The Kevin Borich Tapes: IF LICKS COULD KILL

Snippets from the archives of a bygone era

A message scribbled on the wall of Newcastle’s legendary Star Hotel in the 1970s read, “If licks could kill, Kevin Borich would be doing hard time.” I chatted recently with the New Zealand-born guitar virtuoso and singer-songwriter about his latest album, Duets. It’s an album featuring a magnificent array of talent that Borich has managed to string together, which is indicative of the respect and camaraderie he has garnered in a career that has spanned some sixty years.

Encouraged by his parents, Kevin Borich started playing guitar at age 12. He says his parents first realised his music potential when they saw him perform a concert from his verandah to the vacant front lawn, where he banged away with a stick on an olive oil can and delivered a recital on a trumpet with no keys. He then progressed to feigning guitar on a tennis racket, eventually graduating to a single-pickup Hofner electric guitar, which his mother bought him. “I had three chords down by about age 12. The first song I learned was Hank Williams, ‘Honky Tonk’. It was a wonderful song because it was G all the way, and at one stage it went to D, and I had it nailed,” says Borich with a chuckle.

Kevin Borich was a founding member of the La De Das, formerly The Mergers, formed at Rutherford High School in Te Atatu in 1963. “We had quite a few hit records in New Zealand, including a number one with ‘How is the Air Up There’, and also ‘Hey Baby’,” says Borich.

The La De Das departed for Australian shores long before I toured New Zealand on a working holiday in 1970, dragging my acoustic guitar all over the country. My prize possession upon returning home was a 45-rpm vinyl single, Yesterday When I Was Young, by NZ singer Suzanne Donaldson. The song was never released in Australia, but it was a hit in New Zealand, and I recently learned that it was Kevin Borich who, some 10 years earlier at age 12, first recorded a repertoire of songs with Suzanne and her sister Judy, who lived next door on a poultry farm in Borich’s home town on Motu Road, Huapai, NZ.

“Suzanne and her sister, Judy, were in the poultry farm next door, and their mum must’ve caught me having a bit of a play on guitar outside, and she said, ‘Why don’t you come over and have a bit of a jam with the girls?’ We jammed away and had a little repertoire, and their mum was smart enough to say, ‘That sounds pretty good; we’d better go and record it.’ So we went to a studio (Astor Studios) in Auckland, and we all stood around one microphone as they cut it down to an acetate disc,” says Borich.

In 1971, the La De Das had a hit song with ‘Gonna See My Baby Tonight’, which was written by Borich, and the band was doing shows with some of the biggest Australian and overseas acts in the business. After some line-up changes, the La De Das were eventually whittled down to a three-piece before disbanding in 1975. Playing three-piece was the precursor to Borich forming the Kevin Borich Express in 1976, with Harry Brus on bass guitar and Barry Harvey on drums. In 1977 and 1978, Borich won ‘Best Guitarist’ at the Australian Rock Music Awards.

In January of 1981, a commercial by Sydney radio station Triple M featured a montage of iconic images flashing across our television screens, with Dr. Dan, a mythological electric guitar-playing satyr with wings, belting out a monumental guitar solo. The now-famous lead break, which was lifted from ‘Introduction (The Journey of a Fool)’ on Mike Batt’s Tarot Suite album, was played by Kevin Borich for the Triple M promotion.

“I went to the session, and Jimmy Sloggett (an acclaimed sax player and music arranger) put the music up. I thought I was just going to be jamming because I can’t read music. So I said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t read the fly shit on this paper.’ They would have gotten someone else who could read music, but Sloggett insisted. ‘We want your sound, so I’ll come round to your place and I’ll whistle it to you,’ and that’s what he did,” says Borich.

Coincidentally, prior to the Triple M ad, Borich had attended Rory Gallagher’s Sydney concert at the Capital Theatre in 1980, unaware that it was Gallagher who had played the original lead on the track taken from the Mike Batt and Friends album. “Michael Chugg had something to do with that show, and he was managing me at the time, so I asked him to get me in to see the show because I was a fan,” said Borich.

In 1982, Borich was playing alongside Joe Walsh (The Eagles), who did two tours with Borich’s third band, The Party Boys. The bond between Borich and Walsh continued for over forty years, with Joe Walsh recording ‘The Fires’ with Borich on the new Duets album. In total, for the album, Borich sought out twelve great artists that he had admired and worked with over the years, including Joe Walsh, Leo Sayer, Ian Moss, Tim Rogers, Ella Hooper, Russell Morris, Suze DeMarchi, Angry Anderson, Joe Camilleri, Ross Wilson, Angela Fabian, and Swanee.

