# The Birthday Party (band)
**The Birthday Party** were an Australian post-punk band, active until 1983, formed in Melbourne by schoolfriends who had first played together as **The Boys Next Door**. The core lineup was [Nick Cave](https://www.edgepedia.org/nick-cave) (vocals), [Mick Harvey](https://www.edgepedia.org/mick-harvey) (guitar, keyboards, drums), Rowland S. Howard (guitar), Tracy Pew (bass), and Phill Calvert (drums). After relocating to London in 1980 the band developed a ferocious, confrontational sound that the British press described as "one of the most violent bands in Britain", and its members went on to found or shape groups including [Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds](https://www.edgepedia.org/nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds), These Immortal Souls, and Crime and the City Solution.[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) • [2](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/mutiny-in-heaven-film-review-nick-cave-early-band/103014008) • [3](https://rowland-s-howard.com/articles/1999-rip-it-up.php)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin | Formed in Melbourne as The Boys Next Door; sources give 1973 (ABC) and 1978 (Western Australian Museum) for the founding[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) • [4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) |
| Renaming | After a farewell Boys Next Door show at the Seaview Ballroom, Melbourne, on 16 February 1980, the band flew to London and took the name The Birthday Party[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) |
| Studio albums | *The Birthday Party* (1980), *Prayers on Fire* (1981), *Junkyard* (1982); EPs *The Bad Seed* and *Mutiny*[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) • [5](https://www.clintonwalker.com.au/cultural-seeds.html) |
| Reputation | Raucous, confronting live shows led the press to dub them "one of the most violent bands in Britain"[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) |
| End | Relocated to West Berlin in 1982; final recording made in 1983; the band disintegrated in West Berlin that year[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) |
| Aftermath | Nick Cave and Mick Harvey formed the Bad Seeds, whose first album *From Her to Eternity* appeared in 1984[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) |
| Documentary | *Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party* received wider Australian release in October and November 2023[2](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/mutiny-in-heaven-film-review-nick-cave-early-band/103014008) |
## Origins as The Boys Next Door
The group began in Melbourne, where schoolfriends Nick Cave and Mick Harvey were joined by Tracy Pew, Philip Calvert and, later, Rowland S. Howard.[6](https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.58/the-boys-next-door) The ABC dates the formation to 1973, while the Western Australian Museum's Nick Cave exhibition history states that The Boys Next Door were formed in Melbourne in 1978; both accounts agree on the city and the eventual membership.[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) • [4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) As The Boys Next Door the band occupied a regular spot at the Crystal Ballroom in Melbourne, played a Melbourne scene where new wave and punk met pub rock traditions, and attracted loyal fans along with the ire of critics.[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history)
Their early repertoire leaned heavily on covers of [David Bowie](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-bowie), Lou Reed, Roxy Music, Alice Cooper, and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.[7](https://www.compendium-musicum.com/post/the-birthday-party) Their first single, "These Boots Are Made for Walking", was released in 1978 and the album *Door, Door* appeared the following year.[6](https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.58/the-boys-next-door) Manager Keith Glass connected the band with [Michael Gudinski](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-gudinski)'s Mushroom Records, which released *Door, Door* in 1979; after the single "Shivers" was banned from the TV show [Countdown](https://www.edgepedia.org/countdown) for mentioning suicide, the label dropped the band.[8](https://soapunk.org/ws/media-library/c9f67ee095b848019b33020e9532b15f/the-birthday-party-and-the-scientists-nihilism-suburbia-and-the-importance-of-class.pdf)
## London and the new name
On 16 February 1980 the band played a farewell performance at the Seaview Ballroom before setting off for London, where they renamed themselves [The Birthday Party](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-birthday-party-play).[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) The transition album, 1980's *The Birthday Party*, was credited to both names, with some copies released with the band name omitted; it moved away from the new-wave pop-punk style of *Door, Door* toward the dark, chaotic post-punk sound the group became known for.[6](https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.58/the-boys-next-door) By the time of *Junkyard* in 1982 the band, along with co-songwriter [Anita Lane](https://www.edgepedia.org/anita-lane), had been in England for two years.[9](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-birthday-party-junkyard/)
**Sound and reputation.** The band's ferocious style combined depravity, absurdity, and the primitive, and their live shows were often confronting and disturbing.[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) Critics placed the group in a self-conscious [High Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/high-art) tradition of nihilism going back to Dada; the members came from middle-class Melbourne, which helped them integrate into the alternative rock scene.[10](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0725513618755776) The UK press initially embraced them: a 1981 NME profile invoked the dramatist [Antonin Artaud](https://www.edgepedia.org/antonin-artaud), and a later review declared "the Birthday Party are awful. Subversively awful. Awesomely great. Awesomely brilliant."[9](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-birthday-party-junkyard/) The band's relationship with that press was complicated; they performed annoyed disinterest in interviews, and Howard complained that acclaim back in Australia made the group's contrarian purpose pointless.