Icehouse

Icehouse is an Australian rock ^{Rock music} band, formed as Flowers in 1977 in Sydney. Initially known in Australia for their pub rock ^{Pub rock (Australia)} style, they later achieved mainstream success playing new wave ^{new wave music} and synthpop style music 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 ^{Lead guitar} , bass ^{Bass guitar} , keyboards ^{Keyboard instrument} , 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 ^{Love in Motion (Icehouse song)} ", 1981), Linn drum machine ^{Linn LM-1} ("Hey Little Girl", 1982) and Fairlight CMI (Razorback ^{Razorback (film)} trailer, 1983) in Australian popular music. Their best known singles on the Australian charts were "Great Southern Land", "Hey Little Girl", "Crazy", "Electric Blue ^{Electric Blue (song)} " and "My Obsession"; with Top Five albums being Icehouse ^{Icehouse (album)} (1980, as Flowers), Primitive Man ^{Primitive Man (album)} (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 ^{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.

  Flowers were formed in Sydney in 1977 ^{1977 in music} by Iva Davies (vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, oboe), a classically trained musician, and their main creative force; with bass ^{bass guitar} player Keith Welsh. Additional musicians used by Flowers in 1978 were Michael Hoste on keyboards and Don Brown on drums ^{Drum kit} . which hit the Australian Top 10 in June 1980. and Davies, They were also nominated for 'Best Album' and 'Best Album Cover' for Icehouse but lost on both to Cold Chisel's East ^{East (album)} , Iva Davies was nominated as 'Best Songwriter' but lost to Cold Chisel's Don Walker ^{Don Walker (musician)} . Their last performance under the name Flowers was on 27 June 1981 at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, they chose the name of their album to become known as Icehouse.As Icehouse, the band spent the second half of 1981 touring the UK, Canada and U.S.; whilst Chrysalis released most of their Flowers material under the name Icehouse. while in the U.S. the song peaked at #28 on the Billboard ^{Billboard (magazine)} Top Tracks ^{Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks} chart in 1981. "Icehouse" had been written by Davies Released in August 1982 as an Icehouse album, Primitive Man reached #3 on the National album charts #5 in Germany and top 20 in UK, Sweden and Netherlands. and remains their most popular song according to listeners of Triple M in 2007. To promote Primitive Man on tour, Davies re-assembled Icehouse with Hoste and Lloyd, and new members: Robert Kretschmer (guitar, backing vocals), Guy Pratt (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Andy Qunta (keyboards, backing vocals). the trailer for the movie was released in 1983,



Icehouse's next album Sidewalk ^{Sidewalk (album)} was released in 1984 and peaked at #4 on the National albums chart with singles "Taking the Town" peaked at #22 in May, "Don't Believe Anymore" peaked at #22 August and "Dusty Pages" in November. it was released on VHS and NTSC formats. Jopson was subsequently used to direct four music videos for Icehouse. peaked at #1 in October, "My Obsession" #5 in December, "Man of Colours" #28 in February 1988 and "Nothing Too Serious" #29 in May 1988. Man of Colours was lauded in Australia during 1988, it won two ARIA Awards ^{ARIA Music Awards} , 'Album of the Year' and 'Highest Selling Album'; the associated song "Electric Blue" won 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Work' at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Music Awards for its writers Davies and Oates. The cover artwork (see image at right), designed by Davies and Kretschmer, depicts a human figure holding three different coloured flowers. The only Icehouse releases for 1989 were a single "Touch the Fire" which reached #13 in Australia in November and a compilation double album / video collection Great Southern Land ^{Great Southern Land (album)} .February 1990 saw the release of "Jimmy Dean" as a single which reached #47 on the ARIA singles charts. Sessions were released as The Berlin Tapes ^{The Berlin Tapes (album)} under the name Iva Davies and Icehouse in 1995 on dIVA (Iva Davies own label) / Massive Records for Australian release and Warner Records ^{Warner Music Australia} for international release in 2002. On New Years Eve in 1999, Davies (vocals, guitar), Tognetti (violin), Guy Pratt (bass), Krawczyk (drums) ROM=Pari (Taiko - Japanese drums) and Sydney Symphony Orchestra ^{Sydney Symphony} performed The Ghost of Time on the northern forecourt of Sydney Opera House alongside Sydney Harbour ^{Port Jackson} and was televised around the world on CNN and other news networks. with tracks available since 2004 from the Official Iva Davies - Icehouse website including "Your God Not Mine". As of February 2009, the album was still unreleased. In 2002, The Whitlams covered "Don't Believe Anymore" from Sidewalk for their album Torch The Moon, which enjoyed moderate radio success. During 2002, Davies digitally remastered all of Flowers / Icehouse studio albums adding bonus tracks to each - they were released by Warner Music Australia. In 2003 Iva Davies contributed "Ghost of Time" and other music to the film score of the Russell Crowe epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. In 2004, Heroes ^{Heroes (Icehouse album)} , which was The Berlin Tapes repackaged from the Australian and Japanese versions, was released. On 16 August 2006, Icehouse were inducted into the ARIA ^{Australian Recording Industry Association} Hall of Fame ^{ARIA Hall of Fame} alongside Midnight Oil, Divinyls and Rose Tattoo.

