Rebellion takes many forms and music has always been one major way of expressing it. It was a way for African-Americans in the 1920s to give the finger to racism and a way for kids in Manchester in 1974 to raise hell within society. For myself as a young girl, I would sing Meredith Brooke’s song ‘Bitch’ to rebel against my parents not letting me swear. But for many young Australians, the rebellious voice of a young rock loving nation were those punk rock kids, Radio Birdman.
Radio Birdman have always functioned outside the mainstream of music, their latest recording, the self funded Zeno Beach (their first album of new marterial in 25 years) is no exception and revisits that drop dead gorgoeous good old punk rock sound Radio Birdman have become known for as well as mixing things up with a driving new rhythm section (thanks to latest recruit You Am I’s Rusty Hopkinson). But is this the record Rob Younger envisioned originally?
“It’s hard to envision a record,” answers Rob. ”There were no preconcieved ideas. We got in the studio and played the music and it pretty much came out the way we thought it would .”
With decades of playing together under their belt, the members of Radio Birdamn know each other so well they can predict the next chord, even when they’re simply sitting around jamming – is this a reason for the band’s new direction and members – an injection of new energy to the group?
“It [Zeno Beach] may sound different to previous albums but I don’t think it was a deliberate thing,” offers Rob. “We just recorded it the traditional way with over-dubs. The way most albums are made these days.”
Punk has been much maligned over recent years (images of Pete Doherty injecting an unconcious girls arm comes to mind and certainly does little to help the punk cause in the general public). For a punk band that has seen it all for 25 years, do RB think punk has lost all meaning in the 21st century?
“I think the standard of songs matter the most, rock hasn’t changed much, people are copying and borrowing all the time. People will start bands that sound like the Ramones and there will be people who hate them for it and people who love it. It depends on individual opinion really. As long as you bring your own style to it. Queens of the Stonage create a great punk sound, very powerful, yet graceful and light at the same time.”
Rob Younger has a lot of alternative responsibilities away from Radio Birdman these days. He has produced over 45 albums for bands, which he brushes off as, “not much, people have done a lot more then that.” These alternative responsibilites include another band Rob sings and writes for called The New Christs, which will be touring Spain thoughout the next few weeks. “It’s similar [to Radio Birdman] except Dennis writes for Radio Birdman and I only write for The New Christs. We change personnel more than others change their undies. New Christs are just hard grinding teeth punk rock.”
Teeth grinding aside, along with the 25 years of shows alongside bands such as the MC5 and producing multiple albums, Rob and the boys also have families, who they now have to leave behind to tour this new album. “The only negative is being away from my family for eight weeks,” he concurs. ”We just get lost in the middle of it all while touring. You’re always in each other’s pockets. Plently of bands disintegrate because of touring.”
One aspect of the music industry that Radio Birdman have never let get into their pockets, is the sharp tounged executives of the major record labels. The group have always been very self-directed. “We have been on major and independent labels. As long as we called the shots musicially, we didn’t care. But we’re not necessarily going to fly the flag of independence, we have been on both sides of the industry. No one tells us what to do.”
Radio Birdman’s new album Zeno Beach is in stores at the end of June. They plan to tour Australia throughout July.
