themode music blog / mondobongo radio: Warren Ellis

06/12/2010

Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis (born 1965) is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer, best known 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 currently lives in Paris, with his wife and two children.

Ellis was born in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. 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. 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. As of 2009 Ellis continues to perform in The Dirty Three, the Bad Seeds, and Grinderman.

Dirty Three - Horse (1996)