The Urge talks about his band ‘Ivy Blue’ and recent Album ‘Present Shapes’

A versatile band from New Zealand, Ivy Blue has recently released new album Present Shapes. We recently got an opportunity to have conversation with The Urge from Ivy Blue Band. Sharing our conversation with our readers here.

Twist Online : First of all tell us about the start of your music band Ivy Blue.
Ivy Blue : Ivy Blue is a band from New Zealand. We’re mostly based in Hamilton, but Te Aroha is where the origin and ‘home’ of Ivy Blue us. We play a variety of music and cover a wide range of subjects in our work. We’re not always straight-forward and we like to be as different as possible, but getting to the  point of the Twist Online- none of this would have been possible if two lifelong friends (myself and original drummer A.Flow) had not gone for a walk in Boyd Park and decided to try writing some songs together and see what would happen. And that walk between friends is where Ivy Blue began.

Twist Online : Our readers would like to know about the band members and their roles in the band?
Ivy Blue : There’s been a lot of line-up changes over the years, and every single member of the band past or present has in some way helped us to where we are right now. But this is who’s here right now:
The Urge (me): Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Looping
Mitch: Drums, percussion, Vocals (not on this album but Mitch will be singing for the shows and on future releases)
We also have a new bass player in the works, but we’ll reveal his identity when we are ready.

Twist Online : Tell us about your recent release ‘Present Shapes’?
Ivy Blue : Present Shapes is something really unusual for us to do. It’s not a straight-forward album like most people would expect, but it’s not a concept album either. It seems to be more a collection of ideas and observations from different walks and interpretations of life that somehow all fit together. I can’t explain it that well in the sense of the theories around it as each song was recorded in a specific moment in time; but musically it follows a journey that I think most people can relate to in some way. I’m very proud of it and I hope that people will connect with the album and be able to enjoy it in their own ways.

You can download the Album here

Twist Online : All the tracks of the Album are superb. Any particular track that’s your favorite?
Ivy Blue : Thanks for the feedback. We try and do the best we can with the music we create and to know that people like us for the music we make is incredible, even now after 5 albums. Favourite track…. Erm….This changes daily (especially as we’re trying to reinterpret these songs to work live) but today I’m going to say Little By Little. Codera is a close second.

Twist Online : What kind of response it has received so far?
Ivy Blue : From what we have heard the feedback has been pretty positive. Of course, you’re always going to get people who don’t like what you do, and that’s just part of the way things go in music. One thing I can testify to here is that if we’re not happy with what we’re doing and we’re not into the music we are
creating, then how could we expect anybody else to like it and enjoy the experience in the same way?

Twist Online : Are you planning any tour for promotion of this Album?
Ivy Blue : We’re going to be doing a tour in the second half of this year behind Present Shapes. Some of the more picky details are still being finalized so I don’t know all of the finalitenary yet. But I do know we’re doing some European shows in September and some of those have already been announced.
There will inevitably be some shows in New Zealand and we’re in the process of organizing that now, and there’s other things we’re looking at too for later this year and perhaps a bit into 2018 depending on how things go, but those shows will make themselves known as the details become available.

Twist Online : What do you enjoy more, performing on stage or working in studios?
Ivy Blue : We just enjoy playing music together. Really, that’s the only thing that matters. It’s fun to create music that we all enjoy, but it’s equally as much fun to develop an experience for our audience when we go to do a live show.

Twist Online : Are you working on any new project?
Ivy Blue : At the moment our focus is on developing the new show that we’re going to be touring for Present Shapes and making sure we can put on the best show musically and visually, and it’s only been just under a month since Present Shapes was released so it might be a bit soon to think about creating new music, but there will be a new album at some point. I just don’t know when we’re going to do that yet.