Icehouse is a great Australian rock band which was initially formed as The Flowers in 1977 in Sydney. Their music had a pub rock style. Subsequently, they achieved national and international acclaim and commercial success with a new wave and synth-pop sound. Consequently, they became very well known overseas in Europe and North America.
Icehouse, a great Australian rock band. The third to the right is frontman and constant member Iva Davies. Image source: www.music.youtube.com
The band was initially known as The Flowers between 1977 and 1981. The band’s line-up always revolved along constant member and frontman Iva Davies. The change of the band’s name from The Flowers to Icehouse took place in 1981 and referred to the old house in which the band’s frontman once lived (as well as to a peculiar building just across the street where itinerant people lived). Without any hiatuses, their musical activity spans across five decades in time, being still active to this day.
The band is also known as Iva Davies & Icehouse. This renowned Australian music act managed to reach worldwide fame with the increased usage of several synthesisers and the Linn drum machine as part of the sound of some of their most well known songs. They achieved success in their native country, Australia, with singles such as ‘Great Southern Land’ and ‘Electric Blue’, the former being a praise for their homeland while the latter being a very beautiful romantic composition.
Code Blue, one of the most finest studio albums by Australian rock band Icehouse released in 1990. Image source: www.blogspot.com
In 2006, Icehouse was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame, being described as ‘one of the most successful bands of the eighties and nineties’. Frontman Iva Davies is a multi-instrumentalist, as aside from being the band’s lead vocalist and main songwriter, he is also the lead guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, and can also play the oboe.
Throughout their long career, the band released 8 studio albums, the first one still as The Flowers, namely Icehouse from 1980. They also won two ARIA Music Awards in 1988 for Measure for Measure, a studio album which they previously released in 1986. In addition, they also won an APRA Music Award in 1989 for ‘Electric Blue’, namely the Most Performed Australasian Popular Work, two Countdown Awards (one in 1980 and the other one in 1982) and one Mo Award in 1987 for the Rock Group of the Year.
Aside from their studio albums, Icehouse also released 3 live albums, 2 EPs, and a commending number of 41 singles. Below is a personal selection of my most favourite songs by Icehouse. I truly hope you will enjoy them as well! All the best and rock on!
- Icehouse on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- Icehouse discography on www.wikipedia.org (in English)
- The official website of the band on www.icehouse-ivadavies.com
- The YouTube channel of the band on www.youtube.com