Grinderman Deny Plagiarism Accusation at London Gig

Nick Cave is not a man to be messed with. Surrounded by violence, menace and excitement Cave has continued to thrill audiences with an artistic consistency that eludes many of his rivals.

And here he is, fronting Grinderman -- his priapic project that runs parallel to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- at the Hammersmith Apollo on the evening of Friday, Oct. 1 and he's not happy man. Not with a crowd that laps up the band's electrifying ramalama nor with a band only too happy to dredge up an unholy row that stands up to the best of Cave's work. No, Cave is displeased with an accusation of plagiarism.

Introducing 'Palaces of Montezuma' Cave says, "You may have read that some 17-year-old kid in Dundee is trying to sue me and is claiming to have written this song. That's funny, because I wrote it for my wife."

The accusation comes from 29-year-old Frankie Duffy who claims his song, 'Grey Man,' -- supposedly written around 2004 or 2005 -- forms the basis of 'Palaces of Montezuma' which appears on 'Grinderman 2.'

Speaking to Scottish newspaper the Courier, Duffy said, "I couldn't believe it when I heard that track. It's exactly the same chords and the same hook as the intro to 'Grey Man.'

"I sat down with my guitar and played along with it and it's exactly the same A, E and B chords, which to be fair anybody could use to write a song at any time."

He continued: "It's been up on our MySpace even after Rising Signs split, and I don't know, I can't help thinking that Nick Cave was sitting in his house one night and decided to surf some unsigned bands and saw our site, saw we were split up and thought, 'I'll have that track, nobody will ever know.'"

'Grey Man' has been removed from the Rising Signs' MySpace with only a message greeting curious parties saying that the band has split up. Both the songs can be heard in the videos below.

The very active Grinderman are now continuing their campaign in Europe before heading to the US.