It's been 25 years since we last heard from Australia's mighty Radio Birdman, long enough for even their most devout fans to have consigned them to history. Formed in 1974 by Michigan-to-Sydney expatriate guitarist Deniz Tek and vocalist Rob Younger, these proto-punk pioneers actually disbanded in 1978 before their last album Living Eyes ever saw a commercial release*.* But their powerhouse body of work-- as now best appreciated on Sub Pop's 1974-1978: The Essential Radio Birdman collection-- has since continued to garner the band an extensive and enthusiastic international fanbase.
Radio Birdman re-formed in their original line-up in 1996 to play Australia's Big Day Out festival. That performance eventually led to further European tours, festival gigs, and now to the wholly improbable appearance of Zeno Beach, their first album of new material in nearly three decades. The album features four of the band's original six members-- Tek, Younger, guitarist Chris Masuak, and keyboardist Pip Hoyle-- but this reunion is no mere nostalgia trip. As with the resurgent Mission of Burma, here Radio Birdman return from their long absence with all engines lit and burning, crafting an album whose astonishing force and vitality matches and at points even surpasses their vintage material.
Along with such U.S.-based groups as the Dictators or the Flamin' Groovies, Radio Birdman in their original incarnation actually belonged to the generation of bands that emerged immediately prior to the outbreak of punk rock in New York and London. Like many of their peers, Radio Birdman drew inspiration from the primal sounds of Nuggets-era garage and Detroit rock-- their name is borrowed from a Stooges lyric-- but also routinely nicked from such pre-British Invasion influences as surf instrumentals and Little Richard. (They were one of the few proto-punk acts to regularly employ keyboards.) All those classic pro-rock elements remain firmly in place on Zeno Beach, and are here further juiced by the addition of the burly new rhythm section of bassist Jim Dickson and former You Am I drummer Russell Hopkinson.
This revamped rhythm section wastes no time in throwing around their considerable weight, helping to deliver the opening "We've Come So Far (To Be Here Today)" with an almost Jesus Lizard-like pummel. On this track vocalist Younger sounds every bit like a man who has been waiting years for this moment, snapping into the song's wry lyrics with an audible relish. His voice has weathered the intervening years remarkably well, and his slippery, smoke-cured croon recalls Mark Lanegan on tracks like the chiming, elegiac "Die Like April". Guitarists Tek and Masuak, meanwhile, have apparently spent most of the past couple decades stockpiling riffs. In their prime, Radio Birdman were always as much about crafty songwriting finesse and deft musical interplay as big punchy choruses, and that tradition continues on the enfolding, hook-filled likes of "Remorseless" or "You Just Make It Worse".
"Who were you in your heyday? Did you blow up or lose your face?" asks Younger on the slinky "Heyday", one of several tracks on Zeno Beach that reflects openly upon the hard mileage of the passing years. There are moments-- such as on the lukewarm E-Street upswell of "Found Dead"-- when Radio Birdman threaten to show their age (and their old fondness for Blue Öyster Cult) by slipping a bit too comfortably into rote classic FM rock gestures. Like all their classic work, however, the best songs on Zeno Beach-- like the bizarre, secret-handshake anthem "Brotherhood of Al Wazah" or the title track's hot-wired surf rock-- sound like they'll absolutely shred in a live setting, and the final impression is that of a talented group of friends ecstatic to be once again in each other's creative company.
