Dear Brandon and Serge,

When I first ‘discovered my body’, let’s say, as a young man, I thought I had invented the act and went around believing I had special, secret knowledge. Eventually, I found out not only that everybody did it, but that people had been jerking off since time began – as the Book of Ecclesiastes says, “What’s done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” It took me many years to learn that my so-called original ideas were illusions born of naivety, pride, and self-importance. Whatever I thought was original or radical had already been said or done, and, indeed, said or done better. It was chastening to realise that the world had been turning long before I arrived.

Back then I thought I was remaking the world, tearing down the old and erecting something new in its place. That unwavering self-belief was electric. There was a terrifying vitality that poured out of me, that beautifully dynamic and deluded incandescent force of youth. I truly believed I was reinventing everything.

Over time, that fiery intensity ebbed away, and I realised that the past wasn’t something to discard but to respect. I began to approach the creative process with greater humility, recognising that although we draw on the wisdom of the ages, these enduring themes could be filtered through our own individual nature, allowing us to create something distinct, even if not entirely new.

And so this is good news, Serge. There may be nothing new under the sun, but it is our distinctiveness that matters, our specialness. I deal exclusively in old, well-worn ideas, but there is still no song like a Nick Cave song, or a Morrissey song, or a Prince song, or a Lana Del Ray song, a Wu-Tang song, a Cure song, a Pixies song, a Kate Bush song, a Kneecap song, or the work of infinite other artists who have found their characteristic voice. Perhaps that is the purpose of art, and indeed life – to enchant and reinvigorate the world using those timeless ideas interpreted through our own inimitable strangeness. The elements are all there, Serge, your unique self and that host of ancient ideas.

Love, Nick