Michael John Harvey (born 29 August 1958) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Harvey has also produced and contributed to multiple recordings by different artists and released several albums and soundtracks as a solo artist.
After their final school year in 1975, Harvey, Nick Cave and Phill Calvert's band decided to continue with Tracy Pew as bassist. Greatly influenced by the punk explosion of 1976, which saw Australian bands The Saints and Radio Birdman make their first recordings and tours, The Boys Next Door, as the band was now called, began performing fast, original new wave material.[4] Harvey's guitar style was influenced by James Williamson of The Stooges and Paul Weller of The Jam. The Boys Next Door regularly played at Melbourne pubs between 1977 and 1980. Rowland S. Howard joined the band in 1978, bringing with him a chaotic feedback guitar style.
After extensive touring, recordings, and moderate success in Australia, the Boys Next Door relocated to London, England in 1980, and changed their name to The Birthday Party. Harvey's girlfriend Katy Beale followed the band to London. This period was defined by innovative and aggressive music composition, underpinned by Harvey's guitar playing. The band moved to West Berlin, Germany in 1982, but without Calvert; Harvey subsequently transitioned from guitar to drums.
Harvey and Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 1983. Harvey was principally the drummer on the band's first two albums before Thomas Wydler became a full-time member. After the departure of Barry Adamson, Harvey was primarily a bass guitarist for several years until the arrival of Martyn P. Casey in 1990 when Harvey moved back to guitar, his original instrument. In all versions of the band, Harvey also played keyboards, xylophone and other instruments as needed, and sang backing vocals.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Harvey was usually charged with the production of the recordings along with Cave, in addition to co-writing many of the band's songs and putting together most of the string arrangements and other orchestration. He was often perceived as a musical director for the band and also managed much of the band’s business affairs right up until his departure. Harvey remained with the Bad Seeds for 25 years until his last show in Perth, Australia on 20 January 2009, when he cited both professional and personal factors as reasons for leaving.[5][6] Regarding Cave, Harvey informed the media:
I'm confident Nick [Cave] will continue to be a creative force and that this is the right time to pass on my artistic and managerial role to what has become a tremendous group of people who can support him in his endeavours, both musically and organisationally.[7]
In 2010, Harvey explained further how his frustration with song arrangements strained his relationship with Cave. A desire to spend time with family was also a significant reason for his decision to leave the Bad Seeds. The split marked the end of a 36-year-long collaboration between Harvey and Cave.[8]
Harvey worked extensively with Anita Lane, Nick Cave’s muse and partner of many years, on the albums Dirty Pearl (1993) and Sex O’Clock (2001).
The Wallbangers
In 2007, the Spanish label Bang! Records released a four-track EP by Harvey's retro rock band The Wallbangers, called Kick the Drugs[9] featuring songs written by Harvey and songs he co-wrote with Tex Perkins and Loene Carmen. Harvey sang and played guitar on the recordings.
Harvey undertook his first solo tours of Europe and Australia in 2006, accompanied by fellow Bad Seeds Thomas Wydler and James Johnston, as well as Melbourne-based double bassist Rosie Westbrook. His next solo record, 2007's Two of Diamonds, was recorded with this group, as was the 2008 live album Three Sisters – Live at Bush Hall.[10]
In February 2008, Harvey and Westbrook played as a support act for PJ Harvey on her Australian tour, with both Harveys also performing on stage together. Prior to the tour, Harvey had worked extensively with PJ Harvey over a 12-year period: he was a recording musician on her albums To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire?, and co-produced the album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea in 2000.[11]
During 2008 and 2009, Harvey worked on what would be Rowland S. Howard’s last album Pop Crimes, playing drums while future collaborator J.P. Shilo provided bass and violin. The album was released just a few months before Howard succumbed to liver cancer in late 2009.
