Radio Birdman

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Radio Birdman
Radio Birdman logo
Background information
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Punk rock garage rock proto-punk surf rock
Years active	1974–1978, 1996–2008, 2014–present
Labels	Sire Records (1976–1978) Crying Sun Records (1996–present)
Members	Rob Younger Deniz Tek Jim Dickson Phillip 'Pip' Hoyle Nik Rieth Dave Kettley
Past members	Chris Masuak Russell Hopkinson Carl Rorke Warwick Gilbert Ron Keeley
Website	radiobirdman.com

Radio Birdman is an Australian punk rock band formed by Deniz Tek and Rob Younger in Sydney in 1974.^[1] Classic Rock magazine has described them as 'Australia’s first and most influential punk band'.^[2][3]

Deniz Tek and Rob Younger formed Radio Birdman in mid-1974 in Sydney, having recently left their bands TV Jones and the Rats, respectively.^[4] They recruited classical keyboard player Philip "Pip" Hoyle, drummer Ron Keeley, and bassist Carl Rorke. The band took their name from a mondegreen of “radio burning” in the Stooges' song "1970".^[5]

After being rejected from various venues and performing in rented garages and community halls, by mid-1975 Radio Birdman found an upstairs room at the Oxford Tavern in Taylor Square, Sydney. They eventually took over the venue's management, renaming it "The Funhouse".^[1] Before the opening of this venue, Carl Rorke had left the band and was replaced by friend of Rob Younger, Warwick Gilbert (also a former Rats member). Philip Hoyle also temporarily left the band.^{[citation needed]} Guitarist Chris Masuak was initially hired to replace Hoyle.^[5]

Radio Birdman developed a following within the emerging Sydney punk scene.^[6]

After unsuccessfully trying several studios, Radio Birdman found a supportive recording milieu with the help of Rock Australia Magazine editor, Anthony O'Grady. They recorded an EP, Burn My Eye, and their first album, Radios Appear, produced by John L Sayers and Charles Fisher at Trafalgar Studios in Annandale.^[7] Under Michael McMartin's management, Trafalgar Studios signed the band and financed the recordings. Radios Appear was critically acclaimed, earning 5 stars in the Australian edition of Rolling Stone.^[8] The album owed much of its style to Detroit bands of the late 1960s, such as MC5 and the Stooges, as well as influences ranging from the Doors to the Velvet Underground and instrumental surf music.^[9] The title of the album comes from the Blue Öyster Cult song "Dominance and Submission" from their 1974 Secret Treaties album, influences which can also be seen in Birdman's creative output.^[1] Radios Appear was played on Sydney station 2JJ (Double Jay).^[10] Released on the newly created, independent label Trafalgar Records, the album was sold via mail-order and was distributed by band members and friends to a few record stores, never achieving widespread sales or commercial success.^[7][11] Several years after the initial release and following the breakup of the band, Trafalgar Records licensed the recordings to WEA, who took on the album and gave it a wider release. However, sales remained limited.^[11]

When Sire Records president Seymour Stein came to Australia to sign Brisbane punk band the Saints, he saw Radio Birdman and invited them to join his label.^[11] Under Sire, licensed by Trafalgar, Radio Birdman released a new version of Radios Appear featuring a mixture of re-mixed, re-recorded, and some new material.^{[citation needed]}

The underground scene at the Funhouse, with the growth of the punk movement in Australia, began to attract some groups with negative agendas, including the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels. The band was held responsible for the violent incidents occurring at the venue and expressed concerns that a disaster was imminent.^{[citation needed]} Following a concert at Paddington Town Hall with the Saints and the Hot Spurs in April 1977, they left the Sydney scene altogether, playing sporadically in other cities and working on new material.^[12]

The band returned half a year later and performed their most successful show to date at Paddington Town Hall on 12 December 1977, with approximately two thousand attendees.^{[citation needed]} After this show, the band moved their base of operations to London and toured in the UK and Europe, both headlining and as support for Sire label-mates the Flamin' Groovies. Their overseas success was short-lived as Sire Records began having financial difficulties and was forced to drop Radio Birdman and many other bands from the label. A planned American tour with the Ramones, scheduled for the second half of 1978, was cancelled. In May 1978, they recorded their second album, Living Eyes at Rockfield Studio in Wales. Unreleased by Sire, the tapes eventually were released in 1981, long after the band's 1978 breakup.^{[citation needed]}

