Kevin Borich is truly a living legend. Although he is a proud Kiwi, he has definitely gained “honorary Aussie” status by generations of serious music lovers. His blistering blues/rock style is timeless.

This interview originally appeared on one of my other sites, www.improveyourmusic.com and was done by Mark Johnson. It is such a great interview with such an important figure in Australian music that I simply had to reproduce it here.

Over to Mark Johnson…

In this interview I’m talking with Aussie guitar legend, Kevin Borich. We met up at the Coogee Bay Hotel on a Thursday afternoon for what was more of a “free discussion” than a detailed structured interview. Kevin will be celebrating his 60th birthday soon but shows no signs of letting up. Even his recent cancer scare served only to cement his resolution to push on, and ever upwards. We discussed a wide range of topics and as with other interviews, I again found it hard to decide what to cut out and what to leave in. Kevin was very forthright in his opinions of the Australian music scene, but his seemingly brutal criticisms stem from a great passion that you couldn’t kill with a stick. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this casual chat with Kevin Borich.

Kevin Borich Interview

For more information on Kevin, have a look at his website at www.kevinborich.com.au or his MySpace site at www.myspace.com/kevinborich

As usual, this podcast has been recorded and produced by the wonderful folks at Groovy Tunes Music.

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‘Wait’ remained on the ARIA Charts for over four months, peaking at #14 and being certified Platinum. The single was co-written by Gary Frost of Moving Pictures & 1927 and Geoffrey Stapleton of GANGgajang.

Gyan was awarded the ARIA Award for Best New Talent in 1989. Gyan signed to Universal Records and worked as a songwriter for LeAnn Rimes and Ricky Martin.

More info at www.gyan.com.au

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George Sich, an old friend of mine, has just released a brilliant new E.P. entitled “True Story, I Swear”. I’ll admit to being biased ’cause I know George and did his website, but this is a great recording. He is a very talented songwriter/musician and had the help of some other great Australian musicians such as Kere Buchanan, Peter Northcote, Bill Risby, Michel Rose, Leon Gaer and Mick Albec.

Here’s what George himself had to say:

“Believe it or not these are all love songs, young, old, getting it right, getting it wrong, star-crossed, intoxicating or just plain intoxicated. Although the stories here are true, I have, of course, exercised some artistic freedom, altered names, places and times to protect both the guilty and the innocent. I wish to extend my gratitude to the friends that encouraged me to make this record and motivated me to use the best musicians available, seriously world class players, and I am very privileged to have my name on the same record, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it.”

“True Story, I Swear” is available right now on CD or as a digital download. Have a listen for yourself and pass it on to all your friends.

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I’ve received quite a bunch of really unique and top quality photo’s recently. Obviously people are digging through their old collections and coming up with some real gems. Here’s another set that you won’t find anywhere else.

They were submitted by John Rickleman who has a great eye for a band shot. His collection (unfortunately for me) includes a great many overseas artists such as Stevie Nicks, Joe Cocker, Rory Gallagher and Graham Parker which for obvious reasons I can’t show here on a site about Australian music. The good news is that it also includes some absolute classic shots like these, of Richard Clapton and the Little River Band taken back in the 1970′s.

Like always, I’d love it if you could leave a nice “thank you” to John in the comments section below for sharing his work here. If you’ve got some unique and original stuff in your photo album then please don’t hesitate to do what John’s done and send them over.

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Dave Evans originally arrived in Australia from Carmarthen Wales, aged five, and settled in North Queensland with his family.

After forming his first band In Session in Charters Towers when he was seventeen he moved to Sydney where he helped form a band (no name yet!) with Malcolm Young, Colin Burgess and Larry van Kriedt – a week later Malcolm’s younger brother Angus joined. Malcolm and Angus’ sister-in-law Sandra came up with the name AC/DC – to signify power and energy – and so one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever was born!

AC/DC’s first gig was at Chequers Nightclub in Sydney on New Years Eve 1973 and the band went on to attract a strong live following in the next few months before recording their first single – Can I Sit Next To You Girl b/w Rocking In The Parlour.

At this time Angus started wearing his now famous schoolboy uniform and with their single racing up the national charts AC/DC undertook a grueling tour beginning at the Sydney Opera House and then playing to packed houses all around Australia. Life on the road is tough for any band and frictions and egos increased steadily until a punch-up between Evans and their manager made life on tour unbearable – and a split between Evans and AC/DC became inevitable. Bon Scott was a friend of Malcolm and Angus’ elder brother George Young (a member of the legendary Easybeats – Friday On My Mind – and a well-known Australian record producer with Harry Vanda) and had seen the band perform in Adelaide. He agreed to join AC/DC, by this stage one of the most promising, new and exciting rock bands in Australia, and he and the band went on to rock and roll immortality as one of the biggest bands in the world.

