Cave rocked by speed camera smash

Nick Cave and his twin 10-year-old boys were unhurt in the crash. Photo / Supplied

Musicians have been responsible for many car crashes down the years, but whether driving your Jaguar into a speed camera is quite as rock and roll as plunging a Rolls-Royce in a swimming pool is debatable.

Judging by the sheepish look on songwriter Nick Cave's face after he did just that in the English town of Hove on Wednesday, it seems he for one would answer no.

The 53-year-old Australian musician and writer, who has long been a resident of Brighton and set his last novel The Death of Bunny Munro in the city, hit the camera and a roadside barrier with his saloon car while driving along the seafront.

The metal barrier was wrecked and the camera was left leaning at a 45-degree angle, but Cave walked away from the incident unhurt, as did his 10-year-old twin sons.

Residents of the flats overlooking the road ran out to see if they could help, offering blankets for Cave and his children, who were left shocked by the accident.

Police and ambulances arrived soon after. Nobody was arrested, but Sussex Police confirmed they were looking into the incident.

It was The Who's first drummer, Keith Moon, who enhanced his rollicking reputation when he reportedly drove his luxury car into the pool outside a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan on his 21st birthday in 1967.

While the incident later inspired the cover shoot of Oasis' 1997 album Be Here Now, biographers have since cast doubt on whether the incident really happened.

Unfortunately for Cave, the many photos that captured his own incident prove his crash is in no doubt.

As the front man for two bands, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman, he is known for writing some of the most dark and violent lyrics in rock music.

In past years he also gained a reputation as once of the most fearsome interviewees around, but since he settled down with his family, his behaviour has mellowed.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "The camera belongs to the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership, not the police, and the railings belong to the local highway authority. Both agencies have been informed. Police inquiries are continuing."

- INDEPENDENT