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All Music Guide:
Multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey is best known for his deep roots in the tangled family tree of singer Nick Cave. Playing a pivotal role in the Cave-fronted Boys Next Door (1977-1980), Birthday Party (1980-1983), and Bad Seeds (1984 on), Harvey added intricate detail and anonymous atmospherics that gave life to the singer's ominous narratives. On-stage, in a wardrobe of dark suits, the Bad Seeds flanked Cave, responding to the singer with a choir of baritones. Their collective sound elevated his musical assaults and mournful ballads to points of breathtaking drama. On his own, Harvey made numerous contributions to the Bad Seeds' side projects and composed music for a number of independent films. He came closest to emerging from behind Cave's shadow with his two tributes to French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, Intoxicated Man (1995) and Pink Elephants (1997).
Enthralled by the newly emerging punk rock, Harvey and Cave co-founded the Boys Next Door (with Tracy Pew on bass, Phill Calvert on drums, Rowland Howard on guitar, and Harvey in various roles) in 1977. They made their recorded debut in 1978 (a cover of "These Boots Are Made for Walking") and released one full-length album (1979's Door, Door) before relocating to England in 1980. In their new home as the Birthday Party, the group landed themselves a spot on 4AD Records. The black sheep on a roster of atmospheric dream pop acts, the Birthday Party was an assault on the senses of an entirely different sort. Dark and guttural, their sound was defined by heavy bass, searing guitars, and Cave's terrifying wail. Conflicts grew between songwriters Cave and Howard, and after three years, the Birthday Party was put to rest.
Needing an outlet for his growing ambitions as a writer, Cave assembled the Bad Seeds (with Blixa Bargeld and Hugo Race on guitar, and Barry Adamson on bass) in 1983. Harvey began on drums. A talented performer and arranger, Harvey continually rose to the level of Cave's improved writing over the years. The group's 1983 debut, From Her to Eternity, was a turning point. While the title track and "Cabin Fever" used the Birthday Party template, lengthy narratives like "Saint Huck" and "A Box for Black Paul" signaled the changes ahead. Harvey joined Australia's Crime & the City Solution in 1985 for The Dangling Man EP. He would contribute to five albums under singer Simon Bonney over six years, culminating in 1990's Paradise Discotheque. By the time the Bad Seeds reconvened for Your Funeral...My Trial in 1986, all of the elements were in place. Cave turned out one of his best collections of outcast's tales and sorrowful ballads. Harvey left impressions everywhere. He built the drama of "The Carny," layering piano, organ, xylophone, and glockenspiel. Elsewhere, his guitar is the steady hand to Bargeld's fractured edges.
Using any idle time between his two day jobs, Harvey composed soundtrack music for the documentary Identy-Kid and Gisa Schleelein's Totes Geld (both 1987). This would become the pattern for Harvey as he would bide time between Bad Seeds and Crime albums with film work (Alta Marea & Vaterland collects projects from 1987-1992), production duties, and guest appearances, all the while remaining one of the few constants in the Bad Seeds' fluctuating lineup. Harvey's most significant solo work came in 1995 with Intoxicated Man, a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg. A culmination of his craft, Harvey shifted easily through a number of settings, from the rollicking tribute to American outlaws "Bonnie and Clyde" to the dripping sentimentality of "Overseas Telegram." 1997 brought greater change for the Bad Seeds as Cave wrote a group of piano-led ballads for The Boatman's Call. Harvey contributed to most songs, but the sparse and reserved material called into question the necessity of the group.
Harvey released Intoxicated Man's companion, Pink Elephants, the same year, and in 1999 curated the Bad Seeds' Best Of collection. He composed his tenth collection of film music for Andrew Dominik's Chopper, in 2000. A few years later, Harvey created the original score for Australian Rules, a 2002 film by director Paul Goldman. In 2005, Harvey resumed his solo career with One Man's Treasure. A selection of his film scores appeared as Motion Picture Music 1945-2005 from EMI in 2007, followed later in the year by a new studio album, Two of Diamonds. Harvey left the Bad Seeds in the late 2000s. He began producing records and doing session work, most notably on PJ Harvey's 2011 offering Let England Shake. He recorded his first post-Bad Seeds solo offering in late 2010. His first album of all-original material, Sketches from the Book of the Dead, was released internationally by Mute in May of 2011. Though that effort of self-penned tracks was almost universally well received, the ever-mercurial Harvey did a near about face for his next offering. Featuring a well-chosen selection of covers interspersed with his own brief interludes and songs, Four (Acts of Love) was a cycle concerning the nature of romance and its power in the human experience. It was released in June of 2013.
