New Album by Ivy Blue: Elstow Stars

Straight Outta New Zealand, Ivy Blue is back with his guitar and new music. He first played the congo drums at the age of nine. Eight albums and an EP later, Ivy Blue is a successful Indie artist with multiple hits on Hits You Love Radio.

This artist is influenced by Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Elton John. Set to tour in 2020, Ivy Blue got up with us again and he was nice enough to give us an update.

What is your music background?
I am an alternative musician from Te Aroha, New Zealand who performs live with a guitar, a loop-station, and two microphones. However, over the course of eight albums and an EP, me and my friends who play on the albums have proven that our music is far-reaching and can relate to many walks of life. From our debut album “REVEAL” and the hard-hitting break-through “ILLUSIONS” right through to recent material such as “Present Shapes” and “21” and “Patience;” Ivy Blue has shown his skills in Rock, Pop, Electronica, and Alternative Music. The new studio album “Elstow Stars,” is a return to our rock and acoustic roots following a period of experimentation.

Who are your musical influences?
When we spoke last year at the time Patience came out, I revealed that myself and the people I play with are influenced by a variety of artists from multiple genres, so I won’t go into that too much. But for this record, we were mainly influenced by Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Elton John, especially over their storytelling skills lyrically. I am really attracted to that and hope I’ve done justice on this record.

What are your long-term career goals?
The goal when Ivy Blue was formed was to make amazing music that we could grow with and progress over the course of a lifetime to the people who want to listen and grow with us, and to this day that goal is still the same. We just want to keep doing it on bigger and more improved scales to reach as many people as possible as we continue to grow and progress.

What type of recording process do you use and who produced your recording?
In general, the recording process is still the same method that we used on Patience where we all played live in the same room and produced a ‘live’ record in that sense, and that retains the best qualities of the music in my opinion. What we did differently

Do you ever get the chance to perform live?
I’m getting ready to do a 2020 tour that’ll go to a few places in New Zealand and hopefully overseas. The dates have not yet been announced, but I do think that the schedule will pleasantly surprise some people. The last time I was able to tour on the scale that we’re planning was in 2017 on the Shapes Around Europa Tour so I’m very excited to be getting back to touring on that scale again after a couple of years of not being able to do it. I’ve done a few shows in New Zealand ad those have continued to do well, but it’s time to start saying hello to everyone else now.

Are you looking for to remain independent or to get a major label deal?
We’re happy where we are now and we’re doing better than what we ever expected to do- but if a label were to approach us then we would certainly look at their offer and give it a chance. For now, we’re independents and doing better than most of our NZ peers.

If anything, what would you change about the music industry today?
The last time we spoke, I said that musicians needed more opportunity, and I still think that is true, however I do feel there is another thing that we need to take care of and that’s mental health. Musicians very rarely receive the appropriate mental health support when it’s required and 9 times out of 10, we lose the musicians we love to mental health issues and battles that on way or another they couldn’t continue to fight. So, we need to get musicians easier access to mental health issues and help them as much as we can. With recent mental health-related deaths of incredible musicians still raw in our minds, I hope that we can do them justice by improving these services and doing what we can to ensure that musicians do not become statistics in the world.

Do you have any advice for up-and-coming artists?
Create music. Play music. Let music teach you the lessons that you need in life. But always listen to the music whether you’re making music or enjoying music as a music lover, as it will be your lifetime travelling companion. And music will always be right by your side in the end.

Anything else you want to say on the people?
Thank you for allowing me and the boys to be travelling companions with you for 8 albums and 6 years. I hope that we can continue to be travelling companions for decades to come.