[9](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-birthday-party-junkyard/)
## Recordings
Keith Glass's independent label Missing Link released all three of the studio albums made after the relocation: *The Birthday Party* (1980), *Prayers on Fire* (1981), and *Junkyard* (1982), along with the posthumous live album *It's Still Living* (1985).[8](https://soapunk.org/ws/media-library/c9f67ee095b848019b33020e9532b15f/the-birthday-party-and-the-scientists-nihilism-suburbia-and-the-importance-of-class.pdf) *Prayers on Fire*, recorded in December 1980 and January 1981 at A.A.V. Studio 2 and Richmond Recorders in Melbourne, runs 42:09.[11](https://www.allmusic.com/album/prayers-on-fire-mw0000196627) *Junkyard*, whose title references heroin, was produced in part by Tony Cohen, who had worked on the Boys Next Door/first Birthday Party album, and Richard Mazda, who had worked on early Fall tracks; Pitchfork lists its label as 4AD.[9](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-birthday-party-junkyard/) The band also recorded the EPs *The Bad Seed* and *Mutiny*, the former described as the Birthday Party's penultimate distillation.[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) • [5](https://www.clintonwalker.com.au/cultural-seeds.html)
The band made only one music video in its six-year lifespan: "Nick the Stripper", a cut from *Prayers on Fire*, directed by Paul Goldman. The 1981 shoot at a Melbourne garbage dump in Hawthorn invited attendees to "come dressed for a New Year's Eve party in HELL" and featured pigs' heads on sticks, a live goat, and open flames.[2](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/mutiny-in-heaven-film-review-nick-cave-early-band/103014008)
## West Berlin and breakup
In 1982 the members relocated to [West Berlin](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-berlin), where they began collaborating with other musicians, including Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten, who later became a founding member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) The band made its final recording in 1983, and Cave described a double EP begun in Berlin as "the last project for quite a long time for The Birthday Party".[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history) • [12](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1983/NME-1983-06-18.pdf) The band disintegrated in West Berlin in 1983; their last recording, *Mutiny*, is held to be the definitive expression of their art.[6](https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.58/the-boys-next-door) When the band was breaking up, Cave dismissed the Birthday Party as "trash" and "utter rubbish".[9](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-birthday-party-junkyard/)
## Legacy
The group's influence outlasted its six-year run. Albums and EPs including *Junkyard*, *Prayers on Fire*, *Mutiny!*, and *The Bad Seed* influenced bands in both the UK and Australia, and the band launched the careers of Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey, and Nick Cave.[1](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698) A retrospective account credits the band with a powerful influence on underground and alternative acts that followed, naming [Sonic Youth](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonic-youth), The Jesus Lizard, Mudhoney, Bikini Kill, PJ Harvey, and The Dirty Three among them.[3](https://rowland-s-howard.com/articles/1999-rip-it-up.php) Cave and Harvey formed the Bad Seeds, releasing *[From Her to Eternity](https://www.edgepedia.org/from-her-to-eternity)* in 1984 with a lineup that also included Bargeld, Barry Adamson, and Hugo Race.[4](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history)
Two members died young: bassist Tracy Pew in 1986, and guitarist Rowland S. Howard in 2009, whose recorded interviews served as the springboard for the 2023 documentary *Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party*, directed by Ian White.[2](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/mutiny-in-heaven-film-review-nick-cave-early-band/103014008) The film draws on archival footage and animated sequences adapted from Reinhard Kleist's drawings, and tells the band's story largely through the former members themselves.[2](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/mutiny-in-heaven-film-review-nick-cave-early-band/103014008)
## References
1. [The Birthday Party, The J Files, ABC listen (Double J), 28 September 2023](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-j-files/birthday-party-boys-next-door-nick-cave-rowland-mick-phill-tracy/102909698)
2. [Mutiny in Heaven tells the story of Nick Cave's early post-punk band The Birthday Party, ABC News, 27 October 2023](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/mutiny-in-heaven-film-review-nick-cave-early-band/103014008)
3. [Out Of The Woods To Call, Rip It Up (1999), rowland-s-howard.com](https://rowland-s-howard.com/articles/1999-rip-it-up.php)
4. [History, Western Australian Museum, Nick Cave exhibition](https://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/nick-cave/history)
5. [Cultural Seeds, Clinton Walker](https://www.clintonwalker.com.au/cultural-seeds.html)
6. [The Boys Next Door, National Portrait Gallery of Australia](https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.58/the-boys-next-door)
7. [The Birthday Party, Compendium Musicum](https://www.compendium-musicum.com/post/the-birthday-party)
8. [The Birthday Party and The Scientists: Nihilism, suburbia, and the importance of class, Jon Stratton, Thesis Thesis 144(1), 2018](https://soapunk.org/ws/media-library/c9f67ee095b848019b33020e9532b15f/the-birthday-party-and-the-scientists-nihilism-suburbia-and-the-importance-of-class.pdf)
9. [The Birthday Party: Junkyard Album Review, Pitchfork, 6 February 2022](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-birthday-party-junkyard/)
10. [The Birthday Party and The Scientists, Jon Stratton, Thesis Eleven (journal page)](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0725513618755776)
11. [Prayers on Fire review, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/prayers-on-fire-mw0000196627)
12. [New Musical Express, 18 June 1983, page 14](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1983/NME-1983-06-18.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Rock, indie, and pop groups › Indie and alternative bands › Post-punk and new wave bands › First-wave post-punk and gothic rock*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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