Harvey released Sketches from the Book of the Dead—the first solo album written entirely by himself—in early 2011. The 11-track album was recorded in Melbourne, between a Port Melbourne studio and his own Grace Lane music room. Harvey played most of the instruments, while Westbrook played double bass, Shilo played accordion, violin and occasional guitar, and Xanthe Waite contributed backing vocals. Harvey explained in a promotional interview that he does not perceive himself as a "songwriter" in the traditional sense, whereby the practice is: "something they [actual songwriters, as perceived by Harvey] have done historically and something they've worked on as central to what they are as an artist". He also confirmed that the opening track, "October Boy", is about Rowland S. Howard.[13]
Harvey again co-produced and recorded for PJ Harvey during the creation of her eighth studio album, Let England Shake. The 2011 release was supported by a world tour in the same year, which also included Harvey as a touring musician.[13]
Harvey's sixth solo studio album, Four (Acts of Love), was released on Mute in 2013 and included original compositions by Harvey alongside a song by PJ Harvey ("Glorious") and interpretations of The Saints’ "The Story of Love", Van Morrison’s "The Way Young Lovers Do", Exuma’s "Summertime in New York" and Roy Orbison’s "Wild Hearts (Run Out of Time)". Four (Acts of Love) was recorded at Grace Lane, North Melbourne and Atlantis Sound, Melbourne, and featured regular collaborators Westbrook on double bass and Shilo on guitar and violin.
Harvey again collaborated with PJ Harvey in early 2015, playing and singing on her album The Hope Six Demolition Project. The following year he joined PJ on tour promoting the album, which was released in April 2016.
Harvey's third installment in his project of translating Serge Gainsbourg's songs into English, Delirium Tremens, was released in 2016. The album was recorded in Melbourne with Harvey's Antipodean-based core live band. Ten songs were tracked at Birdland Studios before the project was relocated to Berlin, where a further nine songs were recorded with Toby Dammit (The Stooges, The Residents) and Bertrand Burgalat (of French label Tricatel), who was the string arranger on the first two volumes.
Harvey continued his dedication to the works of Serge Gainsbourg with Intoxicated Women, released in 2017.[14] The album focused on Gainsbourg's duets and songs from the 1960s, which he wrote specifically for renowned singers such as France Gall, Juliette Greco and Brigitte Bardot.[15] To realise the project, Harvey collaborated with a number of guest musicians: Xanthe Waite, German singer Andrea Schroeder, Jess Ribeiro, Sophia Brous, Cambodian singer Kak Channthy, Lyndelle-Jayne Spruyt, and his son Solomon Harvey.
In 2018, Harvey released the album The Fall and Rise of Edgar Bourchier and the Horrors of War in collaboration with author Christopher Richard Barker. He collaborated with Amanda Acevedo for the album Phantasmagoria in Blue, released in 2023.[16] In May 2024, Harvey released his eleventh studio album, Five Ways to Say Goodbye.[17]
Personal life
Harvey discussing drug use with Andrew McMillen
Harvey divides his time between Europe and Melbourne. He has one son with his partner, Katy Beale, who is a painter. As of 2014, the family resided in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of North Melbourne.[18]
As part of his interview with Brisbane writer Andrew McMillen for the book Talking Smack: Honest Conversations About Drugs, Harvey concluded with his perspective on illicit drug use:
Because I’ve been so surrounded by [illicit drug use], I've seen a lot of the problems that come with it. But I've also seen a lot of people, as well, who've used in different ways and not had problems. So the point about banning it across the board is that then you remove that freedom of choice of those people, too. I mean, why does alcohol remain available when other things aren't? It's not a great drug, at all.[18]
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
The Birthday Party were an Australian post-punk band, active from 1977 to 1983. The group's "bleak and noisy soundscapes," which drew irreverently on blues, free jazz, and rockabilly, provided the setting for vocalist Nick Cave's disturbing tales of violence and perversion. Their 1981 single "Release the Bats" was particularly influential on the emerging gothic scene. Despite limited commercial success, The Birthday Party's influence has been far-reaching, and they have been called "one of the darkest and most challenging post-punk groups to emerge in the early '80s."
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are a rock band formed in Melbourne in 1983 by lead vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and German guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and presently consists of Cave, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey, guitarist George Vjestica, touring keyboardist/percussionist Larry Mullins, also known as Toby Dammit, and drummers Thomas Wydler (Switzerland) and Jim Sclavunos. Described as "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward", they have released eighteen studio albums and completed numerous international tours.
James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.
Murder Ballads is the ninth studio album by the Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 5 February 1996 by Mute Records. As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details of crimes of passion.
Let Love In is the eighth studio album by the Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 18 April 1994 by Mute Records.
