Flowers’Lva Davies Interview

Rip It Up, Issue 43, 1 February 1981, Page 2

Flowers’Lva Davies Interview

Duncan Campbell

Flowers frontman Iva Davies is roughly 24 years old, slight of build, thin of features, pale of skin. He’s very hard to catch out of his totally black ensemble and (offstage) without his "dark glasses. Couple this with the sombre atmosphere of the Icehouse album, and you have a picture of a moody introvert. Davies, while being an affable sort • with a ready smile, tends to agree i “I definitely am a quiet type, generally, and I find that I’m portraying myself in the songs I write. Your average rock'n'roll audience* doesn’t usually like it, when people become introspective. They prefer '1,2, 3 go!’ and that’s it. / „ • :! , , , .“But any kind of motivation can be used, and, I definitely feel that that kind of negative feeling is stronger and more immediate * than any positive feeling. It's much'easier to ; feel-pain than it is to feel elation. It’s more direct.” $ The. darker, lonelier-side of the human' psyche is a strong feature of Davies’ music,, the result of his having to,shut himself away to write “It’s impossible to do anything while we’re touring and generally, the only way I've managed to write anything is to physically lock myself up for four days or so, and just not leave a room. ’lcehouse’ was basically produced at the end of one of those four-day binges. I’m easily distracted and I lack discipline, but I hope that will come with a bit of practice.” Oboe Origins Yet discipline should hardly be alien to Davies, at least not musically. He trained in classical music, studying oboe at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music, along with a number of other instruments, including piano and brass, which he confesses he was never really able to master. He played oboe with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a time, and appeared set on a classical career. He supplemented his income by transcribing pop songs onto manuscript on a freelance basis for various publishing houses. Yet surprisingly, he refuses to put Flowers’ songs on paper. - "It’s more sort of aggravation value, really. I could never be bothered going into the pains. I’ve never bothered to write our songs out, because it’s wasted effort. The band don’t really read (music), so there’s no advantage in writing it out. Once they’re recorded, I’d rather pay somebody to do that.” Bolan Freak Davies was seduced by rock’n'roll at a fairly late stage in life, and began frantically buying up old T Rex singles, as well as the work of David Bowie and Lou Reed. Later would come Brian Eno and Ultravox. The turning point came when he met the Flowers’ present bass player, Keith Welsh, who wanted to buy some gear he had for sale.

The two got together with a guitarist and drummer, and at the tender age of 21, Davies bought his first electric guitar, which he didn’t even know how to play. They started out in the pubs of North Bondi, playing cover versions of local and overseas hits for S6O a night, and taking a lot of flak from aggressive publicans. But the crowds liked them, and Davies kept learning to play guitar. The second guitarist was replaced by a keyboard player, who co-wrote some of the songs on Icehouse before leaving to study piano. His replacement, Anthony Smith, was recruited through a trade advertisement, while drummer John Lloyd was discovered by Cameron Allan, co-director of Regular Records and co-producer of Icehouse. Lloyd was drumming with a Melbourne band, the Dots. Allan is an old mate of Davies’ from the conservatorium days, and recommended Lloyd, who subsequently joined, to bring the band to its current lineup. Dirty Pool That was 18 months ago, and then along came a man who gave Flowers, and especially Iva Davies, the impetus they needed to start producing more of their own music. "When we first got a keyboard player we were still doing an entirely covers set and were pretty smalltime in the pubs in Sydney. The crunch came when we were approached by Dirty Pool, who manage the Angels, Cold Chisel and Mental As Anything.” Ray Hern, mainstay of Dirty Pool, was the man who put the pressure on. "Before then, we only really approached it as a kind of hobby, and it was at that point that I got put on the spot. Hern said we weren’t going to get anywhere unless we started writing songs. I’d never really been the naturally creative type, and as it’s happened since then, I never produce anything unless I’m put in a pressure situation. But it seems that it always works for me, and I enjoy being put on a spot, because it makes me do these things, and it’s really gratifying when you do them. Otherwise I just wouldn't put myself through the pains of doing it.” However, there was no pressure to get something on record. The band didn’t go into the studio until it had the songs ready, and had a reputation as a live act. Davies feels this time

was well spent, since the band had settled in with its own material.

Tougher Live On stage, the songs from Icehouse have a rougher edge. Davies confesses a liking for the HM guitar sound, but the influence of the Eno/Numan/Ultravox connection is also very strong, particularly on the song 'lcehouse', with its floor-shaking synthesisers. In fact, most of the songs sound better live than on record, a difference which Davies appreciates and finds advantageous. "Some bands go to a lot of trouble to get that rough edge, but generally speaking, I think people prefer these days to hear a smoother sound on record. I approach records with a completely different end in mind than I do a live situation, I think they both have points of their own which should be exploited. "You can't get that rough sound on record unless you go to ridiculous ends, and even then it sounds faked." Festival Fun Playing Sweetwaters was a new experience for Flowers, having never played to a crowd of that size before, let alone a festival. "I enjoyed it, I thought it was amazing. I was nervous, but only because it was such a different situation. Open-air is always hard physically, from a sound point of view or whatever, and also because we started in daylight. We’re a very dark sort of band normally, and we don't like working in daylight because it doesn’t suit us. Fortunately for us, the sun set at just the right time.” Of the future, the giant American market awaits. A US recording deal is still being negotiated, and this will determine the next priorities. The next album will probably be delayed for release here until it’s also ready for other parts of the world.

Flowers are now supporting Roxy Music in Australia, and then have a tour of their own to finish. This will take them through to sometime in March, when they'll start recording their new album. Four tracks are in the can, and some are already in the stage set. Davis has very definite ideas about how the new LP will sound.

"With the experience of listening to the songs as they sound on Icehouse, I’ve changed quite a few things, as far as the way I approach writing songs. I think we’ll probably go for something a little bit looser next time. Everything on the last album was done a little bit too clinically, and I’m trying to go for a bit more immediacy in writing.”

Are you still enjoying yourself? "Oh sure. The band is working the best it’s ever worked, and there’s just a little bit of extra confidence that everybody’s got. The band is coming to me with- some really good ideas, which is making it easier for me and more fun for them as well."