Icehouse / Flowers featured on Triple M's 2007 Essential Countdown with 14 songs including: "Great Southern Land" at #13, "Don't Believe Any More" #78, "Street Cafe" #187, "Love in Motion" #327, "We Can Get Together" #428, and "Electric Blue" #454. Davies commented on the status of Icehouse:

The grand final show of Battle of the Choirs, broadcast on 3 August 2008, had Icehouse provide a rare live performance of "Great Southern Land". For the performance, Icehouse were Iva Davies (vocals, guitar), Paul Wheeler (drums, perscussion), Paul Gildea (guitar), David Chapman (guitar), Steve Bull (bass guitar); they were supported by the three grand finalist choirs. Sound Relief is a benefit concert for victims of the Victorian Bushfire Crisis ^{Black Saturday bushfires} and the Queensland Floods. Appearing with Icehouse at the Sydney concert were, Coldplay, Eskimo Joe, Hoodoo Gurus, Jet ^{Jet (band)} , Josh Pyke, Little Birdy, The Presets, Wolfmother, You Am I and additional artists.Members of Flowers, Icehouse and Iva Davies & Icehouse, listed chronologically:
* 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 (1978, 1982 / 1983) : keyboards
* Anthony Smith (aka Adam Hall) (1979 / 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
Studio albums

* Icehouse ^{Icehouse (album)} 1980
* Primitive Man ^{Primitive Man (album)} 1982
** (aka Love In Motion ^{Primitive Man (album)} UK 1983)
* Sidewalk ^{Sidewalk (album)} 1984
* Measure for Measure ^{Measure for Measure (album)} 1986
* Man of Colours 1987
* Code Blue ^{Code Blue (Icehouse album)} 1990
* Big Wheel ^{Big Wheel (album)} 1993
* The Berlin Tapes ^{The Berlin Tapes (album)} 1995* 1980 TV Week / Countdown ^{Countdown (Australian TV series)} - 'Johnny O'Keefe Memorial Award for Best New Talent' winner (as Flowers)
** 'Best Australian Album' for Icehouse ^{Icehouse (album)} - nominee
** 'Best Australian Album Cover Design' for Icehouse ^{Icehouse (album)} by John Lloyd - nominee
** 'Best Australian Songwriter' for Iva Davies - nominee
* 1988 ARIA Awards ^{ARIA Music Awards} 'Best Album of the Year' for Man of Colours (1987)
* 1989 APRA Awards 'Most Performed Australasian Work' for "Electric Blue ^{Electric Blue (song)} " for writers Iva Davies and John Oates (1988)
* 2006 ARIA Hall of Fame ^{ARIA Hall of Fame} induction