Getting to Know… Ivy Gold | Interview 🎤

For the 166th interview, we get some awesome insight from Manou, the front woman of blues rock collective Ivy Good.

“We are an international self-made band – our members come from the USA, Europe, and UK. That really makes us unique.” Agreed, 🎙 Ivy Gold.  Of course, that’s not the only reason why the female-fronted contemporary blues rock collective is distinct.  In this our 166^th interview, we get the scoop about the band, directly from their dynamic front woman, 🎙 Manou.  I could sum up what she said, but that wouldn’t be nearly as fun as reading and checking it out for yourself. So, without further ado, here is 🎤 Getting to Know… Ivy Gold: Interview No. 166!

Starting things off right. For those who may not be familiar with Ivy Gold, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 We are an international self-made band – our members come from the USA, Europe, and UK. That really makes us unique. And of course, that we are absolutely self-managed and organized.

Ivy Gold delivers outstanding, versatile songs, packed with tons of emotion, energy and musical expertise. The awesome rhythm section with 🎙 Tal Bergman and 🎙 Kevin Moore build a groovy and powerful foundation for fun and groove. It sets the stage for some superb and diverse guitar performances which are simply electrifying and inspiring. 🎙 Sebastian [Eder’s] guitars melt with my voice producing a sunlit ocean of storytelling. With the tremendous chordal and chunky harmonic support from 🎙 Anders Olinder – the band can really shine. We truly hope that there will be live shows soon!!!

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Ivy Gold form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

🎤 Ivy Gold kind of got together by coincidence – OUT OF THE BLUE.  We never planned on a big project or anything like that at all. Sebastian and I had done a pre-production of a bunch of our songs. We initially just wanted to see what our songs sound like and that was it in a way. Once recorded, most of the songs actually sounded pretty good and the idea came up to send the demos out to a few people and see what happens. Tal Bergman works with Joe Bonamassa and of course we listened a lot to his music as well as to Tal’s & Joe’s band Rock Candy Funk Party. So, one evening I took all my courage I had inside of me and contacted Tal asking him if he would be willing to play drums on our songs. And guess what – he liked our music – believe me – I was thrilled! From that point on we knew we had something special going on – totally out of the blue we had a project and we decided to put a great band together, not only for the studio but also for live touring. Our friend Kevin Moore joined right after and then I asked my dear friend Sari Schorr to help me find a great keyboard player – that’s how we found the awesome Anders Olinder from the UK. And then I had put together a very special cosmopolitan band with members from the US, the UK and Germany that will definitely rock the live stages big time once we can go on the road!!

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 As I already mentioned, we never planned on making this such a big project. It kind of all happened by coincidence – like our motto – OUT OF THE BLUE – and I mean it when I say – FOR YOU because we want to give something to the people out there. It’s not about me really, it’s all about the people out there!! Our goal really is to help people understand our music and lyrics and hopefully make the world a better place. We hope to shine more light on the problems of society and the world. Ultimately, we would love to wake people up and have them look at the other side of the coin, and go back to the roots of love, harmony, and peace.

No, our aspirations haven’t changed up to this point. Music is such a great big force and energy, and we want to spread those vibes around the world!

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 In my earliest days when I was a little child – I loved ELVIS believe it or not 🙂 and to be honest I still do, he was one of the greatest artists and performers in my opinion. When I was like 6 or 7 years old, I would collect all different sorts of articles that were written in the press, cut them out and make my own ELVIS booklet. Later on, I kind of listened to mainstream pop music up until I was maybe 19 or 20. Then I moved to the US and got into Rock & Blues music quite a bit, but I also have tons of influences coming from gospel & a little soul.  I guess I don’t have one main influence that has impacted me over the years, it truly is a mixture of it all, even a bit of classical music as I studied it for a while.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 One really funny thing that happened on a gig some time back was when I had an outfit on which was new and I had never worn for a performance… so I mean here I am performing an acoustic show with my guitar playing and I have this kind of sexy shirt on that covers only one shoulder… the other side was naked. Anyway, since I’m playing and moving my hand quite a bit, the other side kept on falling down and I had a really hard time to cover up somehow 🙂 Always check your outfit very carefully ahead of time!!

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 Oh to be honest, it is really hard for me to pick one song that is my favorite to perform or that I have recorded. Each song is unique for me and has a special meaning to my inner soul and heart. Also, it varies on your own emotional state which song you feel comfortable with. For me what makes a song special is when it transports a message, an emotion, feelings allow me to dive into a different world while listening or performing.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?  

🎤 I am very much into Cosmology and Astrology. I just love to learn about how the Universes work and how it all relates to the micro- and the macrocosm. Astrology is such a great tool which I use a lot in my private life.

Closing this thing out, what is you/your band currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.   

🎤 We are currently working – like almost day and night – as we decided not to sign to any record label! So, we are doing everything by ourselves: promotion, marketing, management, distribution, public relation etc. We got a few record deals offered, but these days it’s not worth it to give away all the artists rights for hardly any money in return. So, we are shooting and editing videos these days, promoting the upcoming album and trying to get the word and music out to the world so a lot of people discover IVY GOLD.

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

🎤 Thanks so much for this interview!! And of course, for sharing and supporting Ivy Gold 🙂 we really appreciate it a lot – it means a lot to us!!

All the best to all of you!!

Manou & Ivy Gold

Follow Ivy Gold: https://linktr.ee/ivygold.net

[📷: Ivy Gold, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype]