Kevin Borich is recognised as one of Australia's best guitarists. In an illustrious career that began in the mid 60's with New Zealand's top band La-De-Das, KB has had many highlights. KB has appeared on more than 20 albums as a member of The La-De-Das, Kevin Borich Express, The Party Boys and various other sessions. In a recent interview KB gave an insight into his first recordings. "I grew up with The Goon Shows on radio. When my dad got me a tape recorder, I used to tape them. Most musos from my time would have been Goon Show fanatics. There were always a couple of the Goon's album in the record collection somewhere."

While listening to the radio, KB would discover one of his biggest influences. "We used to get BBC a lot. That's how I first got to hear Jimi Hendrix and The Small Faces playing live on BBC's Radio One. That show was happening with the latest stuff." In KB's opinion Hendrix would be as influential now as he was then.
"Hendrix was a hell of an influence, he came in and did things that people probably didn't get to dream about. There was never such a far out character, for his lyrics and naturally his playing which is the first thing that grabs you. It was so far ahead of its time. If he landed right now and did the same thing, he would be just as big. He played a timeless type of music."

In his 30 plus year career, KB has played in many settings. He recalls some were very memorable. "One of my biggest memories was sharing the stage with Carlos Santana at Calder Raceway in front of 60,000 people. We opened the show just before Santana, and Carlos must have heard it. We were watching Santana and he called me out on stage. I played one song. It was amazing. The other occasion was a dream, playing with Bo Diddley. I ended up jamming with him in Australia. It was like a childhood dream, here's the guy that turned me on when I was a kid. He was right there beside me."

Bo Diddley was one of KB's earliest mentors. "When I first heard Bo Diddley, I was very young. Hearing that Bumpa-Bumpa rhythm, it sounded very jungle, not like anything you ever heard before. That beat was his thing, very exciting and very tribal. I thought that he was bloody great." KB's greatest love will always be rock and roll. "I first heard rock and roll in the movie Rock Around The Clock. Little Richard and Fats Domino first turned me on to that music. No guitar in sight! Basically, the rock and roll disease got into my veins, I dug Elvis and Dion's The Wanderer. These were songs on the radio that I could hear. I used to like a lot of Top 40."

KB's interest in the guitar came after he tried his hand at another musical instrument. "I had a go at the cornet which was a disaster. I was going to be in the local brass band until I realised that I had to read music. I was playing along with the band, then one day we had to play solo. I had been faking it. When they got me by myself, I was stuffed. That was much to the family dog's glee."

It was during KB's stint with th La-De-Das that he got into blues and became more interested in guitar techniques. "The La-De-Das started doing a lot of Motown and Top 40 covers. Then we got into John Mayall and the Rolling Stones which was basically playing blues, white man's blues. That's how I got into blues and more into guitar playing, when I heard Clapton and then Hendrix came along. We got into blues through the English. They educated the whole world as far as blues goes."

The La-De-Das came to Australia as a five piece, eventually leaving KB with a trio that became Kevin Borich Express. "It was like ten little Indians, everyone left over the years. We started together pretty young, so naturally when you get into your 20's, get your own ideas. We split up, everyone left and there I was with the name La-De-Das. I did Rock And Roll Sandwich as the La-De-Das, but it is basically the first Kevin Borich Express album. KB's life is his music. "Touring that's how I've made my living out of music. There are a lot of negatives you have to put up with and you have to do a bit of hard yakka. I love doing what I do."

Dave Ray "Blues Avalanche"from 10pm on 3PBS-FM 106.7

Thanks to Highway 49

Jackie Heard - Blues By The Bay - Bay FM Brisbane Queensland - Australia

Another fantastic independant release from one of the fathers of Australian blues rock - Kevin Borich. The album that comes in just under an hour leans towards rock with a definite underlying blues heart and soul. Once your on track 1 and hear the deep growl of the instinctive Kevin Borich vocals charged with the emotionally expressive guitar solo's you know you're in for one helluva ride. Harry Brus on bass and John Annas on drums provide a solid heavy rock backdrop for the scintilating fretwork from Borich, in the rockin' "Cadillac Walk" and the slow groovin' "Saved By The Blues".
Hard Rock mixed in with some slow moving blues tunes, acoustic, slide and a didgereedoo number to boot, this is definitive Australian Blues Rock at it best.
Play it loud!

