Icehouse (band)

This article is about the Australian rock group. For their album, see Icehouse (album). For their song, see Icehouse (song). For other uses, see Icehouse (disambiguation).

Icehouse
Icehouse performing live in Auckland, New Zealand, 2012
Background information
Also known as
  • Flowers (1977–1981)
  • Iva Davies & Icehouse
OriginSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres
Years active1977–present
Labels
Members
Past members
  • Keith Welsh
  • Ashley Sharpe
  • Don Brown
  • Michael Hoste
  • Anthony Smith
  • John Lloyd
  • Bob Kretschmer
  • Guy Pratt
  • Andy Qunta
  • Glenn Krawczyk
  • Simon Lloyd
  • Roger Mason
  • Tony Llewellyn
  • David Chapman
  • Max Lambert
  • Adrian Wallis
  • Steve Morgan
  • Gary Hughes
  • Glenn Reither
Websiteicehouse-ivadavies.com

Icehouse are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1977 as Flowers. Initially known in their homeland for their pub rock style, the band later achieved mainstream success playing new wave and synth-pop music and attained Top 10 singles chart success locally and in both Europe and the U.S.[1] The mainstay of both Flowers and Icehouse has been Iva Davies (singer-songwriter, record producer, guitar, bass, keyboards, oboe)[2] supplying additional musicians as required. The name "Icehouse", adopted in 1981, comes from an old, cold flat Davies lived in and the strange building across the road populated by itinerant people.[3]

Davies and Icehouse extended the use of synthesisers 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.[1][3][4][5][6] Their best known singles on the Australian charts include "Great Southern Land", "Hey Little Girl", "Crazy", "Electric Blue" and "My Obsession"; with Top Three albums being Icehouse (1980, as Flowers), Primitive Man (1982) and Man of Colours (1987).[1][7]

Icehouse was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 16 August 2006.[8][9][10] 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..."[10] 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.[10]

  1. ^ a b c McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Icehouse'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-768-2. Archived from the original on 17 September 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
  2. ^ Holmgren, Magnus. "The Flowers / Icehouse". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  3. ^ a b Grech, Jason (23 July 2004). "An interview with Iva Davies". Countdown Memories. Archived from the original on 8 November 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  4. ^ "Artist: Icehouse". Warner Music Australia. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  5. ^ "Razorback trailer details". National Film & Sound Archive (NFSA). Archived from the original on 27 November 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  6. ^ "Razorback (1984) full cast & crew". Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  7. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. ^ "ARIA 2008 Hall of Fame inductees listing". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
  9. ^ "Winners by Award: Hall of Fame". ARIA. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  10. ^ a b c "2006 ARIA Hall of Fame Awards". ARIA. Retrieved 11 June 2008.