Radio Birdman | |
|---|---|
 Radio Birdman logo | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | |
| 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 |
Radio Birdman are anAustralianpunk rock band formed byDeniz Tek andRob Younger inSydney in 1974.[1]Classic Rock magazine describes them as "Australia’s first influential punk band".[2][3]
Deniz Tek andRob Younger formed Radio Birdman in the mid-1970s (around 1974) inSydney, Australia, having recently left their former projects,TV Jones and the Rats.[4] They recruited classical keyboard player Philip "Pip" Hoyle, drummer Ron Keeley, and bassist Carl Roke. The band took their name from amondegreen of the phrase “Radio 'burning'” inThe Stooges' song "1970".[5]
In 1975, after facing rejection from various venues and performing in rented garages and community halls[citation needed], Radio Birdman secured a residency at the Oxford Tavern[citation needed] atTaylor Square inSydney. They eventually took over the venue's management, renaming it The Oxford Funhouse.[1] By then, Carl Roke had been replaced by former Rats member Warwick Gilbert.
Radio Birdman developed a following within the emerging Sydneypunk scene.[6] With the help ofRock Australia Magazine editor, Anthony O'Grady, the band selected a recording studio and recorded an EP,Burn My Eye, and their first album,Radios Appear, both produced byJohn Sayers and Charles Fisher at Trafalgar Studios inAnnandale.[7]
UnderMichael McMartin's management, Trafalgar Studios signed the band and financed the recordings.Radios Appear was critically acclaimed, earning 5 stars in the Australian edition ofRolling Stone.[8] The album was influenced by Detroit bands of the late 1960s, such asMC5 andthe Stooges.[1][9] The album's title comes from theBlue Öyster Cult song, "Dominance and Submission", from their 1974Secret Treaties album, which influenced Radio Birdman's sound.[1]Radios Appear was played on Sydney station2JJ (Double Jay).[10] Released on the newly-created independent label Trafalgar Records, the album was sold by mail order and 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 band's breakup, Trafalgar Records licensed the recordings toWEA, who took on the album and gave it a wider release. However, sales remained limited.[11]
WhenSire Records presidentSeymour Stein came to Australia to signBrisbane punk bandthe Saints, he saw Radio Birdman and invited them to join his label.[11] Under Sire, licensed by Trafalgar, Radio Birdman released a new version ofRadios Appear featuring a mixture of re-mixed, re-recorded, and some new material.[12]
As thepunk movement in Australia continued to grow, the underground scene at the Funhouse began to attract some outsider groups, including the Sydney chapter of theHells Angels. Following a concert atPaddington Town Hall withthe Saints and the Hot Spurs in April 1977, Radio Birdman left the Sydney scene, playing sporadically in other cities and working on new material.[3]
The band returned six months later and performed their most well-attended show atPaddington Town Hall on 12 December 1977, with approximately 2,000 attendees.[13] After this show, the band moved their base of operations to London and toured in the UK and Europe, headlining and as support for Sire label-mates theFlamin' Groovies.[14]
Their overseas operations were short-lived, asSire Records began having financial difficulties and dropped Radio Birdman and many other bands from the label. A planned American tour withthe Ramones, scheduled for the second half of 1978, was cancelled.[14] In May 1978, they recorded their second album,Living Eyes atRockfield Studios inWales. Unreleased by Sire, the tapes were released in 1981, long after the band's 1978 breakup.[15]
Without a label, with no tour support or distribution forRadios Appear, the relationships between the band's members grew strained. They split up after playing one last show atOxford University in June 1978.[3]
All six members went on to other bands. Younger joined the Other Side, and laterNew Christs, bands more oriented towards hard rock.[16] Tek, Keeley, and keyboardist Pip Hoyle formedthe Doors-influenced inner-city bandthe Visitors.[17] GuitaristChris Masuak and bass guitarist Warwick Gilbert'sthe Hitmen went on to participate in theAustralian pub rock scene.[18] Tek, Younger, and Gilbert played in a one-shot touring band calledNew Race, withDennis Thompson of theMC5 andRon Asheton ofthe 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 andThe Second Wave, on the French label Revenge.
A non-musical LP,Soldiers of Rock 'n' Roll, was released in 1982. This album, described by the record company as "an audio documentary of Radio Birdman," was released after Deniz Tek had left music to pursue a career as a jet pilot and was assembled by the people at Trafalgar Records, akin to a soundtrack for a documentary that was never produced.