REVIEWS FOR LIVE AT THE BIG KAHUNA CD
Independent
Vol 1 KB CD666 2 + Vol 2 KB CD777 2
22 tracks
double live CD

REVIEWS FOR ONE NIGHT JAMM CD
Lucius Borich and Ben Rosen
with Wendy Saddington
and Ross Wilson
Independant
KB CD999 2
11 tracks

My old, perhaps outdated Oxford school dictionary defines success as the attainment of one's object; prosperous result; person or thing that turns out well.
While newer dictionaries are certain to contain more eloquent explanations of success, for me the dusty blue tome puts Kevin Borich's music career squarely into perspective. Sure he's not rich, nor does he belong to a major record company anymore but the fact that he's survived three decades in an industry as tough as the music business, kept his marbles, his chops and still has a loyal, eager following hanging out for the next KB Express to steam-roll through their town means that things have turned out alright. Of course survival hasn't come automatically, it's taken many years of performing endless high energy blues-rock shows around Australia building a following, and also having to adapt to new situations as they present themselves.
By recording and distributing his own Cds, to his own audience, KB has been able to continue to do what he does best. His extensive fan database allows him to communicate direct with his audience informing them of whatever new project is in the wind.
"The pros of not belonging to a major label are that you don't get told what to do. You produce what you like. You go straight to people who come to see you play and you make more money per unit. You've got a relationship with your audience. One of the cons I guess is that you don't get big publicity or much help. You have to lug the stuff around yourself and act like a bit of a side show, you know... 'roll up, roll up'."

One regular KB initiative which has been hugely successful is a gig on a boat on Sydney Harbour which attracts hundreds of Borich disciples. Another avenue of promotion which never existed a couple of decades ago is the corporate function. Borich has enjoyed travelling to the other side of the world to please home sick Australian business people.
"Actually the corporate gig is a great one. I did a great one with the Party Boys in China, one in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong. But they think I'm too wild. I tell them I'm older than them."

If you're interested in a Sydney Harbour boat cruise with Kev, just contact him to register your interest.

The longevity of Kevin's career owes a lot to the fact that his music is blues based. Many other bands from the seventies or eighties could never (or shouldn't ) contemplate revival as much of the music was intrinsically linked to the fashion culture of the day. Borich however is able to hold his head high when he looks back through his catalogue.
"I'm quite proud of it. We are getting our back catalogue together. We're remastering stuff. There are a few cringey ones that won't make it. But people still call out for a lot of the older ones, it's amazing how many are really into it and it makes you feel good."

Borich has been pretty happy with his tools of trade for some time now. The Fender Strat, Gibson Firebird (for the slide tunes) through a Marshall or Fender twin have been reliable friends. He's aware of the technological in-roads being made with amps and effects but unfortunately never gets to try new things out.
"There's enough out there isn't there! It would be nice to be able to go into a shop and try them all out, but you never try them out properly until you use them at a gig. I haven't really tried a lot of the new amps. It would be good to though. It's a matter of being at the right place at the right time when they've got them all there to compare them. There is some really incredible stuff being made. The vintage thing's gone berserk."

Borich is not adverse to computer technology either having owned an Atari at a stage when they were a relatively new music tool.
"Unfortunately the power supply burnt. But the musos really got into them didn't they, I suppose because of the SMPTE thing. I wrote all these things, these piano bits and I thought aren't I great, aren't I a great piano player when you speed me up. But it's very personal and I was always looking for the guys to have a bit of fun. A few things I wrote by accident, just mistakes that grew."

Borich's latest independant release is Heartstarter , which features the same familiar passionate and powerful playing on 13 new tracks. One track in particular, Saved By The Blues , is destined to become a KB standard.
"I'm proud of that one. That was a sound-check thing, a chord progression. I hadn't used a major 7th in a blues pattern before. So I'm happy to have done that. The reason for the song was hard. I married the idea of being rescued by the blues as far as how the rock scene died and the blues scene sort of picked us up. Before we were rock artists and I'd be playing a bit of blues in there, Red Rooster and a few other things. But it wasn't a blues band and there weren't any blues festivals, it was all rock. So the blues scene has stayed and the rock scene has died so we're essentially saved by the blues. Then its also a personal thing as well. It's turned out great. Because it's in major 7th there's a slant on the guitar lines that you can play that I hadn't been involved with before, not being a Schooled musician. Different patterns and notes that I'm used to."

Do you wish you had been a schooled musician and learnt properly because many people would say you're a great player anyway?
"Yeh, but you've always got this thing inside you that you don't really know what the hell's goin on! (Laughs). It's all magic. It would be nice to be able to dissect it. I'm pretty happy with the way things have gone. I've got friends who have got kids learning guitar and they are really learning how to read and can do just about anything. A friend's kid has got the lot, he's got the feel, he can read and write. He wrote one of my songs out and I thought, hey, let's get together and do a whole book."

Kevin is currently in the process of moving further north and is keen to finish building his new studio. He learned a lot from the recording of Heartstarter and will further refine his newly found studio nouse on future KB projects. For his live shows he's been flicking through the back catalogue and dusting down some long forgotten classics. I suggested that 'The Place' off the La De Das 'Rock'n Roll Sandwich' album deserved a more regular workout.
"That's a big one that people ask for and we have done it, but not lately. I was actually going to do it for the Live Kahuna CD because of people asking and we did do it, but we didn't do it good enough. It was the only track I left off. I wanted it to be really good and it wasn't quite makin' it. But I'll have another go."