Phantom (1980) Citadel (1983) Red Eye Records (1994)
Musical artist
The Visitors were an Australian rock band formed in 1978 after the breakup of popular punk rock band Radio Birdman. The songs were written by Deniz Tek but unlike many other Tek bands, Tek did not sing vocals in The Visitors. Instead the vocals were sung by long-time friend of the band Mark Sisto. The addition of Sisto's vocal alongside a predominantly ex-Birdman lineup, created what many [who?] believed as the next generation of Birdman, with a vocal which mirrored that of The Doors. They played only 12 shows in the Sydney area starting in late 1978 and continuing into August 1979.
In 1978, when Deniz Tek and Rob Younger returned from the United States to Australia, their band Radio Birdman had taken heavy losses on the British tour which resulted in the dissolution of the band. Tek and Younger expected to reconstitute the band in Australia, but the damage done on the British tour was too great to repair. Ron Keely had already quit, Warwick Gilbert had said nothing but was expected to leave. What they didn't expect was Chris Masuak informing them, upon their return, that he would no longer play in the band, choosing instead to join the band The Hitmen.
Tek and Younger had decided that the days of Radio Birdman were over, as they felt there was no longer a critical mass of dedicated original members to work with. Younger stayed in Sydney where he formed the band The Other Side, whilst Tek relocated to Newcastle to finish his medical internship. He didn't play for about 6 months until the pain of withdrawal became too great and he began to collaborate with Mark Sisto, the old Birdman master of ceremonies and bodyguard who had remained loyal even after being unceremoniously ejected from the British tour a year earlier.
It was from an intense desire to play that the energy came to form The Visitors, the same desire fuelled the live performances and recording of the album. From 1978 to 1979 The Visitors were Deniz Tek on guitar, Mark Sisto on vocals, Ron Keeley on drums, Pip Hoyle on keyboards and Steve Harris on bass. Their style was a dark mixture. The band being 3/5ths Birdman, including the chief songwriter, was almost like the next phase of Radio Birdman had that band continued on. At the same time, the sound of the band was more like the early Birdman days with the single guitar plus keyboard format.
There was much more technical ability this time around. The music was hard and heavy, while maintaining a melodic sense unusual in those immediate post-punk days. The band was crushingly loud, the guitar stage setup being two 100 watt Marshall Super Lead heads pushed through 16 twelve inch speakers. This in small clubs! But with the top end rolled off and compression applied, the overall effect was survivable for the audience. Sisto brought a strong Doors influence. Visually they were striking, combining black clothing and shades with various dada/surrealist accoutrements.
The band reformed for two shows in Newcastle and Sydney December 2005 with a new rhythm section of Art and Steve Godoy (bass and drums respectively.) The pair were members of California punk band the Exploding Fucks Dolls and The Golden Breed, a power trio headed by Deniz Tek.
A new line-up convened in February 2008 and supported the Hitmen in Sydney and touring US band the BellRays in Brisbane. Tek, Sisto and Hoyle remained at the core with Andy Newman on bass and Nik Rieth on drums (ex-Celibate Rifles, Deniz Tek Group, Radio Birdman and Tumbleweed.) The band added sax player Jack Shanley as a new member. A mini tour of Wollongong, Sydney and Melbourne took place in August and September 2008 to coincide with the re-issue of their album on the Citadel label.
Radio Birdman is an Australian punk rock band formed by Deniz Tek and Rob Younger in Sydney in 1974. The group influenced other Australian punk bands along with the more notable band the Saints.
Rob Younger is an Australian rock musician, vocalist, songwriter and producer. He is a founding mainstay of the punk rock group Radio Birdman, and he is a pioneer of the local independent music scene. Radio Birdman, formed with Deniz Tek on guitar in November 1974, was one of the first punk rock bands ever formed in Australia, and it is considered one of the most influential and crucial bands in Australian music history. Younger formed a short-term super-group, New Race, in 1981. He also formed New Christs in that year, who is still active today.
The New Christs are an Australian garage rock band formed in 1980 by founding mainstay, Rob Younger, on lead vocals. Younger was the lead singer for punk rockers, Radio Birdman, and in other hard rock groups, New Race, Bad Music, the Other Side, Nanker Phelge, and Deep Reduction. The New Christs line-up since 2011 is Younger with Jim Dickson on bass guitar, Dave Kettley on guitar, Paul Larsen on drums and Brent Williams on guitar and keyboards. Over their career the group have issued five studio albums, Distemper (1989), Lower Yourself (1997), We Got This! (2002), Gloria (2009) and Incantations (2014). Three former members have died: Stevie Plunder in January 1996, Mark Wilkinson in December 2012 and Christian Houllemare in June 2014.
The Screaming Tribesmen were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1981 by mainstay Mick Medew on lead vocals and lead guitar. With various line-ups they released three studio albums, Bones and Flowers, Blood Lust (1990) and Formaldehyde (1993), before disbanding in 1998. They reformed in 2011 for performances until June 2012. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described how they, "fashioned a memorable brand of 1960s-inspired pop rock that combined equal parts existential lyric angst, melodic inventiveness and strident guitar riffs."
Deniz Tek is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and a founding member of Australian rock group Radio Birdman. He has played in many of the underground rock bands of the 1970s, including Australian bands The Visitors and New Race, but is most known for exerting his burning Detroit-style guitar influence over the punk rock genre in Australia.
Zeno Beach is a rock album by Australian band Radio Birdman released in June 2006. It maintains much of the sound the band had in the 1970s while adding a different style with You Am I drummer, Russell Hopkinson.
New Race was a Detroit rock–styled supergroup based in Sydney, Australia, formed in April 1981. New Race was a concept band featuring three members of Radio Birdman: Deniz Tek, Rob Younger, and Warwick Gilbert, along with their inspirational mentors: Ron Asheton of The Stooges, and Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson of MC5.
