The latest response from Cave on his The Red Hand Files site sees him answer three questions about friendship, and opens about about his bond with Warren Ellis.

After opening his response by outlining his belief about there being "three levels of friendship", Cave continued, "None of these levels are mutually exclusive and sometimes you find someone who fulfils all of these categories. If you find a friend like that, hang on to him or her. They are rare."

"Warren is such a friend," Cave wrote. "The reason why we have had such a long and productive artistic collaboration is because these three levels of friendship are firmly in place; we understand the nature of friendship and we look after the friendship itself."

He added, "When Warren and I are playing music together, we do not have to deal with the problems of an unstable relationship, or questions of status, or struggles for power. We are friends, pure and simple, and we just get on with the work at hand - two people creating something greater than the sum of its parts — the fruits of the collaboration emerging directly from the friendship itself."

Cave's latest answer comes 24 hours after he and Ellis announced their Les Panthère des Neiges score with the first track "We Are Not Alone".