Nick Cave: I was traumatised by bible

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds are set to return with a new album and single next year.

The band release single ’Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’ ahead of their 14th studio album on March 3, which shares the same title.

"Ever since I can remember hearing the Lazarus story, when I was a kid, you know, back in church, I was disturbed and worried by it,” explained Cave or the record’s inspiration. “Traumatised, actually. We are all, of course, in awe of the greatest of Christ's miracles - raising a man from the dead - but I couldn't help but wonder how Lazarus felt about it. As a child it gave me the creeps, to be honest.”

The new album updates the resurrected man’s story.

Cave explained: “I've taken Lazarus and stuck him in New York City, in order to give the song, a hip, contemporary feel. I was also thinking about Harry Houdini, who spent a lot of his life trying to debunk the spiritualists who were cashing in on the bereaved. He believed there was nothing going on beyond the grave. He was the second greatest escapologist, Harry was, Lazarus, of course, being the greatest. I wanted to create a kind of vehicle, a medium, for Houdini to speak to us if he so desires, you know, from beyond the grave.”

He added: “Sometimes, late at night, if you listen to the song hard enough, you can hear his voice and the sad clanking of his chains.
‘I don't know what it is but there is definitely something going on upstairs’, he seems to be saying. It is, most of all, an elegy to the New York City of the 70's."

The album was produced by the band, Cave and Nick Launay and was recorded at State Of The Ark studios in Richmond, west London during the summer.