomfortable but they are at the heart of it all.”

Cave told Dr Williams for The Sunday Times that the loss of his son had made him more empathetic and connected to the world.

“It became relational, a kind of vibrational feel within the world that feels like the presence of a third entity.

Nick Cave says he has had long had a “fascination with Jesus”. Picture: Getty Images

Jethro Lazenby was found dead in Melbourne last year. Picture: Getty Images

“I am part of a vast river of suffering ... it was shocking to find that my own tragedy was ‘ordinary’ on some level.

“And I felt a part of something. Someone called it, ‘the club no one wants to be in’.

“I found for the first time that I started to become a more complete, fully realised person, as opposed to a personality that was partially formed and fragmented.”

Cave told The Sunday Times that he found people were beginning to take Christian faith more seriously since the pandemic.

“On a societal level things are worse since the pandemic,” he said.