Wikipedia:
Michael John Harvey (born 29 August 1958) is an Australian rock 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.
Biography[edit]
Born in rural Victoria, Harvey moved to the suburbs of Melbourne in his childhood. His father was a Church of England Vicar and the family lived adjacent to the church, first in Ormond then later Ashburton. Harvey sang in the church choir from an early age. Harvey, his elder brother Philip and younger brother Sebastian all attended the private boys school Caulfield Grammar School. It was at school in the early 1970s that Harvey met fellow students Nick Cave, Phill Calvert and Tracy Pew. A rock group was formed with Cave (vocals), Harvey (guitar), Calvert (drums) and other students on guitar, bass and saxophone. The band played at parties and school functions with a mixed pre-punk repertoire of Lou Reed, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, among others. Harvey was also a member of the school choir (conducted by actor Norman Kaye), and took extracurricular lessons from jazz guitarist Bruce Clarke.
The Birthday Party[edit]
After their final school year in 1975 the band decided to continue with friend Tracy Pew picking up the bass. Greatly affected by the punk explosion of 1976 which saw Australian bands The Saints and Radio Birdman making their first recordings and tours, The Boys Next Door, as Harvey's band were now called, began performing fast original New Wave material, with Harvey's guitar style influenced by James Williamson of The Stooges and Paul Weller of The Jam and regularly playing pubs from 1977-1980. Rowland S. Howard joined in 1978, bringing a chaotic feedback guitar style to the band.
After recordings and moderate success in Australia (including hundreds of live performances) they headed for London in 1980, changing their name to The Birthday Party and launching into a period of innovative and aggressive music-making, underpinned by Harvey's concise guitar playing. Harvey also composed a good deal of the band's material in the latter days of their career.
Crime & The Bad Seeds[edit]
Harvey's girlfriend Katy Beale followed to London, then the band moved to West Berlin in 1982, minus Calvert. Harvey moved from guitar to drums. After the breakup of The Birthday Party, Harvey stayed in Berlin and contacted his friend Simon Bonney. Together they reformed Bonney's old Australian band Crime & the City Solution with Rowland S. Howard, Harry Howard (bass) and Epic Soundtracks (drums), these 3 went on to form the basis of These Immortal Souls a couple of years later. Harvey and Cave formed Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds in 1983, who survive to this day. He left The Bad Seeds on 22 January 2009 citing professional and personal reasons. Harvey later stated that his reasons included his frustration with song arrangements, strained relationships with Cave and a desire to spend time with family. The split marked the end of a 36 year long collaboration between Harvey and Cave.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
Solo[edit]
After Bonney left Crime & the City Solution for a solo career in the U.S., Harvey recorded two solo CDs of Serge Gainsbourg songs, translated from French into English: Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephants. He has also collaborated with UK rock musician PJ Harvey (no relation), and produced other Australian artists including Anita Lane, Robert Forster, Conway Savage and Rowland S. Howard. Harvey's third solo release One Man's Treasure was issued in September 2005.
In 2006 Harvey undertook his first 'solo' tours of Europe and Australia accompanied by fellow Bad Seeds Thomas Wydler and James Johnston, plus 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.
In February 2008 Harvey and Westbrook played as a support act for PJ Harvey on her Australian tour, with Mick also sitting in with PJ.
In 2008 and 2009, Harvey joined the five remaining members of The Triffids for a series of performances at the Sydney Festival, Melbourne Arts Centre and Perth International Arts Festival celebrating the music and the memory of David McComb. Harvey is also a contributor to the 2009 rock biography on The Triffids Vagabond Holes: David McComb and the Triffids, edited by Australian academics Niall Lucy and Chris Coughran.
Harvey now splits his time between Europe and Melbourne. He has one son with his partner, the painter Katrina (Katy) Beale.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
The Wallbangers[edit]
In 2007 the Spanish label Bang! Records released a four-track EP by Harvey's retro rock band The Wallbangers, featuring songs written by Harvey, and also with co-writers Tex Perkins, Loene Carmen. Harvey sings and plays guitars, with a return to his James Williamson-influenced approach. Drums are credited to "Rocky Features" (a Harvey pseudonym), and bass to "Rod Bottoms". A press release stated this was "Rocky Features" first recording since 1982's Honeymoon in Red, which was released with pseudonymous credits for Harvey's contributions (but not the pseudonym "Rocky Features").