Without a label, with no tour support and no distribution for Radios Appear, the band continued on while suffering deteriorating interpersonal relations. Radio Birdman played one last show at Oxford University in June 1978, after which the band split up.^[13]

All six members went on to other bands. Younger's the Other Side and later New Christs were more oriented towards hard rock. Tek and Keeley, with keyboardist Pip Hoyle, formed the Doors-influenced inner-city band the Visitors, and guitarist Chris Masuak and bass guitarist Warwick Gilbert's the Hitmen went on to moderate success in the Australian pub rock scene. Tek, Younger, and Gilbert played in a one-shot touring band called New Race, with Dennis Thompson of the MC5 and Ron Asheton of the Stooges. They made no studio recordings but released one official "live" album, The First and Last, and there are two more "bootleg" live albums, The First to Pay and The Second Wave, on the French label Revenge. A non-musical LP, Soldiers of Rock 'n' Roll, was released in 1982. This strange album, described by the record company as "an audio documentary of Radio Birdman," was released after Deniz had quit music to be a jet pilot and was assembled by the people at Trafalgar Records, like a soundtrack for a documentary movie that was never made. In 1990, Sheldon Booth (Melbourne Victoria) published Vivien Johnson's biography of the band Radio Birdman (ISBN 0731678397), described by Deniz Tek as "the most accurate account I've ever seen of what happened in the band" and by Lindsay Hutton of The Next Big Thing as "the nearest thing to a Birdman Bible as we're ever likely to be blessed with."^{[citation needed]}

Radio Birdman reunited for the Big Day Out tour in 1996 and again in 1997. Since then, Radio Birdman has toured sporadically. In 2002, Warwick Gilbert was replaced by Jim Dickson, who had previously played with the New Christs, Louis Tillett, the Passengers, the Barracudas and Deniz Tek. Drummer Ron Keeley left the band in 2004 after the band's performance at the Azkena Festival in Spain and was temporarily replaced by Nik Rieth, formerly of the Celibate Rifles, Tumbleweed, the New Christs and the Deniz Tek Group. He was replaced after six shows by You Am I drummer Russell Hopkinson.^{[citation needed]}

The year 2006 saw much activity by Radio Birdman, spearheaded by the completion of a new album entitled Zeno Beach, released in Australia on 24 June 2006 via the band's own Crying Sun Records, and in the US via Yep Roc Records on 22 August.Zeno Beach was recorded in Sydney in December 2005, produced by guitarist Deniz Tek and engineer Greg Wales. Carl Rorke, the original Radio Birdman bassist, died the year of the new album's scheduled release, and it was dedicated to his memory.^{[citation needed]}

Following a February tour of Australian capital cities, the band toured internationally in support of Zeno Beach in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the US, from 27 July 2006 in Sydney to 7 October. This was the first time Radio Birdman played in America. Many Australian dates featured LA soul/punk band the Bellrays.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2007, the band was inducted into the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame (in an interview, vocalist Rob Younger indicated the band had previously declined an invitation to join the Hall of Fame years before).^[14] The induction saw all living original members plus current members attend the ceremony, except for Pip Hoyle.^{[citation needed]}

Daniel Johns of Silverchair gave the induction speech, followed by the band playing a short set of two songs. The three guitarists (Tek, Masuak, and Dickson) also participated in what appeared to be an uncharacteristically rehearsed stage move, each holding up their guitars and saluting the drums during the song New Race. On a side note, Murray Shepherd (ex-the Screaming Tribesmen and current the Hitmen drummer) sat in on drums for this occasion, as then-drummer Russell Hopkinson was touring with You Am I.^{[citation needed]}

The band again toured Australia, the US, Canada, and Europe, with approximately 80 concerts in 2007. In September 2007, the band featured in the Clash of the Titans tour alongside the Stems and Hoodoo Gurus which launched in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre and included dates across Australia. Radio Birdman ceased touring after a long run of dates in Europe, ending in Athens, Greece, in October 2007.^{[citation needed]}

