More about: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave has spoken of his gratitude for the sympathy and support extended to him and his family by fans, members the music industry and strangers on social media following the death of his son, Arthur.

His son was 15 when died after falling from a cliff near Brighton.

The accident occurred while Cave was recording Skeleton Tree, his 16th album with The Bad Seeds, and its aftermath was covered in Andrew Dominik’s stark and honest black-and-white documentary, One More Time With Feeling.

In a rare interview, Cave has spoken about his grief and how the reaction of people after watching the documentary was "monumental and amazingly helpful for me and my family", and that grieving in public "saved us".

"The goodwill we received after Arthur’s death from people who I did not know, especially through social media, people who liked my music and kind of reached out, was extraordinary," Cave told The Guardian. "The rush of emotion it unleashed in people and the way they wrote about their own sadnesses and their own griefs was monumental and amazingly helpful for me and my family."

He continued: “Initially, I thought it would be impossible to do this in the public eye. The impulse was to hide. But it turns out that being forced to grieve openly basically saved us.”

Cave and his wife, Susie Bick, have channeled their loss into their work.

"I’m just really blown away by Susie, by what she has become over this past year," said Cave of his wife. "It’s brought her out of the kind of treacle of grief that we were trapped in in a beautifully creative way.

"That’s been something inspiring and very helpful for me to see."

More about: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds