By Brian Heater

In the Summer of 1978, Radio Birdman was set for its first-ever American tour, a string of dates as the support act for the country’s premier punk band, and their U.S. labelmates, The Ramones. Fresh off a European tour, ready to conquer the new world, the band was unceremoniously dropped from the Sire roster. Faced with a career-defining crossroads, the band did what any other reasonable group of guys would have in a similar situation: they called it a day.

The band members went their separate ways, investing themselves in new projects and day jobs. Unlike your average punk rocker in those heady days of “no future” slogans safety-pinned to the backs of jackets, Radio Birdman’s leader, guitarist Deniz Tek, had a medical degree to fall back on. 

“I work in an ER,” says Tek, from his home in Australia. “That’s how I pay rent. The music has never been a source of income. We were never at the point that we could support a family on it or anything like that.”

Tek came to Australia from his home of Anne Arbor, Mich., as a college student, in the mid-’70s. “I had some experience with Australia because I had been taken there by my parents when I was a kid. I loved it there and always wanted to move back. I had some friends there, and I started going to college at the University of Michigan, and just wanted to go as far away from my parents as possible. My dad was a professor at the University of Michigan, and if I had stayed there, he would have been my professor. Australia was far enough away and was a place I knew. So, I went there.”

Upon switching hemispheres, Tek brought with him a love for early American punk—bands like The Velvet Underground and The New York Dolls—and, in particular, the sounds of fellow Michiganites, The Stooges and The MC5. Eventually he crossed paths with Rob Younger, one of the few guys on that far away continent, it seems, who had shared similar musical sentiments. 

“He was actually the first guy that I met over there that knew about it and we took that as a sign that we needed to work together,” laughs Tek. “I think Rob and I had pretty unusual ideas about it at the time. In Australia, it was this sort of post-hippy, blues-rock scene. We found it really boring…We formed a band in 1974, and created a bad reaction. Everywhere we went, we got thrown out of clubs and had a sort of outlaw status. Where we had to put on our own shows, and in order to keep playing, we had to do everything ourselves—and go around the industry because the industry couldn’t swallow us.” 

The industry came knocking in 1976, in the guise of Sire, on a visit to sign likeminded Aussie punkers, The Saints, and swooping up Radio Birdman in the process. By 1978, they were dropped, and Tek was back in the ER. 

An on-again, off-again reunion commenced in 1996. In 2001, Sub Pop sparked American interest with The Essential Radio Birdman, making the group’s recording available in the States for the first time in almost 30 years. In 2006, the band upped the ante, with their first post-reunion record of original material, Zeno Beach. Now, for the first time in their career, the band is ready to conquer the United States—well, at least until it’s time to get back to work. 

“The good thing about the ER is you work really hard when you’re there, but you walk away and you’re not taking a pager or leaving a practice behind. You don’t really have any obligations, except when you have your shift. It’s the ideal medical specialty to have, if you’re in a band, because you can walk away from it, come back a month later and do your shift.”

September 8. Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place (at 15th St.), 212-777-1224; 8, $22.50/$25.