Since crawling out of the devil's hole in the early 1980s as the enfant terrible frontman of the cult Australian band The Birthday Party, and then spending almost 20 years as a self-destructive heroin addict, he has nevertheless developed a creative work ethic that apparently knows no bounds. As a singer, writer and actor, he's become the classic all-arounder.

Cave broke new ground last year by writing the screenplay for The Proposition, declared by some as Australia's first real blood-and-guts Western. It's a film Cave thought would never see the bleak light of day.

He's already at work on a follow-up titled Death of a Ladies' Man, a British sex romp. The main character is a sex-addicted man who sells beauty products for a living in Brighton, England, where Cave is currently domiciled with his wife and twin sons.

Films aside, Cave continues to fine-hone his musical oeuvre with a rock pendulum that swings between gutsy raw blues and post-punk madness. And despite the departure of Blixa Bargeld last year, there's a new Bad Seeds album in the pipeline.

It was wild tales of death, betrayal and religious redemption that held earlier albums like Tender Prey and Kicking Against The Pricks together, but now Cave is far more interested in writing from a personal perspective.

"I look back on things and the songs that I prefer are the songs that seem to remind me of things that have happened in my life," he reflects, "In my back catalog of songs, these are the ones that I'm most proud of and most close to."

Cave's forthcoming Prague appearance has been billed as a solo event, but the term is used loosely. Keeping him company and adding a touch of neurosis around his piano will be Martyn P. Casey (bass), Warren Ellis (violin/mandolin) and Jim Schauvnos (drums).

"I like to keep some concerts very down in regards to pace and volume," Cave says. "But at the same time I would miss rockin' 'n' rollin', so I do some concerts acoustically and other concerts in the normal fashion."