The story of The Birthday Party has been chronicled in the first authorized documentary of the post-punk band in Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party, out September 1.
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All the art, punk, and noise-rock crafted by The Birthday Party’s Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey, Phill Calvert, and Tracy Pew, is retold by surviving members of the band, along with previously unseen live footage from the band’s archives and interspersed animation.
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Directed by Ian White and executive produced by Harvey and a friend of the band, German director Wim Wenders, Mutiny In Heaven features interviews with Cave, Harvey, and Phil Calvert, along with archived footage of the late guitarist Rowland S. Howard, who died in 2009; original bassist Pew also died in 1986.
“Through irreverent animation and never-before-seen raw live footage from the band’s personal archives, the film captures the band’s twisted psychological and physical self-destruction, and the viewer has a front-row seat to the detonation,” reads a descriptor of the film. “It is a twisted tale of the epic struggle of musicians who honed their distinctive sound amidst countless live shows while conjuring a spell of menace and violence until it destroyed the band.”
The first excerpt from the film, A Monstrous Beast Live, showcases the rawness and depravity released by the band on stage.
“We really stumbled onto something completely unique,” said Cave of the band, “and it was just fucking crazy.”
Debuting in theaters on September 1, and coinciding with Nick Cave’s North American tour, the film will run in more than 55 screenings across 45 cities through October and will be available by video on demand in the U.S. later in the year.
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Originally emerging from Melbourne, Australia before relocating to Europe by the early ’80s, the origins of The Birthday Party go back to 1973 when Cave started covering songs by Lou Reed, Alex Harvey, and Roxy Music with classmates Harvey and Calvert at Caulfield Grammar School. They eventually added on bassist Tracy Pew, and guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Rowland S. Howard would join in 1978.
The assorted bunch called themselves The Boys Next Door and released their debut, Door, Door, in 1979. When the band later moved to London, they changed their name to The Birthday Party and released their self-titled debut in 1980, along with two more albums — Prayers on Fire and Junkyard — before disbanding in 1983.
Watch the full trailer for Mutiny in Heaven below.
Photo: Michel Lawrence / Courtesy of Shore Fire Media
