Rock guitarist, guitar player and session musician, Richard Barber - available for hire for your working band in Oahu, Hawaii

Borrison Ivy is composed of Sam the drummer from Iran, Lannon the vocalist from New Zealand, Quay the bassist from the Philippines and Richard the guitarist from Australia. We are four people of different nationalities, different cultural backgrounds, different beliefs and - at times - quite different world views. We met over the internet and put together Borrison Ivy!

A lot of people ask where the band's name comes from. Richard was bouncing around ideas for a band name with his wife. At the time, they had a plant called 'Boris' and a plant called 'Ivy' - he was going through a stage of naming his plants at the time; don't ask - and he suggested Boris And Ivy. This soon turned into Borrison Ivy.

Musically, the band tries to leave lots of space in its songs, letting the listener be drawn in before coming in with catchy, pumping riffs. One of the guys from Def Leppard said that you should punctuate a song, not obliterate it, and that's something we consciously do. Lyrically, artists like Ozzy Osbourne and Good Charlotte have been an inspiration as they write easy-to-understand songs about issues that touch us. Enigmatic lyrics couched in layers of metaphor don't really appeal. We try to write songs that are easy to sing along to, with foot-stomping tunes. If we had to, we could sum them up in a word: catchy.

When we play, we want the audience to feel melody, rhythm and rapport. We would feel very, very happy if the melodies caught their attention and they found themselves getting excited and ready to sing along with the chorus. We also want them to dig the different rhythms and phrases so that they want to nod their heads, tap their feel or get up and dance. And we also feel happy if the lyrics strike a chord so they see that others share their concerns.

We are all incredibly passionate about the band and have all worked hard to make it a success. Richard once had a 300 kg piece of gym equipment fall on him, crushing the end of his finger, putting him in hospital for a week and forcing him to undergo reconstructive surgery - but he still went in to record 'Brake, Baby!' for our debut album 10 days later. Similarly, Lannon sang at our live gig at the Souk Madinat with a very nasty sinus and chest infection, but you wouldn't have been able to tell as he sang with such energy and passion. Sam works all the time, but he's always at rehearsals and recordings, and is 100 per cent focused on the job. And Quay works his guts out and has a family to look after, but always finds time to go over new riffs and bits of the songs with great focus and attention to detail.

Our plans for the immediate future vary. For Richard, it's getting the three metal pins removed from his finger and starting physiotherapy. Quay wants to write songs and promote the band. And, as a whole, we plan to finish recording our debut album. Then we're going to send it out to companies all over the globe and try to get a contract to re-record it at a full production standard. And we'll be playing as many gigs as we can.

James Wilkinson.

(96 Time Out Dubai July 17 - 24 2008)