After parting ways with AC/DC Dave Evans moved to Newcastle just north of Sydney and joined up and coming hard rock outfit Rabbit in early 1975. Rabbit were already the number one rock band in Newcastle and the surrounding area and Dave had seen them performing at Chequers nightclub in Sydney and was impressed with their confronting stage presence. It wasn’t long until they had signed with CBS records and recorded their first album “Rabbit” which had some success. In 1976 they recorded the album “Too Much Rock And Roll” and with their appearances on the numerous television pop/rock shows this album launched them into national popularity. Rabbit were described as frenetic, violently hedonistic and Dave himself was described as savagely heterosexual. Rabbit after-show parties were always wild affairs and popular with friends, fans and groupies.

The “Too Much Rock And Roll” album was then distributed in Japan, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Although sales were steady Rabbit did not tour these countries as two members called it quits after a grueling three month Australian tour. The band continued after adding a new drummer and released the single “Let Me” but it wasn’t the same feeling without the two original members and the band folded in 1978. Dave Evans and Thunder Down Under was formed in 1984 and he signed with independent label Reaction Records and released the album – Dave Evans & Thunder Down Under..

After Dave Evans and Thunder Down Under split a couple of years later, Dave pursued an acting career with roles in small production Australian films plus working in live theatre.

In early 2000 Dave was invited to be a special guest for Melbourne AC/DC tribute band Thunderstruck for their 20th anniversary memorial gig for Bon Scott. This special occasion was recorded live and A Hell of a Night was released through Perris Records.

Dave has since performed in Europe and the USA as a solo artist.

His classic rock album, SINNER, was released to worldwide critical acclaim and the track “Sold My Soul To Rock n Roll” was nominated at the 2007 LA Music Awards.

JUDGEMENT DAY has now been released also receiving great reviews !!!

2008 saw new management with Dave engaging Anita Donlon (Founder Independent Musos Network Inc and National Chairperson of Music Managers Forum (Aust). Daves new management team has seen Dave tour Australia and release albums in the country that gave Dave his start in ROCK!

Dave has of recent years been based in Dallas, Texas and is currently touring Australia.

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About John Swan

John Swan, more commonly known as Swanee, was born John Archibold Dixon Swan in 1952 in Glasgow, Scotland. He came to Australia with his family in 1961 and is the only one of his siblings to keep his natural fathers surname. He is the older brother of Jimmy Barnes and the uncle of David Campbell.

Brief History

Swanee started his musical career as a drummer in the band Happiness before moving on to other bands such as Fraternity, Feather and Cold Chisel. He branched out on his own, under the name Swanee, in 1979, releasing the album “Into The Night”. His first commercial hit was in 1981 with his version of “If I Were A Carpenter” off the album “This Time Is Different” which featured two other hits, “Temporary Heartache” and “Lady What’s Your Name”

In 1987 he replaced angry Anderson as lead singer in Paul Christie’s “Party Boys” where he had another hit with “He’s Gonna Step on You Again” and then “Hold Your Head Up”. He left the band around 1989 to again pursue a solo career that still persists today.

Videos

“If I Were A Carpenter”

“Temporary Heartache”

“Lady What’s Your Name?”

Recordings

as Swanee (albums):

• Into the Night – 1980
• This Time is Different – 1982
• Ready for Action – 1983
• Days Gone By – 1984
• Bushido – 1985
• Heart and Soul – 1997

as John Swan

• It Could Have Been You (single) – 1985
• You’ll Do Something (single) – 1985
• Angel (single) – 1986
• Have a Little Faith – 2007

with The Party Boys

• He’s Gonna Step On You Again  (single) – 1987
• The Party Boys – 1987
• Hold Your Head Up  (single) – 1987
• Gloria (single) - 1988)

Other Resources

• John Swan’s website
• Australian Rock database

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The first hit single from the Freight Train Heart album was “Too much ain’t enough love”. This was the first no. 1 solo hit single for Jimmy Barnes. The album was first released in Australia by Mushroom Records in 1987 and then later released in the US by Geffen in 1988.

