Warren Ellis says he thought Ghosteen would be "the end" of collaborating with Nick Cave

In a new interview with Stereogum, Nick Cave's close collaborator Warren Ellis has discussed what it was like working on Push The Sky Away, Skeleton Tree and Ghosteen, how he met IDLES and more, and revealed that he did think at one point during the Ghosteen sessions that he may not collaborate with Cave again.

On Ghosteen, Ellis said, "Ghosteen felt like such a bold exercise, this commitment to something. I got spooked by it and I thought it was the end of our collaboration. I’d always thought in my head, “One day we’ll do something really great.” I can get very superstitious about stuff and I run on it. When we made that record, I just deep down thought to myself, “I don’t think I could ever be involved in anything this great again.” I always thought one day my aim is to make something great, and it felt like that happened. It was actually some relief to go in the studio and make Blonde, the soundtrack for Andrew Dominik’s film. And then to make Carnage was some relief. I realized it is about turning up and working and seeing what happens."

He also revealed that he "can’t imagine making another record like Ghosteen," and said, "It’s very easy to get nervous in the studio and you go towards the things that scare you, the things you don’t recognize. That’s one thing. But the other thing is following them through to the end and making some bold decisions. Like, “OK, we’re not going to have drums on this.” Try them, but we’re not. You can often see it in criticisms, too, when people can’t get their heads around something you’ve made. I find that all encouraging. I honestly don’t care what people think. Bad criticism never lands nicely. But if it’s constructive criticism… I think sometimes criticism too can show the strengths of what you’ve done. I like the fact that Ghosteen totally eschewed anything people might’ve thought the band might’ve been about."

Ellis added, "For me, it’s the only time I’ve felt that if there was every anything else in the room, it was on that record. There was something going on making that record, the two weeks making it in Malibu. They were the two best weeks of my life. I’ve got Ghosteen shuffled off in this area of, this extraordinary experience and now I just keep working. In all honesty, I did think maybe this is the end, maybe Nick and I won’t do anything after that. We don’t just get in there. We have to feel like it’s going somewhere. I always know the day it’s not working is the day we’ll stop. It was the same with Jim and Mick: We’ll do this while we think it’s vital. For me, it’s a real privilege to make music and play live. If it’s not engaging me and I’m not honoring it, then I shouldn’t be there. Let someone else do it. I want to feel like what I’m doing is worthwhile."

On working with IDLES, Ellis revealed that he met two members of the band "at a festival a few years before. I was eating a pice of blueberry pie and these two guys were sitting in the shadows. They kept looking at me and I thought, “Are they going to steal my pie?” One of them walked over and said, “Can we sit down with you?” And I was like, “Yeah,” and “Here it comes,” you know? I was hanging on to my pie for dear life."

Ellis said it "was really lovely to meet them," and explained how Joe Talbot later asked him to appear on a track, saying, ""You Australians are the only people who know how to say oi."" He added, "I got bloody stickered on the album for it. My son, he’s sort of always known what I do. But his mates were like, “That your dad on the IDLES album?” I think he suddenly thought I was cool for about two seconds. [Laughs]"

Elsewhere, the musician spoke about enjoying Lana Del Rey's Chemtrails Over The Country Club album, "half of Kanye’s new record", and how Bill Callahan is "one of the best lyric writers around."