Borich describes himself as ‘ham-fisted’ on the piano, but it was on that instrument that he first worked on the song ‘There’s a Road’, which Swanee sings on the Duets album. “Way back in Bondi, I put the sunnies on, pretending I was Ray Charles, and the gospel feel, chord structure, and vocal came out.” Swanee (John Swan) added some lyrics and the melody for the song.

All of the backing tracks on the Duets album were done in Borich’s ‘Vibrating House Studio’, which sits underneath his house at Maleny on 80 acres of bushland on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Queensland. The album was produced by Nick O’Donnell (musician, producer, and arranger), who also contributes musically on the album. Borich’s son Lucius plays drums on five of the twelve tracks, and Kevin Borich Express members John Carson (drummer) and Chris Gilbert (bass) are heavily featured on the album.

Not only is Kevin Borich a success story in his own right, but his career has been embellished by being invited to record and tour with some of the biggest names in the industry, and he has been invited onstage for impromptu performances with some of the great guitar legends of the modern music era.

Bo Diddley:

“I was at the Bombay Rock in the 70s. We’d already done a show, and we’re hanging out in the VIP area. Michael Gudinski and I were watching Bo Diddley. Michael must’ve brought him out; I can’t remember. So Michael says, ‘Go on, get up, and play.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean, get up and play? I can’t just walk on there and play; you don’t do that, mate.’ Then he shuffles off, and there must’ve been a break, then he comes back and says, ‘Up you go, I’ve organised it.’ So this guitar player puts a guitar on me. I’d been watching, and I noticed that he (Bo Diddley) was using open tuning. So I’m aware of the tuning, but Bo doesn’t know that. So he says, ‘You better tune that guitar, boy.’ And I say, ‘It’s cool, Bo; I’ve been watching, I know what you’re doing; I’m cool with this.’

And then he just gives me a ‘stupid white boy’ look, turns around, and starts getting into it. So I’m vamping away and he’s singing, and in between one of his phrases there’s a little gap, and I sting a few licks, then he turns around, like he picks up on it, and gives me a smile. Then I play a lot more, and then we’re side-by-side going for it, and the house is going berserk,” says Borich.

Ritchie Blackmore:

“After our show (Sunbury 1975), I was walking around backstage and I came across some caravans, and I’m looking at something like ‘God’s Guitar Shop of Stratocasters’; there’s some guys tuning them up, and one of them asked, ‘Who was that band on before?’ I said, ‘That was my band.’ One of them said, ‘Ritchie thought it was great.’ So, I jumped in and said, for a joke, ‘Well, we’re playing at the Bombay Rock in Melbourne tomorrow; tell him to come down and have a jam.’ So we’re playing at the Bombay Rock, and I see someone holding a Stratocaster coming through the crowd towards the stage, and a guy with black hair following him. And I thought this could be Ritchie, and it was. I had two Marshalls, and he plugged into one, and we just rocked out. We did two or three songs, and the crowd went absolutely nuts because they knew who it was; they knew there was a superstar on stage,” said Borich.

Carlos Santana:

“We’d done our set (Kevin Borich Express 1977, Calder Park, Melbourne) and had a great reaction. I was backstage on the opposite side, looking across at Carlos (Santana) over there on the other side. All of a sudden, I feel this yank, and there’s a guy grabbing me by the arm. I turn around, and there’s this American: ‘He wants you out there; come on!’

“He drags me behind the stage and across to the other side, then up on stage, and he points at an amplifier, grabs a guitar, sticks it over my head, and plugs me in. And there I am, wondering what the hell! I’m making sure it’s (the amp) making a noise; I turn up the volume, and I’m sort of vamping a bit trying to find out what key it is, and he turns around and gives me a smile and points to me, like, ‘Have a go,’ kind of thing. So I start playing a few lines, and quick as a flash, he jumps on and plays a little harmony with me, which was gorgeous. Then he sort of said, ‘Go for it.’ So I started playing, and all of a sudden the sound coming out of my amp died, and I don’t know if the amp blew up or they ceremoniously turned me down,” says Borich.

In 2005, Kevin Borich was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. “They gave me eight months to live, but after about a year and a half, I was back on stage.” He attributes his recovery to medical staff and treatments, a book by Dr. Ruth Cilento, ‘Choose Your Own Survival Path’, and especially his wife Melissa, who mentored him on meditation and yoga. Borich has been in remission for over a decade now and continues to tour and record. For information about the Duets album and touring dates of Kevin Borich Express, visit kevinborich.com.au.

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Main Image: Caricature by Chris Grosz of KB playing with Bo Diddley