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Radio Birdman performing live at Bingham Hall, photographer unknown. Courtesy photo.
Thanks to Tim Perlich, today we learned that the documentary film on Australia's cult act Radio Birdman (1974-78), Descent into the Maelstrom: The Radio Birdman Story, is nearing completion. It has its own trailer and everything.
Though they formed in Sydney, Australia in 1974, the group's leader, US-born guitarist/main songwriter Deniz Tek, is from Ann Arbor. He moved to Australia at the age of Radio Birdman's sound not only owed a lot to the hard-driving and high energy music of the late 1960s, but lyrics to songs like "Murder City Nights" referred to Detroit, of course: "Moving to the sound of the midnite masses/ Fighting up terminal seventies stasis/ Cruising down Woodward gotta find me some action/ Looking for a lover with a power reaction." In 1981, Tek formed the unfortunately-named supergroup New Race in Sydney, with the Stooges' guitarist Ron Asheton and the MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson.
Radio Birdman reunited a decade ago to tour and record sporadically, and reviews have been positive; they're touring Australia this summer with Died Pretty, in fact. A separate soundtrack to the documentary, called Funhouse Jukebox Soundtrack, is currently available for pre-order. No word yet on when the film might show in Detroit, but Third Man Cass Corridor would seem to be the obvious spot for it to.