The band released a box set on the Citadel label in 2014. The box set included 7 CDs and 1 DVD, featuring remasters of the band's official releases plus archived and previously unheard studio material. The box also contains a professional recording of the 12 December 1977 Paddington Town Hall concert. In November 2014, the band was reassembled to promote the release of the Box Set, and played shows across Australia. The 2014 lineup featured Nik Rieth on drums and Dave Kettley on guitar (replacing longtime member Chris Masuak), along with Jim Dickson (bass) and original founding members Rob Younger, Pip Hoyle, and Deniz Tek. Radio Birdman completed European and Australian tours in 2015 and 2016.^{[citation needed]}

The band undertook a joint national tour with Died Pretty in June and July 2017.^[15] They last performed live in 2019.^[16]

In 2017, Radio Birdman was the subject of a feature-length documentary, Descent into the Maelstrom – The Radio Birdman Story.^[4] The film covered the band's history, from precursor bands The Rats and TV Jones to their European tour in 2015. In December 2020, Radio Birdman were listed at number 44 in Rolling Stone Australia's "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time" issue.^[17]

A commemorative tour of Australia in 2024 celebrated 50 years of Radio Birdman, culminating in a Sydney concert.^[5] A biography "Retaliate First: How one band smashed the rules of Australian rock and roll" was released in July 2024 coinciding with this final tour.^[18]

• Deniz Tek - Guitar (1974-1978, 1996-2008, 2014-present)
• Rob Younger - Vocals (1974-1978, 1996-2008, 2014-present)
• Philip "Pip" Hoyle - Keyboards (1974-1978, 1996-2008, 2014-present)
• Jim Dickson - Bass (2002-2008, 2014-present)
• Nik Rieth - Drums (2005, 2014-present)
• Dave Kettley - Guitar (2014-present)

• Carl Rorke - Bass (1974-1975; died 2005)
• Ron Keeley - Drums (1974-1978, 1996-2004)
• Warwick Gilbert - Bass (1975-1978, 1996-2002)
• Chris "Klondike" Masuak - Guitar (1976-1978, 1996-2008)
• Russell "Rusty" Hopkinson - Drums (2005-2008)

Crying Sun Records
Founded	1996
Founder	Radio Birdman
Genre	Indie rock/Garage rock
Country of origin	Australia
Location	Sydney

Crying Sun Records is the record company privately owned by Radio Birdman. Only a few albums have been released by this label including Radio Birdman's 1996 live album, Ritualism^[19] and their 2006 reunion album, Zeno Beach.^[20][21]

The label is named after the song "Crying Sun" by Radio Birdman on their 1981 studio album, Living Eyes. Crying Sun Records were originally based around Radio Birdman owned music venue turned bar, The Oxford Funhouse.^[22][23] Crying Sun Records was created by the band in association with Citadel Records to handle all the band's current and future recorded work. It was created to ensure that the band would be completely independent of record industry support or influence. This was seen as essential to maintaining the band's commitment to quality and fairness for the people who choose to listen.^[24]

The Crying Sun Records logo was designed by Radio Birdman bass player, Warwick Gilbert.^[25]

In 2018, the DVD documentary Descent into the Maelstrom: The Radio Birdman Story was released internationally; it also received an HD release on Vimeo and iTunes.^[29] It was written, directed and edited in Australia by Jonathan Sequeira, and produced by Mark Sequeira and Jonathan Sequeira. The documentary features live footage of the band and interviews with its various members and fans. The DVD was an official selection of the Detroit Freep Film Festival 2018, the Glasgow Film Festival 2018, the London Screensound Festival 2018, and the Manifesto Festival Amsterdam 2018. The Guardian called it "brutally honest',^[30] and I-94 Bar called it "the best rock documentary ever made".^[10][31]

• Official website
• Radio Birdman on Trove, The National Library of Australia
• Zeno Beach Fan microsite
• Divine Rites Fansite
• Interview from Melbourne's Age Newspaper
• Music Australia Additional Information
• Shock Records- Biography