Icehouse front man Iva Davies has filmed a video for Tourism Australia highlighting the importance contemporary music has played in the Great Southern Land.
Davies says “Today I’m at a festival right in the centre of Sydney in a park called The Domain. This festival is called Homebake and there’s a reason it’s called Homebake. It’s a special one for me because it features only Australian and New Zealand artists, so it’s a great way to submerge yourself straight into all that wonderful music from this place.
He also explains how the country inspired one of the Icehouse’s biggest singles, Great Southern Land: “It was on tour when we were flying over Australia that I had a light bulb moment suddenly discovered the scale of Austraila and the incredible contrast of countryside, and from that experience I wrote a song called Great Southern Land.”
The campaign is digital-only and will be broadcast on YouTube and on Tourism Australia’s website. It marks a significant change in the way Australia is marketed to the world; the marketing body has always ignored Australia’s music scene in favour of sporting events or cliched pictures of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the desert and the Great Ocean Road.
Davies was announced as a “friend of Australia” by Tourism Australia recently to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s first album, when the band was called Flowers and their debut album was called Icehouse.
Watch the ad below:
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