I was never a huge a fan of Jimmy Barnes as I was with Cold Chisel. However I have to say that the single from this album “Too much ain’t enough love” was my favourite. Let me know what you think.
Don’t forget you can get your own copy of Freight Train Heart right now from our online store

Tracks

1. “Driving Wheels” (Barnes/Cain/Roberts)
2. “Seven Days” (Dylan)
3. “Too Much Ain’t Enough Love” (Barnes/Cain/Schon/Jackson/Brock)
4. “Do or Die” (Barnes/Cain)
5. “Waitin’ for the Heartache” (Barnes/Child)
6. “Last Frontier” (Barnes/Cain)
7. “I Wanna Get Started with You” (Barnes/Cain/Schon)
8. “I’m Still on Your Side” (Barnes/Vallance/Cain)
9. “Lessons in Love” (Barnes/Vallance/Neall/Cain)
10. “Walk On” (Child/Turner)

General Information

Released : 1987
Recorded : Power Station Studios, New York City & Rhinoceros Studios, Sydney
Genre : Hard rock
Language : English
Label : Mushroom Records
Producer : Jonathan Cain, Mike Stone, Desmond Child

“Too Much Ain’t Enough Love”

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About Jimmy Barnes

Jimmy Barnes is a popular Australian rock singer. He was born James Dixon Swan on April 28, 1956 in Glasgow, Scotland. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. His career as both a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time. The combination of 14 Australian Top 40 albums for Cold Chisel and 12 charting solo albums gives Barnes the highest number of hit albums of any Australian artist. Source Wikipedia

Jimmy Barnes “Thankful for the Rain” Sadly this was Hey Hey it’s Saturday’s
Final show 20th November 1999

Jimmy was the last Aussie band to perform on Hey Hey it’s Saturday

A Brief History Of Jimmy Barnes

Around 1973 Jimmy Barnes briefly sang in the band Fraternity, replacing Bon Scott, before joining the Adelaide based band “Orange”. Soon after Orange changed their name to Cold Chisel Around 1977 after moving firstly to Melbourne, then to Sydney, Cold Chisel were picked up by Warner Music Group and released their self titled debut album in 1978.

Jimmy Barnes was the bands singer from 1973 through to the breakup of Cold Chisel in 1984.

Images

Jimmy Barnes Solo Recordings

• Bodyswerve – 1984
• For The Working Class Man – 1985
• Freight Train Heart – 1987
• Barnestorming – 1988
• Two Fires – 1990
• Soul Deep – 1991
• Heat – 1993
• Flesh And Wood 1993
• Psyclone – 1995
• Hits Anthology 1996
• Love And Fear 1999
• Soul Deeper – 2000
• Raw – 2001
• Double Jeopardy – 2002
• Live (Unplugged) At The Chapel – 2002
• Soul Deeper (Live) – 2003
• Double Happiness – 2005
• In The Heat Of The Night – 2006
• 50 -2007
• Max Sessions – 2007
• Out In The Blue – 2007

Other Resources

• http://www.jimmybarnes.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Barnes

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Susan is a Perth musician with a great jazzy / Blues voice.

She sings here live with the Hey Hey Band “God Bless The Child”
Broadcast on Hey Hey it’s Saturday 22.06.1991
I have left the segment intact as it was a classic Hey Hey moment.

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About

Richard Pleasance (ex Boom Crash Opera) has had great success outside of the band. His 1991 album Galleon featured the singles “Sarah (I Miss You)” and “Don’t Cry”. The album featured some of his closest friends in the music industry including Paul Hester and Deborah Conway. Galleon was critically acclaimed and went on to earn five nominations at the ARIA Awards. Pleasance then toured the album, as a support act for Elvis Costello.
Also at this time Richard co-produced and performed on the highly successful debut album for Deborah Conway String Of Pearls. Conway and Pleasance co-wrote a song on the album called “King Of Jordan”. As well as producing and co-writing with Conway, Pleasance has also produced, arranged, played and written with acts such as Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, Suzanne Vega, James Reyne, Jon Stevens, Nick Barker, Seven Stories and Augie March. In 1996 Pleasance teamed up with singer/songwriter Wendy Morrison. They called themselves ‘Felt’ and released a self titled album on Gotham/BMG records.

One of his Richard Pleasance’s biggest successes came when he wrote and produced the theme from the popular Australian television series SeaChange. He also started a band, Pleasantville, which included his wife, Michelle, releasing their debut album Hill of Beans in 2004.
(source Wikpedia)

Videos

Sara I Miss You Broadcast on HEY HEY it’s Saturday 22-06-91

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