The name Kevin Borich may not mean that much to many reading, but one look at his resume and you realise this guitar-slashing beast is one of the best rock & roll products to emerge from across the Tasman, ever.
Kevin has opened shows for AC/DC, Ray Charles and Elton John (to name just a few), and has twice been awarded Best Guitarist in the Australian Rock Music Awards. Now a Sunshine Coast resident, Kevin recorded his first album at age 12, accompanied by the two little girls who lived on the poultry farm next door. “It's just me – a three-chord-wonder on the guitar – singing songs and the girls singing harmonies.”
Seventeen years later and this “three-chord-wonder” was performing right before Carlos Santana, to sixty-thousand people at Rock Arena. “After our set I was watching Carlos from the side of the stage when his roadie grabbed me and said 'he wants you to get up'. And then there I am getting pushed out on stage with one of Santana's guitars put over my head. And the crowd is just going nuts because they realise he's acknowledging a local.”
This has been a regular occurrence throughout Kevin's career. Other musicians seem to connect with him; either wanting to get him up during their performances or join in with Kevin.
The phenomena has even been captured on film. “We did a show at The Basement in Sydney that was recorded. We played our set and there was an encore brewing. We were getting ready to go back out when our bass player came over and said 'Leo wants to get up?' I said, 'Leo who?' and he said 'Leo Sayer'. I looked at Harry thinking he was going nuts. Leo Sayer, he's a massive pop artist. But Leo gets up and joins in and it's all filmed. He jammed with us on his harmonica, it was fantastic.”
But what's really at the heart of making music for an artist like Kevin is the connection with his audience. “It's all about connection. If you get people going you can feel their energy and they inspire you because you're feeling it and pumping out more energy and they build up more from you and it's just like this furnace. There's smiles everywhere and people dancing and being free.
“I love people getting up and dancing. When I hear music I can't just sit there and watch it like it's a sterile, surgical event. I like to move my arse, you know? And of course I'm terrible because I've always been on stage playing so I don't know all the cool moves! But everyone can dance and who cares what you look like anyway? I have a song on my new album about it actually.”
At this juncture of the interview, Kevin gives an impromptu performance of the track, singing the guitar riffs as well as the lyrics. He describes playing it to his family and the way his kids would run around fast to the music and try to freeze perfectly still on the stops. His voice quickens and shimmers as he twists through the song and the imagery of its creation. It's a unique quality of voice you hear only when people are reliving happy memories.
The song was originally called 'Hip Shaking Mammas' and is a celebration of the female form. Kevin admits it has a sexy feel but he wanted to get away from writing “another Kev sex song”. His wife, a yoga teacher, was the one who came up with the solution. She suggested shifting the focus to the simple act of getting people up and dancing – sexily or otherwise.
On her advice, the song was renamed 'Get Out Of Your Head (And Into Your Body)'. “You've got to leave your thinking mind away from it. Stop saying 'oh, I can't dance, I look silly, I'm too embarrassed'. Feel the music and just move to it. When you see people doing that and the smiles on their faces, as if anyone would judge that. It's so good to get out of your head and just let go.”
Spend an afternoon with Kevin Borich and his band plus support from Buck Dean And The Green Lips at The Green Room at The Imperial Lionheart Hotel, Eumundi, Sunday 3 May from 1.30pm. Kevin also performs at the 2015 Gympie Music Muster.
