When I bought my first copy of the Bible, the King James version, it was to the Old Testament that I was drawn, with its maniacal, punitive God that dealt out to His (It’s) long-suffering humanity punishments that had me drop-jawed in disbelief at the very depth of their vengefulness.

I believed in God, but I also believed that God was malign and if the Old Testament was testament to anything, it was testament to that. Evil seemed to live close to the surface of existence within it, you could smell its mad breath, see the yellow smoke curl from its many pages, hear the blood-curdling moans of despair. It was a wonderful, terrible book, and it was sacred scripture.

NickCave.it

Wangaratta will do that to you.

Happy new year, Australia.