Deniz Tek is a
singer,
guitarist and
songwriter and a founding member of
Australian group
Radio
Birdman who broke up, for the last time, after their last
European tour in 2007. He has played in many of the underground
rock bands of the 1970s including Australian bands
The Visitors,
New
Race and
The Passengers
but is most known for exerting his burning Detroit style guitar
influence over the punk rock genre in Australia. Tek's navy
codename 'Iceman' was appropriated by visiting screenwriters for a
character in the hit movie Top Gun.
Tek was
raised in Ann Arbor,
Michigan
, USA
. He spent 1967 in Sydney, Australia with his
family and was greatly attracted to the Australian landscape,
moving there permanently in 1972 to commence his medical studies at
The University of NSW in Randwick. Living around many of the
coastal Eastern Suburbs of Sydney in the early years of independent
music in Australia influenced and fuelled his musical material and
over thirty years later he continues to return to those seaside
shores for rest and recouperation.
Deniz Tek is a trained ER doctor and navy pilot who currently
splits his time working in ER departments in hospitals in NSW,
Australia and Montana in the US while managing to fit in touring
with a number of different Rock and Roll outfits during his
vacations.
Biography
Early years
Tek grew
up in Ann Arbor,
Michigan a college town near Detroit
where Tek
was exposed to Motor City music icons such as MC5, The Stooges and The Rationals. In the late '60s Ann
Arbor became somewhat of a nexus for rock music, hosting festivals
which drew performers from all around the world such as
Pink Floyd,
Janis
Joplin,
Johnny Winter,
Captain Beefheart, and a personal
favourite of Tek's,
The Rolling
Stones. Headlining world acts such The Rolling Stones aside,
Tek was heavily influenced by the mushrooming local underground
scene of Ann Arbor, which included bands such as The Frost, Mitch
Ryder, Carnal Kitchen with Steve Mackay, The Up, The SRC plus jazz
greats Pharaoh Sanders, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef.
In 1971
Tek left the rock metropolis of Ann Arbor to pursue his medical
studies in Sydney,
Australia
.
1972-73 with TV Jones
In late 1972 Tek had joined the band
TV
Jones as lead singer/guitarist along with Chris Jones on
guitar, Gerry Jones on drums (brother of the now successful jazz
trumpet player Vince Jones), Giles Vanderwerf on bass.
TV Jones had a
fanatical cult following in Wollongong
, to the point where things got crazed and dangerous
where by in 1974, the group fled north of the city. The band
was hopeful of success, but amid disastrous engagements at Chequers
and the Whisky A Go Go, ran afoul of both the police and organised
crime simultaneously. After unsuccessful album recording sessions
in North Sydney, the group began to disintegrate, sacking Tek from
TV Jones as a negative influence.
1974-78 with Radio Birdman
After being dismissed from TV Jones, Tek proceeded to form a new
band with long time friend
Rob Younger,
with the addition of Chris Masuak, Warwick Gilbert, Pip Hoyle and
Ron Keeley, and called themselves
Radio
Birdman, after a misheard
Stooges
lyric. Radio Birdman were arguably the most successful band that
Tek was associated with, despite the bands initial shunning from
the Australian music scene. The Radio Birdman sound was
unconventional and raw and echos the Motor City influences of Tek's
youth. Birdman are often attributed with the initiation of the
Australian indie rock scene, as after being repeatedly rejected
from various clubs and bars in the Sydney area, Birdman took it
upon themselves to record and release their first recording
Radios Appear, and distribute it out
the back of the band members station wagons. Radio Birdman began a
world tour in 1977 travelling to England and playing a few shows
around London as well as recording their second album
Living Eyes, until in 1978
the band broke up mid-tour due to "personality conflict".
1978-81 with The Visitors, Angie Pepper Band, and the New Race
tour
Following the demise of Radio Birdman, Tek proceeded to experiment
musically it several different bands. From 1978 to 1979 Deniz
dabbled in a band called
The
Visitors with Deniz on guitar, Mark Sisto on vocals, Ron Keeley
on drums, Pip Hoyle on keyboards and Steve Harris on bass. The band
being 3/5ths Birdman members was often compared to the early sound
that Birdman had, but with a new twist of the Sisto vocal which
likened the sound to that of
The Doors.
