Nick Cave pens tribute to Chris Bailey of The Saints: “Australia’s greatest band”

nme.com:

Nick Cave has penned a lengthy tribute to the late Chris Bailey of Australian punk legends The Saints, whose death over the weekend was confirmed earlier this week.In the latest instalment of Cave’s Red Hand Files Q&A newsletter, a fan asked the songwriter what Bailey meant to him as a young musician in Australia.Cave opens his response by reflecting on a 1977 photo which shows Bailey collapsed on stage during a performance with the Saints in Melbourne, Cave looking on in the crowd, visibly stunned.

The photo was shot at the Tiger Room in Richmond by Rennie Ellis."Nick Cave impressed by Chris Bailey’s performance with The Saints -as well as his ability to gulp his way through a bottle of Johnny Walker during the show- at their first Melbourne gig at The Tiger Room back in 1977, as documented by Rennie Ellis." pic.twitter.com/5dbEcfQKfL— David Mennessier (@RupertPupkin__) May 21, 2018“In the photo Chris is already committed to his life as perhaps the greatest and most anarchic rock ‘n’ roll singer Australia would ever produce,” Cave writes. “Conversely, I am in that stonewashed and uncertain state between failing art school and, well, I am not quite sure what.

You can almost see the thought bubble forming above my head as an alternate plan presents itself.“In the late seventies, the Saints came down from Brisbane and tore their way through Sydney and Melbourne with their famously anarchic shows.

It is impossible to exaggerate the resulting radical galvanising effect on the Melbourne scene — these legendary performances changed the lives of so many people, myself included.“So, it is with immense sadness that we learn of Chris Bailey’s death.