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Members
History Radio Birdman began recording in 1976 (see 1976 In Music ) when the single " Burn My Eye " was released. They took their name from a misheard lyric in The Stooges song, "1970". (The actual line is "Radio burnin'") Their first LP, '' Radios Appear '', showed diverse influences, including Detroit bands of the late 1960s , such as The MC5 and The Stooges . The album was totally ignored by commercial radio but was championed by Sydney station 2JJ (Double Jay) and became sufficiently successful in Australia to lead to a contract with Sire Records ( US label, home of The Ramones ), who released a different version of ''Radios Appear'' internationally. It took three years to record a follow-up, '' Living Eyes '', and by then, the Australian punk scene had diversified and the band broke up before the LP was released. Lyrics The band's lyrics reference US-born guitarist/main songwriter Deniz Tek's home state of Michigan, with lyrics from tracks such as "Murder City Nights" referring to Woodward Avenue in Detroit: "Cruising down Woodward gotta find me some action/Looking for a lover with a power reaction." Many of their other songs, such as "Hand Of Law" & "Descent Into The Maelstrom" deal in apocalyptic images of war and violence, but these are more than balanced by the lighter pop culture references of tunes such as "Aloha Steve & Danno", an ode to the TV show Hawaii 5-0 . "Man With Golden Helmet" (which Tek wrote in high school) is one of their most cryptic efforts: "Man with golden helmet/drinks water from the faucet..plays with tiny children/on his way home from work...he's a top man/in the language department". Deniz Tek wrote most of the lyrics and music for the band Other bands All members went on to other bands. Younger's New Christs would be more oriented towards hard-edged, blues-based rock and roll. Tek and Keeley and keyboardist Pip Hoyle 's band, The Visitors , and guitarist Chris Masuak and bass guitarist Warwick Gilbert 's The Hitmen continued the Radio Birdman sound. Tek, Younger & Gilbert played in a one-shot touring band called New Race, with Dennis Thompson of the MC5 & Ron Asheton of The Stooges . Reunions All six members reunited for the Big Day Out tour in 1996 and again in 1997 . Since then Radio Birdman have continued to perform 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 Keely left the band in 2004, after the band's performance at the Azkena Festival in Spain, and has been replaced by Nik Reith, formerly of the Celibate Rifles , and also a past member of the New Christs and the Deniz Tek Group. He was replaced after six shows by You Am I drummer Russell Hopkinson. The band has finished recording a new album, and will be touring the as yet un-named disc in Australia in July-August 2006 and the USA and Europe from October 2006. A series of shows across Australia took place in February 2006, and there was an unsuccessful movement to have them added to the bill of the 2006 Big Day Out festival, which was headlined by kindred spirits The Stooges . Discography
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