During these years Tek had also committed to writing the songs for
Angie Pepper's new band
The Angie
Pepper Band after the breakup of her more successful band
The Passengers.
What has often been hailed as the ultimate Motor City supergroup
New Race, was formed by Tek with fellow
Birdman members Rob Younger, and Warwick Gilbert, along with
guitarist from
The Stooges,
Ron Asheton, and the drummer of
MC5,
Dennis
Thompson, for a once off tour along the east coast of Australia
in 1981. The band performed to sold out shows and many bootleg
recordings of the shows were made, which resulted in the formation
of several bootleg releases. The only official live recording of
the shows was released in 1982 by Birdman's Trafalgar Studios under
the appropriate title of
The First
and Last.
The between years
He then moved back to America where he became a licensed physician,
specialising his qualifications in emergency and aerospace
medicine. When in America he is based in Montana. He served time as
a Navy flight surgeon with the Marines, and flew back seat in F4
Phantoms in the squadrons VMFA212 and VMFA232. His callsign of
"Iceman" was noticed by producers of the
Top Gun film during a research visit to
the squadron and may have been appropriated for
Val Kilmer's character in the film.
[305910]
1991 with The Deniz Tek Group
Encouraged by his friend and ex-Birdman compadre Chris Masuak,
Deniz came back to Australia in 1991, intent on renewing himself
musically. He began extensive touring in 1992 and, following a near
career destroying disaster on the
Take It To The Vertical
tour of 1992 initiated a line-up that became known as
The Deniz Tek Group. This line-up spent
the next few years touring Europe, Australia and the USA, while
releasing an EP and several albums (Outside, 444 The Number Of The
Beat, La Bonne Route) Geographical difficulties became untenable in
late '96 and the group split up. Deniz then continued with US based
lineups and recorded albums with Wayne Kramer(MC5)(Dodge Main),
skateboard stars Art and Steve Godoy (Golden Breed, The Last Of The
Bad Men), a Montana based trio (Equinox), an experimental
electronic duo with Jimi Hendrix's sidekick and amplifier designer
Dave Weyer (Glass Insects), east coast hard rockers (Deep Reduction
and DR2 featuring Rob Younger), and live work including tours and
live albums with the Rationals' Scott Morgan (Three Assassins,
Powertrane) and surviving members of Sonic's Rendezvous Band
(Getting There Is Half The Fun). Deniz and wife Angie Pepper
(Passengers) recorded her album Res Ipsa Loquitor in 2001. Deniz
continued to record and tour extensively in the late '90s, while
Radio Birdman reunified and began to work again.
The re-unification of Radio Birdman
Deniz Tek with Radio Birdman: 23 Jan
1996 - ANU Bar Canberra.
Radio Birdman reformed in January 1996, with all original members,
touring Australia extensively- including their headlining of the
1996
Big Day Out Tour. Critics and fans
old and new expressed the belief that they more than lived up to
the legend.
They recorded a "live" album, performed to an exclusive, invited
audience of 24 and released this on CD as
Ritualism.
Initially it was only available by mail order on their own
Crying Sun Records label, a low budget,
but high quality DIY project which is perfectly consistent with
their earlier work both sonically and philosophically.
Radio Birdman played and toured sporadically over the next ten
years, losing the original drummer and bass player along the way.
With Jim Dickson on bass and Rusty Hopkinson (You Am I) on drums,
they played shows around Australia, returned to the recording
studio in 2006, and released their first new studio album in 25
years,
Zeno Beach Zeno Beach was
accompanied by a national tour of Australia and an extensive world
tour, which included New Zealand, Europe, and for the first time
ever, the United States. Radio Birdman again toured the world in
2007. In July 2007 Radio Birdman was inducted into the ARIA
Australian Music Hall of Fame.
Current Projects...
The Soul Movers is Deniz's latest musical project (commenced 2008)
with ex-Birdman member Pip Hoyle on Keys, Andy Newman and Calvin
Welch on drums with co-songwriter Lizzie Mack on vocals:
www.myspace.com/thesoulmovers to listen and download: 'On the
INside' (Career/ Cool Time Records) was released September
2009
Discography (INCOMPLETE)
Radio Birdman
The Visitors
New Race
Angie Pepper
The Deniz Tek Group
Deniz Tek Solo
'On the INside' - Cool Time Records/ Career :
www.cdbaby.com/soulmovers
External links
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