Nick Cave labels Roger Waters “embarrassing” and defends playing in Israel
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(Credits: Far Out / Ian Allen / Alamy)
Nick Cave has defended his decision to play in Israel, and spoken out against those that support a cultural boycott, including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who he labelled “embarrassing”.
In 2017, Cave performed in the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv, despite criticism from the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions movement. The organisation encourages artists to boycott playing Israel due to the ongoing conflict with Palestine, and Cave also received condemnation for his decision from Waters as well as Brian Eno, who are linked to the movement.
Taking to his Red Hand Files in 2018, Cave stated that he believed “the cultural boycott of Israel is cowardly and shameful”. Six years later, the Australian musician’s thoughts on the matter remain the same despite the escalation of the conflict in the last 12 months.
More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in response to the October 7th terrorist attack by Hamas, which cost over 1,100 Israeli lives. Additionally, over two million people have been displaced from their homes with Gaza turned to rubble.
Now, in a new podcast interview with Reason, Cave has re-affirmed his position on the subject of cultural boycotts, stating, “I just feel – and I’m no friend of the government of Israel – but I just feel on some level that I find it difficult to come to terms with using my music in order to punish ordinary people because of the acts of their government. It sort of comes down to that, to some degree.”
Cave then stated his view on cultural boycotts didn’t only apply to Israel, adding, “I understand that this is a controversial thing to say, I just don’t agree with a cultural boycott, in general.”
Waters has been one of the most notable supporters of the cultural boycott of Israel along with Eno. When Cave chose to play Tel Aviv, Waters responded by saying, “Nick thinks this is about censorship of his music? What? Nick, with all due respect, your music is irrelevant to this issue, so is mine, so is Brian Eno’s, so is Beethoven’s, this isn’t about music, it’s about human rights.”
In response, Cave has now said on the duo: “These are different people. Brian Eno is a different kettle of fish to Roger Waters, I think (he) is deeply damaging to the boycott movement. It’s embarrassing. Brian Eno is a different character, he’s a thoughtful individual.”
Controversially, during a recent appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, the former Pink Floyd member denied the ruling by the United Nations that Hamas used sexual violence on October 7th. “No, they weren’t,” he maintained. “There was no evidence. You can say anything that you want, but there is no evidence.”
On August 30th, 2024, Cave released his new album, Wild God, which he is set to tour later this year around Europe and the United Kingdom. At present, the Bad Seeds leader hasn’t announced a visit to Israel as part of the run of dates.
In a three-and-a-half star review of the album, Far Out wrote: “All told, the record is largely a unique and powerful triumph. It boldly reaches for the heavens and often grabs the odd walloping fistful. However, to be entirely truthful, if in two years time the mood for a bit of Nick Cave hits his longstanding fans, the vast majority of people may well bypass Wild God in favour of Push the Sky Away, or have a good cry with Ghosteen instead.”
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