radio

Riding to Newcastle to catch the first show of Radio Birdman tour is the obvious choice. Didn’t quite seem like it, trying to get outa Sydney on a Friday arvo. I took a quick spurt up the footpath a few times to relieve the tension. Then we hit the freeway and Jenny gave me that tap on the left hip that means ‘slow down’ but I was doing 90mph through one of the tighter curves and slowing down wasn’t the point. Nor possible. Can’t brake a motorcycle unless it’s reasonably upright.

1982, the first time I really heard Radio Birdman was the 1976 2JJ show at midnight on a Monday. Used to be a lot of good movies on late back then, ‘Vanishing Point’, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, ‘Five Easy Pieces.’ One night I walked into my little bedroom at the back of the house, flicked on the radio and my life changed.

Every friend and lover, every beautiful terrible moment, it all started then. It’s been one hell of a ride and the road rolls ever on.

_{Emmy Etie photo}

The tour is almost over and the verdicts are in following a re-tooling of the line-up with the controversial omission of guitarist Chris Masuak. We present divergent views of the sold-out Australian run of Radio Birdman shows.

Go here to read an appraisal of the Adelaide gig by Robert Brokenmouth and here to read Edwin Garland's read-out on the band's two Melbourne gigs. You can leave comments on both reviews. Photos are by Emmy Etie and Kyleigh Pitcher. 

Chris Masuak's exclusion from the Radio Birdman Australian tour has prompted an immediate reaction from fans with expressions of disbelief on social media and the launch of an online petition. 

The petition is live here. 

In other news, supports have been announced for all shows except Adelaide with Hard-Ons and HITS on most bills: 

Friday 31st October, 2014 – NEWCASTLE – Hard-Ons and Hurricanes
Saturday 1st November, 2014 – SYDNEY – Hard-Ons and HITS
Sunday 2nd November, 2014 – MELBOURNE - HITS
Monday 3rd November, 2014 – MELBOURNE - HITS
Friday 7th November, 2014 – BRISBANE - HITS
Saturday 8th November, 2014 – ADELAIDE - tba
Sunday 9th November, 2014 – PERTH – The Volcanics

Fifteen years ago, US-based rabid rock and roll fans in Washington DC launched a mission to issue a tribute album to the songs of Radio Birdman played by what were then contemporary bands.

Reaction to the "Flattery" tribute was so positive that Jake Starr and Dave Champion were forced to package it as three standalone CDs through their Fandango Records and Nomad Records imprints.

Now well into the 40th anniversary year of Radio Birdman's first gig, Spanish label Ghost Highway has picked up the idea and will re-issue the cream as "(The Best Of) Flattery", a vinyl double LP, funded through crowd-sourced finance. The LPs will be accompanied by a 7" single.

Canadian-expat Aussie Chris “Klondike” Masuak’s the kind of guy who likes to put pictures of his guitars (Strat! Robin! Perspex Dan Armstrong! Firebird!) on his records (like his pal Deniz Tek did on his back-from-the-Navy career restarter “Take It to the Vertical:). One gets the sense that Klondike’s the kind of cat who just purely loves to play, and is as much of a fan as a muso.

_{Guitarist Dylan Webster from Newcastle band The Fools}

In the early ‘90s, raw and tough rock and roll was supposedly being re-birthed. Grunge had ushered in The Year That Punk Broke and the mainstream was finally embracing music that wasn’t safe and bland. Yeah. Right.

In reality, Real Rock and Roll was still fighting. The tidal wave that was the MP3 was about to arrive in earnest but the only game in town, as far as The Industry was concerned, was Grunge, a sludgy offspring of heavy metal and punk that promised little and (mostly) delivered less.  

Too harsh?  A lot of fine and worthy bands were trampled under the rush by major labels to sign any act with tuned-down guitars wearing flannelette shirts. It didn’t matter if their songs mostly remained the same; the big label A & R men couldn’t see past their own shaggy fringes.

Like Newton used to say, every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. In Australia, a fresh wave of high-energy acts like Powder Monkeys, Asteroid B612, Brother Brick, the YesMen and Bored! were kicking against the pricks and doing things their own way. A lesser light from the industrial port city of Newcastle, two hours north of Sydney, created their own ripples.

Band leader Deniz Tek has responded to fan commentary about Chris Masuak's omission from the touring line-up of Radio Birdman. In a brief Facebook posting this afternoon, Tek said:

"Thank you, all those giving your support ! We are totally stoked to be able to go out and play again. To those disappointed with the lineup change, I understand - and yes, it will be different without Chris. The decision to go on without him was not taken lightly. We will not discuss the reasons for it in public."

It is actually quite hard to review the work of someone you know and I tend to avoid it wherever possible.

It’s finally arrived. Years late, but well worth the wait.