AN AUDIENCE WITH...
WARREN ELLIS
The Dirty Three and Bad Seeds shaman talks air-fryers, punching violins and rescuing brain-damaged monkeys
Interview by SAM RICHARDS
“Creating is about taking risks”: Warren Ellis in Paris, October 2022
JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
“Ultimately it boils down to being curious”
“I’M a bit crook,” says Warren Ellis, apologising for taking our call in bed. “I ate something and it kept me up all night.” Has he managed to identify the offending foodstuff? “No. But it definitely identified me…”
At least he has the rest of the day off, which is a rare occurrence for one of rock’s most relentless creators. He’s just finished putting together a soundtrack for a documentary about his Indonesian wildlife sanctuary Ellis Park (more of which later), to add to the new albums by Dirty Three and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds also coming this year. “I seem to always have something on the go,” he agrees. “Even my wiggle room usually gets filled up too. I just took on this film in a mad period where I’d probably not have time, but I wanted to do it. So when you add it all up, it’s probably good to spend a day in bed sometimes.”
Hot on the heels of Ellis and Cave’s acclaimed soundtrack for the Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black, the next of his records to reach us will be Dirty Three’s Love Changes Everything – the beloved Aussie instrumental outfit’s first album in 12 years.
Ellis says that despite the long gap between recordings, the trio’s telepathy remains stronger than ever. So much so, they went straight into the studio without any rehearsal or prior discussion of what kind of record they were going to make. “It felt like John Coltrane’s Ascension or something like that, where they just get in and play,”