I still remember seeing Flowers at the Stardust Hotel in Cabramatta around 1979. They were brilliant yet their best was still to come. Flowers became Icehouse in 1981 to avoid problems with a Scottish band by the name of The Flowers. The project that became Icehouse was driven essentially by Iva Davies who remains the sole original member. He was a classically trained Oboe player who turned out to be a brilliant pop song writer and performer.
About
Icehouse is an Australian rock band, formed as Flowers in 1977 in Sydney. Initially known in Australia for their pub rock style, they later achieved mainstream success utilising synthpop and attained Top Ten singles chart success in both Europe and the U.S. The mainstay of both Flowers and Icehouse has been Iva Davies (singer-songwriter, record producer, guitar, bass, keyboards, oboe) supplying additional musicians as required. The name Icehouse, which was adopted in 1981, comes from an old, cold flat Davies lived in and the strange building across the road populated by itinerant people.
Davies and Icehouse extended the use of synthesizers particularly the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (“Love in Motion”, 1981), Linn drum machine (“Hey Little Girl”, 1982) and Fairlight CMI (Razorback trailer, 1983) in Australian popular music. Their best known singles on the Australian charts were “Great Southern Land”, “Hey Little Girl”, “Crazy”, “Electric Blue” and “My Obsession”; with Top Five albums being Icehouse (1980, as Flowers), Primitive Man (1982) and Man of Colours (1987).
Icehouse’s iconic status was acknowledged when they were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 16 August 2006. ARIA described Icehouse as “one of the most successful Australian bands of the eighties and nineties… With an uncompromising approach to music production they created songs that ranged from pure pop escapism to edgy, lavish synthesised pieces…” Icehouse has produced eight Top Ten albums and twenty Top Forty singles in Australia, multiple top ten hits in Europe and North America and album sales of over 28 times Platinum in Australasia alone. As of 2006, Man of Colours was still the highest selling album in Australia by an Australian band.
From Wikipedia
Members
- Iva Davies (1977–current) : lead vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, oboe
- Keith Welsh (1977–1981) : bass guitar, backing vocals
- Don Brown (1977–1979) : drums
- Michael Hoste (1977, 1982–1983) : keyboards
- Anthony Smith (aka Adam Hall) (1977–1982) : keyboards
- John Lloyd (1979–1984) : drums, percussion, backing vocals
- Bob Kretschmer (1982–1989) : guitars, backing vocals
- Guy Pratt (1982–1986) : bass guitar, backing vocals
- Andy Qunta (1982–1988) : keyboards, backing vocals
- Glenn Krawczyk (1986) : bass guitar
- Simon Lloyd (1986–1991) : saxophone, trumpet, keyboards
- Steve Morgan (1986–2004) : bass guitar
- Paul Wheeler (1986–2004) : drums, percussion
- Roger Mason (1989–1990) : keyboard
- Paul Gildea (1990–2004, 2007) : guitars
- Tony Llewellyn (1991–2004) : keyboards
- David Chapman (1993–1995) : guitars
- Max Lambert (1995) : piano
- Adrian Wallis (1995–2004) : cello
- Steve Bull (2007) : bass guitar
- Peter Maslen (2007) : drums
- Glen Reither (2007) : keyboards, saxophone
Video
Check out this awesome clip of a modern day version of Icehouse playing outside Parliament House, Canberra on Australia Day 2005. The guitarist is a guy called Paul Gildea who I had the pleasure of touring with in about 1992 with Rick Price. He’s a brilliant player and a damn nice bloke.
Albums
- Icehouse 1980
- Primitive Man 1982
(aka Love In Motion UK 1983) - Sidewalk 1984
- Measure for Measure 1986
- Man of Colours 1987
- Code Blue 1990
- Big Wheel 1993
- The Berlin Tapes 1995
Known Gigs as Flowers
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 25/04/79 | Flowers in Sydney | Civic Hotel |
| + Yound Modern | ||
| 01/12/79 | Flowers in Edensor Park | Marconi Club |
| +The Angels, Cold Chisel, Dave Warner, The Hitmen, Rose Tattoo | ||
| 11/04/80 | Flowers in Sydney | Stagedoor Tavern |
| + Swanee & INXS | ||
| 07/09/80 | Flowers in Sydney | Capitol Theatre |
| 17/11/80 | Flowers in Bexley North | Bexley North Hotel |
| + The Church | ||
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I saw Flowers at the Paris Theatre (knocked down to make way for the Connaught) when I was 13.
I remember seeing them many times at the stagedoor taven which was under a tall office block opposite the park near eddy ave in sydney.Before they went all pop and sync they used to play a lot of punk rock covers.Iva was dressed all in black with a black Les Paul Guitar and Keith had a red rickenbacker bass. Iva used to stand in a classic legs apart rock guitarist stance and belt out the songs while Keith was jumping all over the place while playing. All the Girls used to cream themselves over Iva he just looked sooo cool!The band were shit hot and they played all the punk rock songs of the time . The joint was a small low cealinged sweatbox with exposed water pipes and not much decor. Perfect for a punk rock venue! I had some wild nights there!
I saw Flowers at Sydney Uni in 77 or 78 (flowers taped to their mike stands) & they where playing Bowie, T Rex, Ian Hunter, 801 (Eno, Manzanera) which introduced those artists to me. There was this great lead guitarist playing a gold top les paul with a brilliant command of frets & feedback. The guitarist in question (I’ve dreamed of owning my own gold top ever since) is not listed. Anybody know who I mean?
Caught Icehouse in the early 80′s at the “BARN”
in Mount Gambier SA.
Great sound and superb use of video. also a couple of old oil filled projectors.
Always great memories and hope to interveiw Iva one day
Mike
hi i love the music of the flowers how can i get all there albems from the net i am 53 you understand i grow up with them
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