Kicking Against the Pricks is the third studio album released by the Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. First released in 1986, the album is a collection of Cave's interpretations of songs by other artists. The title is a reference to a biblical quote from the King James Version of the Christian Bible, Acts 26, verse 14.
Live Seeds is the first official live album by Australian post-punk band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The album was recorded live from 1992 to 1993 during various concerts throughout Europe and Australia in support of their 1992 studio album Henry's Dream. Frontman Nick Cave wanted to give the songs a raw feeling as originally intended before production problems occurred. Live Seeds includes a not previously studio-recorded track, "Plain Gold Ring", which is a cover of a song performed by Nina Simone.
Anita Louise Lane was an Australian singer-songwriter who was briefly a member of the Bad Seeds with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and collaborated with both bandmates. Lane released two solo albums, Dirty Pearl (1993) and Sex O'Clock (2001).
The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a compilation album by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 11 May 1998.
Tuff Monks were a short-lived band consisting of Nick Cave, Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard with Robert Forster, Lindy Morrison and Grant McLennan. Their only release was the 1982 7" 45 rpm single "After the Fireworks", on the Australian label, Au Go Go Records. The lead track was co-written by Cave, Forster and McLennan.
Prayers on Fire is the debut studio album by Australian rock group the Birthday Party, released on 6 April 1981 on the Missing Link label in Australia, later licensed to the 4AD label. This was the band's first full-length release on an international record label and the first after changing the group's name from the Boys Next Door to the Birthday Party. It was recorded at Armstrong's Audio Visual Studios in Melbourne and Richmond Recorders in the nearby suburb of Richmond, between December 1980 and January 1981.
Rowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the post-punk group The Birthday Party and his subsequent solo career.
Crime & the City Solution are an Australian rock band formed in late 1977 by singer-songwriter and mainstay Simon Bonney. They disbanded in 1979 leaving only bootleg recordings and demos. In late 1983, Bonney moved to London and in 1985 he formed a new version of the group which included members of the recently disbanded The Birthday Party. They eventually settled in West-Berlin and issued four albums – Room of Lights (1986), Shine (1988), The Bride Ship (1989) and Paradise Discotheque (1990) – before disbanding again in 1991. In 2012, Bonney reformed the band in Detroit with two veterans of its Berlin era and a handful of new members.
Tracy Franklin Pew was an Australian musician, and bassist for The Birthday Party. He was later a member of The Saints, and worked with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Martyn Paul Casey is an English-born Australian rock bass guitarist. He has been a member of the Triffids, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman. Casey plays either his Fender Precision Bass or Fender Jazz Bass.
Mutiny/The Bad Seed is a compilation album by the Birthday Party. It is compiled from 2 EPs, The Bad Seed recorded in October 1982, and Mutiny! recorded in April and August 1983, and both were released in 1983. The Bad Seed and Mutiny! were released as a compilation in 1989. It is written by Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard, and Tracy Pew.
Hee Haw is the second release and first EP by the Australian post-punk band the Boys Next Door. The Hee Haw EP was released in 1979 by the independent label, Missing Link Records.
Two of Diamonds is the fourth solo studio album by Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey, released on 23 April 2007 on Mute Records. The album contains both original compositions and covers and was recorded by Harvey over the course of three months in Grace Lane Studio, and later in Atlantis Sound Recording Studios, both in his native Melbourne and The Instrument Studio in London, England.
"Shivers" is a song by the Australian post-punk band the Boys Next Door, who would later become the Birthday Party. It is the tenth and final track from the band's debut studio album Door, Door, released in 1979 on Mushroom Records. It was released as the album's only single in May 1979, backed with the B-side "Dive Position".
Dirty Three are an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album Horse Stories was voted by Rolling Stone as one of the top three albums of the year. Two of their albums have peaked into the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Ocean Songs (1998) and Toward the Low Sun (2012). During their career they have spent much of their time overseas when not performing together. Turner is based in Melbourne, White lives in New York, and Ellis in Paris. Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane described them as providing a "rumbling, dynamic sound incorporated open-ended, improvisational, electric rock ... minus the jazz-rock histrionics". In October 2010, Ocean Songs was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.
↑ Melbjuz (10 January 2008). "PJ chooses Mick Harvey". Faster Louder. Faster Louder Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
↑ Niall Lucy and Chris Coughran, eds. Vagabond Holes: David McComb and The Triffids (Fremantle: Fremantle Press, 2009).
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