Radio Birdman reunited for theBig 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 theNew Christs,Louis Tillett,the Passengers,the Barracudas andDeniz Tek. Drummer Ron Keeley left the band in 2004 after the band's performance at the Azkena Festival in Spain. He was temporarily replaced by Nik Reith, formerly ofthe Celibate Rifles,Tumbleweed, theNew Christs and the Deniz Tek Group. He was replaced after six shows byYou Am I drummerRusty Hopkinson.[19]
The band's next album,Zeno Beach, was released in Australia on 24 June 2006 via the band's own Crying Sun Records, and in the US viaYep Roc Records on 22 August.Zeno Beach was recorded in Sydney in December 2005, produced by guitarist Deniz Tek and engineer Greg Wales. Carl Roke, the original Radio Birdman bassist, died the year of the new album's scheduled release, which was dedicated to his memory.[20]
Following a February tour of Australian capital cities, the band toured internationally in support ofZeno 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 the LA soul/punk bandThe Bellrays.[21]
In July 2007, the band was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) 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).[22] The induction saw all living original members plus current members attend the ceremony, except for Pip Hoyle.[23]
Daniel Johns ofSilverchair gave the induction speech, followed by the band playing a two song set. The three guitarists (Tek, Masuak, and Dickson) also participated in a rehearsed stage move, each holding up their guitars and saluting the drums during the song New Race. Murray Shepherd (ex-The Screaming Tribesmen and currentThe Hitmen drummer) sat in on drums for this occasion, as then-drummer Russell Hopkinson was touring with You Am I.[24]
The band toured Australia, the US, Canada, and Europe, with approximately 80 concerts in 2007. In September 2007, the band featured in theClash of the Titans tour alongsidethe Stems andHoodoo Gurus which launched inSydney at theEnmore Theatre and included dates across Australia. In October 2007, Radio Birdman ceased touring after a long run of dates in Europe, ending inAthens,Greece.[25]
In 2014, the band released a box set on the Citadel label. 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.[26]
In June and July 2017, the band undertook a joint national tour withDied Pretty.[27] They last performed live in 2019.[3]
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 inRolling Stone Australia's "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time" issue.[28]
In 2024, Radio Birdman toured Australia to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The tour culminated with 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.[29]
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| Crying Sun Records | |
|---|---|
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| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | Radio Birdman |
| Genre | Indie rock/Garage rock |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Location | Sydney |
Crying Sun Records is a 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[30] and their 2006 reunion album,Zeno Beach.[31][32]
The label is named after the song "Crying Sun" by Radio Birdman on their 1981 studio album,Living Eyes. Crying Sun Records was originally based around band-owned music venue turned bar, The Oxford Funhouse.[33][34] Crying Sun Records was created by the band in association withCitadel 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.[35]
The Crying Sun Records logo was designed by Radio Birdman bass player, Warwick Gilbert.[36]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| AUS [37][38] | ||
| Radios Appear |
| 51 |
| Radios Appear (Overseas Version) |
| 89 |
| Living Eyes |
| 55 |
| Zeno Beach |
| 59 |
| Title | Release |
|---|---|
| More Fun! (ep) | 1988 |
| Ritualism | 1996 |
| Live in Texas | 2011 |
| Live at Paddington Town Hall | 2015 |
| Title | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Soldiers of Rock'n'Roll: An Audio Documentary of Radio Birdman CD | 1982 | |
| Under the Ashes CD/LP | 1988 | |
| The EPs (CD) | 1992 | |
| The Essential Radio Birdman CD (SubPop) | 2001 | US CMJ Top 200 Albums #9[39] |
| Living Eyes/More Fun CD | 2005 | |
| Radio Birdman Box Set | 2014 |
| Title | Release |
|---|---|
| "New Race/TV Eye" | 1977 |
| "Aloha Steve and Danno/Anglo Girl Desire" | 1978 |
| "What Gives?/Anglo Girl Desire" | 1978 |
| "Alone in the Endzone/Breaks My Heart" | 1981 |
| "Hungry Cannibals/Rock Bottom" | 2006 |
| "Zeno Beach/Subterfuge" | 2007 |
| "Buried and Dead/Ballad of Dwight Fry" | 2016 |
In 2018, the DVD documentaryDescent into the Maelstrom: The Radio Birdman Story was released internationally; it also received an HD release onVimeo andiTunes.[40] 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 members and fans. The DVD was an official selection of the Detroit Freep Film Festival 2018, theGlasgow Film Festival 2018, the London Screensound Festival 2018, and the Manifesto Festival Amsterdam 2018.The Guardian called it "brutally honest',[41] and I-94 Bar called it "the best rock documentary ever made".[10][42]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |