In May, Nick Cave experienced the unfathomable when his 31-year-old son Jethro Lazenby died seven years after his son Arthur died at the young age of 15.
The singer-songwriter opened up about how he's been processing the grief in a new interview with The New York Times. “I think grieving people are conscious of the sell-by date of their own misery,” Cave said. “But in respect to Arthur and Jethro, I can’t wipe my hands and say, ‘OK, now I’m moving on.’”
Sadly, dealing with Jethro's death is familiar territory for the 64-year-old musician, and because of that he knows there's a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how long that tunnel may be. “I don’t know how to say this, really, but I do know there’s a way out," he explained. "The terrifying thing about when Arthur died was that it felt like, How could this feeling ever be any different? I don’t want everything I talk about and everything I am to revolve around these losses, but I feel compelled to let people in the same situation of grief know…that there is a way out.”
He also credited going on tour with helping him cope. “The concerts that I did following that, too — the care from the audience saved me. I was helped hugely by my audience, and when I play now, I feel like that’s giving something back," Cave said. "What I’m doing artistically is entirely repaying a debt. It’s — my other son has died. It’s difficult to talk about, but the concerts themselves and this act of mutual support saves me. People say, How can you go on tour? But for me it’s the other way around. How could I not?”