The First and the Last is a live album released by the "once-only" supergroup band New Race. The First and the Last is a collection of recordings from the various shows the band played along the East Coast of Australia in 1981. New Race contained members of the band Radio Birdman: Deniz Tek, Rob Younger, and Warwick Gilbert, along with guitarist from The Stooges- Ron Asheton, and MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson. The First and Last is often hailed as one of the greatest live Punk rock albums of all time, though there is a dispute as to the true genre of the album. Radio Birdman are often regarded as one of the integral influences of Australian punk rock, but their style and sound is often compared to that of the MC5 Detroit sound, and the broad genre of Proto-punk, which includes bands such as The Stooges, The Velvet Underground, and The New York Dolls.
Living Eyes was the second studio album released by Sydney, Australia punk rock band Radio Birdman. It was the last recorded album by the band as they split up shortly after it was recorded in 1978. The album was recorded over a three-week period at the Rockfield Studios in Wales whilst the band was on its first overseas tour, supporting the Flamin' Groovies around Britain and Europe. The original master tapes disappeared before the album was released and as a result the album was mastered from a cassette recording of trial mixes, which impacted on the sound quality. Living Eyes sound was heavily influenced by the lead guitarist and producer Deniz Tek who had lived in Detroit before moving to Australia and been influenced musically by the "Motor City Rock" sound. The music of Birdman has been compared to that of The Stooges and MC5, but their sound is also comparable to that of 60's rock 'n' roll bands such as The Rolling Stones.
Radios Appear is the first full-length studio album by Australian punk rock band Radio Birdman. The album was recorded at Birdman's Trafalgar Studios, Sydney, during 1976 and 1977. Trafalgar initially distributed the album via mail order and by sales from the backs of friend's and band members' station wagons. This laid the groundwork for future DIY punk bands in Australia. Radios Appear was hailed by many as a breakthrough album in Australian rock and a decisive change from the uneventful early mid-seventies scene.
Burn My Eye was the debut EP recorded by Sydney punk rock band Radio Birdman, in October 1976. It was a low-budget EP recorded at Trafalgar Studios, Sydney and released on the studio's own Trafalgar label after the band had been rejected by many other labels. Part of the reason that many labels were reluctant to sign the band was because of their unconventional sound, which was quite different from the music then popular in the Australian rock scene during the 1970s.
"Alone in the Endzone" was a single released by the Australian punk rock band Radio Birdman, the only single from their album Living Eyes. The distorted and original-sounding solo in the single's A-side, "Alone in the Endzone" is often mistakenly attributed to the lead guitarist Tek, but it was actually played by Chris Masuak. Tek played the rhythm part on the song.
The Angie Pepper Band was a post-punk band formed in Sydney, Australia.
Australian musicians played and recorded some of the earliest punk rock, led by The Saints who released their first single in 1976. Subgenres or offshoots of punk music, such as local hardcore acts, still have a strong cult following throughout Australia.
Ronald Stephen Peno, who also performed as Ron S. Peno and Ronnie Pop, was an Australian rock singer and songwriter who fronted Died Pretty from 1983 to 2002. Before that, he was a member of the punk band The Hellcats (1976–77), followed by hard rock band The 31st and The Screaming Tribesmen (1981). In his later years, after relocating to Melbourne, Peno formed the alt-country duo The Darling Downs with Kim Salmon and finally his own band, Ron S. Peno & The Superstitions.
Christopher William Masuak is a Canadian-born Australian musician, guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He joined the punk rock group, Radio Birdman, then the hard rockers, the Hitmen, and the Screaming Tribesmen (1984–89). Masuak has also been a member of New Christs (1983–84), the Juke Savages (1992–96), the Raouls (1996–97), and Klondike's North 40 (2002–08). He currently plays with The Viveiro Wave Riders in his adopted country of Spain. He has released material as Chris Boy King and as Klondike. Radio Birdman were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in July 2007.
The Hitmen are an Australian hard rock band formed in November 1977 by long-term members, Johnny Kannis on lead vocals and Chris Masuak on lead guitar as Johnny and the Hitmen. The group went through numerous line up changes in its first run from 1977 to 1984. They regrouped under a new name, Hitmen DTK, between 1989 and 1992. They have issued three studio albums, Hitmen, It Is What It Is and Moronic Inferno. The Hitmen reformed in 2007; Masuak left in 2015.
The Survivors were an Australian punk rock band that originally formed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, in 1976 as Rat Salad, a party band. The Survivors attained cult status in Australia by their acknowledged popular live performances and contribution to the Lethal Weapons punk compilation album. Original band members were Greg Williamson on guitar and vocals, Jim Dickson on bass guitar and vocals, Bruce Anthon on drums and vocals. David Nichols, from the Mess And Noise website, commented that, "The Survivors were legends in their home town of Brisbane, a highly popular and adept band whose sets were mainly cool ’60s covers."
The Fun Things were an Australian punk rock band that was formed during the heyday period of punk rock. Known for their admiration of Radio Birdman, they also have been documented as being "modeled on almost exclusively on the Radio Birdman/Stooges/Sex Pistols mould". Original band members were Brad Shepherd on guitar and vocals, John Hartley on bass guitar, Graeme Beavis on guitar and Murray Shepherd on drums. Brad Shepherd and Murray Shepherd were brothers in the band, which released one highly acclaimed E.P. and has become "one of the most collectable artifacts from Australia's punk rock era".
Mark Adrian Kingsmill is an Australian rock musician. He has drummed with several bands including the Hitmen (1979–84), New Christs (1983–84), the Screaming Tribesmen (1984) and Hoodoo Gurus. He is the older brother of Richard Kingsmill, former music director and presenter on Triple J.
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