In the summer of 1999, Nina Simone gave one of her final UK concerts, appearing at the Nick Cave-curated Meltdown extravaganza in the Royal Festival Hall in London. Frail, barely able to walk, she made it to the stage with great difficulty, removed a wad of gum from her mouth, stuck it on her Steinway piano and began to hammer out furious chords. Witnesses described her performance that night as simultaneously terrifying, joyous and transcendent.
Bad Seeds/Dirty Three violinist and Nick Cave's closest collaborator Warren Ellis was so blown away that when the show ended he climbed onstage, removed the gum from the piano, wrapped it in a stage towel and stashed it in a Tower Records bag.
Nina Simone died in 2002. Over time, Ellis came to think of that gum as a sort of sacred artifact. When Nick Cave texted to ask if he wanted to contribute anything to the expansive Stranger Than Kindness exhibition being mounted in Copenhagen in 2017, Ellis volunteered the gum. So began a process of veneration that required this tiny object to be put in a mould, replicated, cast in silver and gold, and placed on a plinth like a holy relic.
Four years later, Faber & Faber have published Nina Simone's Gum, Ellis's book about the creative impulse and the supernatural power of music, about objects and their fields, about artisans and crafts workers, about the bond between brothers and itinerant musicians.
Just before the book’s publication in September, myself and Warren conducted an interview via Zoom for an Irish Times feature. Only a portion of our conversation made the published piece, so I asked Warren, through Faber’s Dan Papps, if he would sanction the use of our recording as a Cursed Murphy Podcast. I’d been reluctant to use Zoom interviews throughout the Covid lockdown, but thought this exchange merited the exception. Warren gave the go-ahead, and here we are.
Some references for context.
Dan is Dan Papps, Faber editor.
Alexa is Alexa von Hirschberg, also a Faber editor
Oren is Oren Moverman, the Israeli filmmaker and screenwriter.
Marianne is Marianne Faithfull, whose album She Walks in Beauty Warren produced. Marianne fought and survived a life-threatening case of Covid-19 in 2020.
Hannah is Hannah Upritchard, the London jeweller who cast Nina Simone’s gum in silver for the Copenhagen exhibition.
Mick Geyer was a broadcaster, journalist, mentor, musical guru and friend of Warren’s and Nick Cave’s for many years.
David McComb is the late-lamented singer and songwriter with Australian cult legends The Triffids.
Matt Crosbie is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ veteran live sound engineer.
The wildlife sanctuary referred to is Ellis Park: https://www.ellispark.org.
The incident referred to towards the end of the interview pertains to Warren’s first visit to Dublin, when he was almost ejected from a trad session in O’Donoghue’s for playing the wrong reel at the right time. Or vice versa.
Huge thanks to Dan Papps and all at Faber, and to Dan Comerford for editing assistance.