Iva Davies makes friends with Australia

10 January 2012

by Poppy Reid

Coinciding with the 30^th Anniversary of Great Southern Land, Iva Davies has been announced as Tourism Australia’s newest Friend Of Australia ambassador.

The Icehouse frontman will travel to Los Angeles to attend a number of key functions as part of G’day LA Week.

“It is not a hard job describing the huge range of experiences that are available in Australia, because it is unlike any place in the world,” Davies told TMN. “Having had the privilege of touring Australia for more than 30 years I have personally experienced many of those contrasting locations, from the tropics to the snowfields, and also come into contact with literally tens of thousands (if not more!) of Australian people.”

Davies joins past ambassadors Baz Luhrmann, Hugh Jackman and Olivia Newton John to help connect with the US tourism market. Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy says Davies was brought on board because of his iconic status.

“Iva Davies, whilst becoming a recent Friend of Australia, has however been a long time positive voice for our country, connecting to an international audience. As an iconic advocate for Australia we welcome his contribution to proactively promote Australia in one of our most important tourism markets – the United States,” said McEvoy.

Davies says whilst in L.A. he will share his anecdotal experiences when he attends the Black Tie Gala as a guest.

“I am in a lucky position to be able to recount many of my experiences of people and places, and to convey the world of possibilities that are available in Australia,” he told TMN.

Davies is currently in the process of sorting through archives for any material relevant to the period when the album Primitive Man and its 1982 single Great Southern Land was written/released. The record will be remastered by Steve Smart with additional material added for a deluxe edition, (similar to last year's 30th Anniversary release of debut album Icehouse and best of collection White Heat: 30 Hits). Davies even hopes to tour in late 2012.

“We'll include material that hasn't been available on previous releases and see what else we can find,” said Davies. “2012 also marks the 25th anniversary of Man Of Colours so it is a big year for both albums.

“Depending how everything is received by the audiences we hope to be able to tour again later in the year and focus on the albums in more depth.

"I have had the great fortune to perform all over the world, and to travel extensively. At certain times it was suggested to me that it would be advantageous for me to be based, firstly, close to Europe where we had our initial successes and then in the USA where later on we achieved chart success. However, I never seriously ever entertained the thought of living anywhere but in Australia.

Despite Icehouse accumulating album sales of over 28 times Platinum in Australasia alone, eight top 10 albums and over twenty Top 40 singles and worldwide sales exceeding 8 million albums, Davies said he has never considered relocating overseas like some of Australia’s other music greats.

“At certain times it was suggested to me that it would be advantageous for me to be based, firstly, close to Europe where we had our initial successes and then in the USA where later on we achieved chart success,” he said. “However, I never seriously ever entertained the thought of living anywhere but in Australia.”

In the early ‘80s Davies bumped into Midnight Oil frontman, environmentalist, activist and politician Peter Garrett in a London backstreet. Even then the pair shared equal patriotism.

“I recall sensing that he, like me, felt a long way from home, but that there was never any sense that either of us belonged anywhere other than Australia…It's just one of those unspoken things.”