13 Questions with Mick Harvey

Mick Harvey shouldn’t need any introduction, but we shall do our best for those unfamiliar with his vast and impressive body of work.

Multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer, Mick Harvey started out playing guitar with the Boys Next Door, soon to become The Birthday Party. After they imploded, he joined Crime and The City Solution and became one of the original Bad Seeds, until leaving in 2009.

After leaving Crime and the City Solution, Harvey produced two albums of the songs of Serge Gainsbourg translated into English; Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephants. He has collaborated with many artists include Rowland S Howard, Anita Lane, PJ Harvey and produced many more.

I discovered the genius of Mick when I first heard The Birthday Party and then the Bad Seeds and have remained a fan for many years. My personal favourite work of his is the 2011 album Sketches from the Book of Dead, uneasy listening at its finest.

Mick’s last release was Phantasmagoria in Blue, an album of duets in collaboration with Mexican artist Amanda Acevedo. The album contains 14 tracks sourced from existing duets, songs that previously were not duets, translations from Spanish and a sprinkling of original compositions. It’s a lush and emotional album of unusual beauty.

Five Ways to Say Goodbye, his first solo album in over 10 years, is out May 10 via Mute.

Sun 13 have asked Mick Harvey to answer 13 questions. Read on to find out more about the dangers of signing contracts, the solitary nature of songwriting and being ignored by a cat.

Mick Harvey & Amanda Acevedo Interview

1. Hello Mick. Where are you now and how are you?

Mick Harvey: “I’m at home in Melbourne. Feeling okay, finally have a couple of weeks free to catch up with domestic stuff.”

2. You’re touring your incredible recent album with Amanda Acevedo, Phantasmagoria In Blue. I was devastated to miss you in Liverpool as I had Covid. How are the shows being received?

MH: “It’s been great. The recent shows in Australia and New Zealand have been really well received. The first half of the dates we did with a band and string quartet and the second half was just Amanda and me with the string quartet so the sound became very open and subtle.

“The show you missed in Liverpool was quite different as it was the ensemble/revue type show with J.P. Shilo and the band Sometimes with Others. An amazing show but not something which showcased the Phantasmagoria in Blue album in the same way. We were really working without the string arrangements at those shows.

“They were excellent shows overall though, just a quite different to the way we are presenting those songs now.”

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3. Is there any instrument you can’t play and would like to take up?

MH: “Most instruments to be honest. And no, I’m not interested in taking up any of those. If you look at a classical orchestra I would suggest I can’t play any of those. Maybe the percussion… and, no, not the piano. Not properly.”

4. What’s been the most frustrating period of your career in music?

MH: “Probably the last year leading up to my leaving The Bad Seeds. I had to continue with the touring for that album, which I had committed to, but relations were not very good and I needed to get out of there and I wasn’t enjoying aspects of the shows either. So that was both stressful and frustrating.”

5. What do you enjoy listening to? Are there any new bands you’d recommend?

MH: “I listen to all sorts of things but I’m not the person to ask about new bands. Honestly, it’s not because I don’t hear and like some it’s just that I can’t summon up that information when asked.”

6. Are you writing your memoirs? You must have some great stories.

MH: “I am writing stuff down, yes. I have taken a break from it for about a year but will probably get back to it soon, especially if I’m not on tour as much. Any time I tell anecdotes from past events – at parties or just when they are relevant – everyone just tells me I should write it all down, so that’s what I’m doing. God only knows if it will make a decent book.”

7. If you could go back and give advice to your younger self just starting in music, what would it be?

MH: “Don’t be in two full-time bands at the same time. No… actually, that’s good advice and it’s something one should avoid and I did find myself in that position. But really, I think I’ve navigated my way through the decades pretty well, so to my younger self, nothing.

“To people starting out in music I would say, find your own voice, musically, and don’t sign anything you don’t really have to sign. Contracts are almost always designed to protect the rights of the people who drafted them.

“And copying other people’s musical styles or working inside existing genres is, in the long run, a waste of time in my opinion.”

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8. Are there any particular albums or songs that changed the way you think about music?

MH: “Many. Haha! I mean, that’s a tough question. I suspect lots of albums by my favourite artists had that impact on me but it’s hard to understand them in that way with the passage of time. They become part of the fabric of things as opposed to being actively revolutionary.

“I suspect most of those albums which had that effect had become part of my musical chemistry before I was playing music seriously so they went in by osmosis and they didn’t so much ‘change’ the way I thought as inform my journey IN to music.”

9. Are there any collaborations you’ve worked on that you feel didn’t reach their full potential? What would you do differently?

MH: “I wish the answer to that question was no, but in fact I feel the first Crime & the City Solution line-up (technically the third), with the Howard brothers didn’t achieve what we were hoping it might, artistically speaking. The second line-up (the fourth) in Berlin with Alex Hacke, et al was very satisfying though.

“Not sure there is anything one can do differently about collaborations and where they go. You simply have to buy into the idea and immerse yourself in the process.

“One needs the benefit of hindsight to see what could or should have been different.”

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10. Can you share the story behind one of your favourite songs that you’ve written?

MH: “There’s not really many ‘stories’ to be honest. Mostly writing songs is, for me, a private, solitary undertaking. I have recently had occasion to describe writing Deep in the Woods with Nick [Cave] in the back of a tour van driving back to Berlin but that is more to do with the background problems it reveals to do with Nick and Rowland’s relationship and the fact that I don’t enjoy that process – writing together with someone. To me writing and composition are an individual, private pursuit.”

11. What’s the most meaningful fan interaction you’ve received, and why did it resonate with you?

MH: “Obviously this has to be Amanda. I struck up a communication with her when she was a seventeen year old fan from Mexico and we ended up making an album together and have become great friends. She has been making and/or editing all my recent videos and we are planning lots of future collaborations. Meaningful and resonant without doubt.”

12. You have a beautiful Burmese cat called Misha who appears on your Instagram often. Are you his favourite person? Or does he ignore you when you come back from tour?

MH: “He likes all the family equally but with different specific uses. And yes, he does ignore me and look at me sideways for a short time after I return from a trip away.”

13. Is there anything else you would like to add?

MH: “Not to question 13, no.”

“Listen to When We Were Beautiful & Young – Harvey’s tender, reflective, and deeply poignant exploration of youth – and watch the accompanying video, a journey through highlights of a career that began nearly 50 years ago in Melbourne: