Grinderman Break Up: Nick Cave Announces 'It's Over' at Festival Gig

Nick Cave never struck us as the sentimental type, but it was still surprising to hear how abruptly he announced that his Bad Seeds side project Grinderman are finished.

The singer broke the news at the end of the group's performance at the Meredith Music Festival in Victoria, Australia: "That's it for Grinderman. It's over," Cave said. "See you all in another 10 years when we'll be even older and uglier."

Cave originally started Grinderman in 2006 with Bad Seeds members Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martyn P. Casey and the band released its self-titled debut the following year. Showcasing a more guitar-heavy, grittier sound than the Bad Seeds' work, Grinderman's first album featured the well-received singles 'Get It On' and 'No P---y Blues.' Following the Bad Seeds' 2008 album 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!' Cave reconvened Grinderman to record 'Grinderman 2,' which was released in September 2010 and featured the single 'Heathen Child.'

The split shouldn't come as too much of a shock to Cave fans. As the Guardian points out, he told Mojo in October that "there [will] be no Grinderman 3. We're shutting it down." Cave's next project will likely be his 15th album with the Bad Seeds, of which he's the only remaining original member.

"There's something more coherent about the Bad Seeds to me," Cave told us in 2010. "The lyrics are more thought-out. The duty to the lyric on the Bad Seeds records, that I don't feel on a Grinderman record. I need some sort of semblance of order and narrative structure to a Bad Seeds song."

And for anyone who finds it hard to like Grinderman, Cave understood. "To stand in front of your peers and say 'I dig Grinderman,' it takes a certain amount of audacity, a certain amount of strength of character," he admitted.

Meantime, we'll be excited for Cave's next move, whatever it may be.