Nick reflects on what makes The Bad Seeds authentically Australian, and why this is important.

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TRANSCRIPT

-The homecoming project, as it's called, is something that I've been mulling over for 20 years, or something, which was to get a statue made of me on a horse and put in the town of Warracknabeal where I was born. By chance, I ran into this guy 15 years ago, or something like that, called Corin Johnson, who worked on the Lady Di Memorial. The idea was to get this huge statute on the back of a ute or something like that, and drive it to Warracknabeal, and just leave it there, this gift, this active, supreme generosity, and see if they would put it in their town square.

Now, I've since found out that there is no town square in Warracknabeal. There's just a roundabout, which would be rather good, as well. And if they didn't want it, I was just going to drive it into the desert and dump it there somewhere.

[CHEERING]

Warren Ellis over there.

[GUITAR PLAYING]

Jim Sclavunos. Martin Casey, with the long hair from Perth, and Mick Harvey, over here, on the guitar.

To me, it's extremely important The Bad Seeds are seen as an Australian Enterprises overseas-- that we're an Australian band trying to put forward what I consider to be an authentic Australian voice. It's individualistic. It has a certain humor to it. And I think it is authentically Australian, just that we don't wear dust-covered boots, and flannel shirts, and look like we've crawled off the Nullabor plain, or something like that.

(SINGING) He had rat-drawn shoes and an old stetson hat. Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that. Stagger Lee. Well, there's one who kicked him  down in the ice and the snow. She said, don't you ever come back no more? Stagger Lee. Well, now, those were the last words that the barkeep said because Stag put four holes in this ---- head. Whoo! Just them in came a broad called Nellie Brown. Was known to make more money than any bitch in town.

Oh. She said, it don't look like you scored in quite a time. Why not come to my pad? It won't cost a dime. Mr. Stagger Lee. Oh, Mr. Stagger Lee.

One, two, three!

[INSTRUMENTAL RIFF]

Yeah! Thank you. Good night. Thank you very much. See you again.

[CHEERING]

Let's start that again, shall I? Edit. Clap.