Borrison Ivy started as an idea of Australian guitarist Richard Barber, while living in Dubai. There, the band played the Dubai Shopping Festival, Fete de la Musique and Motorsports Festival, while also opening up for acclaimed heavy metal band Nervecell. Upon moving to Honolulu, Richard recruited new band members and released the Hoku-nominated debut album Just Another Office Job to critical acclaim from The Honolulu Star Advertiser’s music reviewer, John Berger: “Mainstream modern rock Hawaii can be proud to claim.”
Borrison Ivy’s vision is to write the catchiest hard-rock songs they can, with a rocking beat, catchy melody and sing-along choruses. All of this is intended to be the vehicle that carries lyrical themes dealing with disappointment and overcoming shitty situations, whilst also celebrating the simple pleasures in life, such as booze and sex.
Drawing on the lyrical inspiration of Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Joel O’Keeffe (Airborne) and Motley Crue, as well as the musical genre of Malcolm Young (ACDC) and Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne), Borrison Ivy try to combine poignancy with viscerality, catharsis with disappointment and the sublime with the down-to-earth – all wrapped up as stomping rock songs.
A few songs that exemplify these themes, on the soon-to-be-released second CD “Running On Empty”, include Only Happy When I’m Drunk, which is about being exactly that. All I Asked For describes the narrow conception of heroism in society and how dying for your country is lauded as the most noble kind of hero activity. Candy Man is a plea for parents to stop brainwashing their children’s minds with idiotic, nasty religiosity. Hunt You Down describes the zeal of tribal factions and the militaristic means with which they need to be dealt with.
Borrison Ivy believe that most rock music can be positioned on a sliding scale with ‘just entertainment’ at one end, and ‘edification and catharsis’ at the other. The band try to slam their rock songs smack-bang in the middle.
LINKS:
http://www.borrisonivy.com
http://www.facebook.com/borrisonivy
http://twitter.com/BorrisonIvy
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLnqLnnHMPtn7DFBmVNqEsw/feed?activity_view=3
