"To see The Birthday Party 'perform' during the early '80s was nothing short of witnessing the very physical extremity of rock 'n' roll, a zenith of sensation taken to the very limits of expression. The sprawl of characters gathered together on one stage was impressive in itself. There was always a discernible tension running through the crowd which would slowly build as the minutes ticked by waiting for the band. Literally anything was about to happen and what transpired during a previous concert would not be repeated. The band would bring all their pent up aggression to the stage and unleash it upon the audience and on occasion upon each other."
- Ian Johnston, Live 1981-82 sleevenotes
A reckless whirl of mutant rockabilly, black-eyed swamp-blues, outlaw imagery and stomach-churning violence (both aural and actual), The Birthday Party were one of the definitive post-punk groups, creative and destructive in equal measure.
Originally called The Boys Next Door, the band formed at Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia in the early '70s. The initial line-up was singer/lyricist Nick Cave, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey, bassist/provocateur Tracy Pew and drummer Phill Calvert. They started out performing covers - Alex Harvey Band, Alice Cooper and Lou Reed were favoured sources - but were soon galvanised into writing their own material by the nascent Aussie punk movement (notably The Saints and Radio Birdman). The Boys Next Door's development was accelerated by the addition of visionary guitarist Rowland S Howard in 1978. The following year saw the release of an album, Door Door, on local label Mushroom, but its creators felt the record failed to capture the power of their live show. The group had also grown tired of Melbourne, where they were banned from most venues and routinely hassled by the police (never one to shy from confrontation, Cave sometimes wore a T-shirt bearing the legend: "I Hate Every Cop In This Town. The Only Good Cop Is A Dead Cop").
By the start of the new decade The Boys Next Door had changed their name to The Birthday Party and moved to London. Living in poverty and squalor, they had to borrow equipment and only played ten UK shows in 1980. The second of these, at the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead, was attended by 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell. Despite a shambolic set - the band drank their rider before playing - Ivo saw them again the following month, and by the end of the summer The Birthday Party were signed to 4AD. Their first release for the label was "The Friend Catcher" 12", comprising three songs recorded back in Melbourne as The Boys Next Door.
Spending Christmas in Australia, the quintet entered the studio with engineer Tony Cohen to cut a full-length. The result was Prayers On Fire: a creepy carnival of tribal rhythms, wonky discordance and garbled surrealism, which 4AD issued in March 1981. The brass-laden lurch of "Nick The Stripper" was an obvious highlight, giving rise to a promo video filmed in a Melbourne city dump, reportedly with extras from the local insane asylum.
Returning to London, the band embarked on their first UK tour, supporting then-labelmates Bauhaus. The Birthday Party's popularity in gothic circles was further enhanced by the July release of non-LP single "Release The Bats", a howling vampire sex anthem was as humourous as it was unhinged.