Nick Cave was in which band before assembling The Bad Seeds?

Nick Cave was in The Birthday Party before assembling Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The Birthday Party was an Australian post-punk band formed in Melbourne in the late 1970s. Cave was its lead vocalist, working alongside musicians including Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard and Tracy Pew. The group originally performed as The Boys Next Door before changing its name after relocating to London in 1980.

Known for abrasive performances, dark lyrics and an experimental blend of punk, blues and noise rock, The Birthday Party became an influential underground act. It released albums including Prayers on Fire and Junkyard before disbanding in 1983 after a period based in West Berlin.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds grew directly out of that breakup. Cave and Mick Harvey helped form the new project with musicians such as Blixa Bargeld and Barry Adamson. The group initially used the name Nick Cave and the Cavemen, then adopted the Bad Seeds name in 1984, drawing on The Birthday Party's final EP, The Bad Seed. That connection is why The Birthday Party is the canonical answer.