Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis, 2006
Background information
Born	1965 Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Instruments	Violin, piano, bouzouki, guitar, flute, mandolin
Labels	Anchor & Hope Bella Union
Associated acts	Dirty Three Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Grinderman

Warren Ellis (born 1965) is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer, most famous for his work with Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman and his soundtrack scores with Nick Cave. He plays violin, piano, bouzouki, guitar, flute and mandolin. Ellis is also known for his excessive and eccentric, though amusing banter between songs during Dirty Three live shows.

Ellis now performs with Grinderman, along with fellow Bad Seeds, Nick Cave, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos and currently lives in Paris, with his wife and two children.

Life and career

Ellis was born in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. In the early 1980s, Ellis moved from Ballarat, in regional Victoria, to Melbourne, and completed a Diploma of Education in Music and English; studied classical violin, traveled, busked, and performed chamber music. He spent a few years teaching in secondary schools before resigning; wrote music for theatre groups and performed at art openings and plays in Melbourne and then begun playing with Melbourne bands. Before forming in 1992, the Dirty Three, with Jim White and Mick Turner, Ellis played with several groups and individuals: Paranoid; the Nursing Mothers; The Slub, which also included Mick Turner; These Future Kings, Charlie Marshall & The Body Electric, The Blackeyed Susans, and Dave McComb of The Triffids.

In 1995, Ellis was invited to play with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on a recording; he remained with the band and continues to play and record with the Bad Seeds, and Grinderman, formed as a spin-off group from the Bad Seeds, who have released two albums and will release their third in 2010. In 2002, Ellis released a solo album on King Crab records called Three Pieces for Violin. Since 2005 he has played on several Marianne Faithfull albums, and collaborated with Nick Cave exclusively; the two composed the award-winning score of the film The Proposition, and then collaborated again on the score of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. In 2009, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis released White Lunar - an album that includes other soundtrack scores.

Ellis has appeared on the front cover of the first issue of popular London fanzine The Freaky Jason, and was photographed for Scott Schuman's, the Satorialist.

As of 2009 Ellis continues to perform in The Dirty Three, the Bad Seeds, and Grinderman.

Collaborations/as a band member:

• The Blackeyed Susans' album All Souls Alive
• David McComb's album Love of Will
• "Hell's Coming Down" from the album Riot City Blues, with Primal Scream.
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford soundtrack, with Nick Cave.
• The Proposition soundtrack, with Nick Cave.
• Soundtrack to Woyzeck, adaptation by Gísli Örn Gardarsson, with Nick Cave.
• "Crazy Love" by Marianne Faithfull/Nick Cave, with Isabelle Huppert.
• Also performed with the Chicago burlesque queen Maya Sinstress in early 2000.
• The English Surgeon soundtrack, with Nick Cave.
• The Road soundtrack, with Nick Cave.
• The Girls of Phnom Penh soundtrack, with Nick Cave.

Awards

• 2005 AFI Awards: Best Original Music Score (The Proposition)
• 2005 Inside Film Awards: Best Music (The Proposition)
• 2005 Film Critics Circle Of Australia Awards: Best Musical Score (The Proposition)

External links

• The Dirty Three
• Nick Cave official site
• Grinderman official site
• Josh T Pearson interviews Warren Ellis