NICK CAVE - CAVE: 'MY MUSIC ISN'T RELIGIOUS'

Australian singer NICK CAVE is sick of people branding his music religious - insisting the biblical imagery he employs is merely his way of expressing himself. The Bad Seeds frontman has just released his 14th album - Dig, Lazarus, Dig! - a work which is littered with religious references. But the 50-year-old claims he deliberately tries to steer clear of religious issues and just uses the imagery as metaphors for everyday life. He says, "It ain't a religious record mate! I actually take great pains in staying away from religious matters. The thing is, biblical imagery is so entrenched in the way I write, the way I think about things, the way I see things. No matter how much I f**king lock the door, stick wet newspaper in the cracks, it leaks in. "It gets through the keyhole and down the f**king chimney. And I'm not speaking as a particularly religious person. It's just a way of expressing myself. "Look they're not religious songs. I've simply taken this character from the bible who has raised from the dead and thrown him into New York. Jesus Of The Moon is just a nifty metaphor for a sleeping woman."