Living World...The Story of The Visitors...Show # 283

Following Radio Birdman's split in 1978, Deniz Tek would form another band called The Visitors. This band was different musically from Radio Birdman, coming off with more of a New Wave influence. Deniz Tek was on guitar, Ron Keeley on drums, Pip Hoyle on keyboards, Steve Harris on bass, and Mark Sisto on vocals. In addition the New Wave vibe that was present on their material, The Visitors music also loomed with an ominous Doors influence. The band was made up of three former Radio Birdman members (Hoyle, Tek, and Keeley), Sisto was a long time friend of Tek's. The line up also was sonically different than The Birdmen, there was only one guitar (as opposed to Radio Birdman who had two guitar players), there was also a darker element to the bands music. Prior to the band forming, Tek and Hoyle were working as interns at a hospital, during their spare time they jammed on songs through piano and guitar and the songs for The Visitors were written.

In 1980, The Visitors released a four track EP entitled Phantom EP. Recorded in 1979 at Palm Studios in Australia, the songs on Phantom EP were originally intended as demos when the studio was booked by Charles Fisher. The band set up live and recorded to an 8-track and after an afternoon of recording, the best tracks were selected and put on the EP. The EP was produced and mixed by Charles Fisher and Deniz Tek.  The band only played about a dozen shows between 1978 and 1979, but they did make release more recordings. A full length album was also released, but it would not be released until 1983. The tapes remained unreleased for several years until the Citadel record label was convinced to remix the tracks.  All of the songs on the album were recorded at the same sessions as the Phantom EP.  Deniz Tek assisted in the remixes, and the artwork was done by bassist Steve Harris.  The album was simply titled The Visitors.

At this time Deniz Tek was also involved with The Angie Pepper Band and in 1981, he became part of the supergroup known as New Race. This band features Tek, Rob Younger, Warwick Gilbert, Ron Asheton (of the Stooges), and Dennis Thompson (of the MC5). The band was short lived (put together for a 1981 Australian tour), and only ever officially released one live album that was titled First and Last. Although the band was short lived, several live bootlegs exist of the band. Following this Tek returned to the USA (he was originally from Michigan) and became a physician and served in the Navy, he returned to Australia in 1991 and continues to play and make music. The Visitors was remixed and reissued in 1994 and has been remastered twice. The most recent edition was released in 2008 with bonus tracks and can be ordered through the Citadel Records website.    The Visitors have also reunited in 2005 and 2008 for select live shows.

More information can be found at:

Deniz Tek's Blog
Retro Kimmer: 48 Hours with Mark Sisto
The Visitors Myspace
Do The Pop (a post I did about Radio Birdman)

Play List:

1. The Doors - Take it As it Comes
2. The Griefs - Bored Outta My Goard
3. The Polymorphines - Bring Your Love Back Home
4. The Willowz - Repitition
5. David Kilgour - Nothing's Going to Happen
6. The Bats - Just Do It
7. Make Me Young - The First Summer After the War
8. Surfer Blood - Harmonix
9. The Action - Do The Strangle
10. Negatives - Echoes
11. Lowlife - Thinking Naturally
12. Luger Boa - Mutate or Die!
13. V2 - City Creatures
14. The Government - Zippers of Fire
15. Joy Division - No Love Lost
16. Pointed Sticks - On Fire
17. The Visitors - Euro Girls
18. The Visitors - Let's Have Some Fun
19. The Fall - It's The New Thing
20. David Bowie - Red Sails
21. Radio Birdman - Smith & Wesson Blues
23. Magazine - My Tulpa

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for January 19. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.