Are you in any way related to the Bob Younger or any of the other Younger brothers that rode with Jesse and Frank James in the Old Wild West?
There was a Cole Younger in that gang and I’ve got an uncle Cole strangely enough but he’s last name is not Younger. I’ve never looked into it. I mean these people are outlaws – society looks down upon them and I’m no good at riding a horse.

So what’s made Radio Birdman want to get back together?
Well, I can’t quite recall what the genesis of this latest escapade was but there was supposed to be a fairly extensive European tour but that got screwed up by this Dutch booking agency and it got knocked on the head. But the Australian gigs that were set up to finance that tour were locked in so we decided to do them anyway. But I don’t know who came up with the idea. Overwhelming public demand.

I saw a tour of America was mooted at one point but that it was deemed unfeasible?
It was but they were screwing us around so much. All these people over there hedging their bets trying to get the band to do it on the cheap. Pretending that we didn’t have a fan base when, in fact, we know damn well that’s not the case. We weren’t being up ourselves we just know. There was so much bullshit involved that it was decided to knock it on the head.

So the world will have to wait?
Well, the world will be waiting forever now because it won’t be on at all. But I’m sure the world will roll on.

Is the friction between band members real or just hype? You’ve managed to get back together as Radio Birdman and a number of various mutations since the original split.
The reason we broke up before was because we weren’t getting along. That was a long time ago and I didn’t know if we’d get along again when in close quarters but it appears these little ventures work out okay. We’re getting along famously at rehearsal.

So the last time went without any hitches?
(Laughs) Not really.

In the past if you read something about Radio Birdman you inevitably read that you couldn’t get along.
Maybe we’ve over emphasised it. Friction exists between the members in a lot of bands and they stay together. It might be the money that glues them together or the fact that despite their differences they really like the music they’re playing. There’s an element of a few things that binds us together I suppose.

Money being #1?
No, I wouldn’t say it was number one. Well, it isn’t for me because I didn’t want to do these gigs once the European tour blew out. But I still get paid well for it.

Why didn’t you want to do the Australian gigs?
I don’t want to sound condescending or anything. The explanation might sound worse than it might actually be. But I’ve been around Australia lots and lots of times. It doesn’t hold much fascination to be honest. I really love touring in Europe because you’re treated way better and you get to see places you wouldn’t normally see. I’ve never been able to travel unless it’s been touring with a band or doing production work over there. So to me it’s a treat so I was looking forward to it from that point of view.

How do you feel about Do the Pop and Born Out of Time compilations coming out and both taking their cues from Radio Birdman and the New Christs?
Immensely flattered that people are interested in these things. Sometimes it bewilders me but there seems to be people who are interested in listening to them all over again or maybe discovering something for the first time.

It was an intensive period for me musically and that’s reflected. But that’s the independent rock scene as it was Sydney and Melbourne and so forth.
Radio Birdman and the Saints are always put up as the godheads of this independent Australian scene. Did you rate the Saints at the time?
Yeah, from the very first moment I heard the Fatal single (I’m Stranded) and their first album. I was knocked out and I think their first album is a masterpiece basically.

Because that’s another thing we’ve read about is the competition between the bands, them dubbing you ‘the Hitler Youth’ and fair degree of backbiting.
That’s a load of shit that stuff. That’s invented by someone or other – writers or the fans. As far as I’m concerned it’s tripe and I consider the guys in the Saints I know as friends. Not close friends because we’re separated geographically but I get along great with Ed (Kuepper) and Chris (Bailey).

In the current issue of Rhythms magazine there’s a 100 Top Australian Songs of All Time. ‘Aloha Steve and Danno’ is in the Top 20.
That’s funny cos it’s two-thirds American. I only came up with that because Deniz (Tek, Birdman guitarist and songwriter) was always encouraging me to write stuff and I never did. I was watching Hawaii 5-0 and I wrote out these words based on the plot of the episode I’d been watching but with a chorus that tied it all up. It was supposed to be tongue in cheek but it’s never been perceived that way. But anyway Deniz put some music to it and I thought the Hawaii 5-0 theme would be appropriate.

Some prototype sampling.
I suppose. I’ve never thought of it like that. We used recordings of the surf from a record at the start of the song too. I like it because you can hear the crackles of the record as much as you can hear the water.

Another one that’s in the Top 100 is the New Christs’ ‘Born Out of Time’.
Really? I am everywhere at the moment. I’ve always seen fit to throw it into every other gig that the New Christs did. It’s the sort of song that relies a fair bit on the moment because there is room for some sort of jamming or spontaneous interaction and if that doesn’t occur that song just kind of sits and doesn’t do very much. When it’s working it goes okay.

Looking back on your work as a producer what’s stands as your favourite?
The Died Pretty stuff I have a great fondness for because their probably the most underrated group we’ve every had here. I really regard them highly. I thought the Eastern Dark record Long Live the New Flesh turned out okay. The New Race album is something that I’ve been that sounded really good.

New Race still fires the imagination because of the line-up involved. A combination of Radio Birdman, the Stooges and the MC5. Was it as inspired collaboration as it looked on paper?
At the gigs there was a lot of action. They were exciting shows and I think the record captures a fair bit of that. In the time we had – I think it was four or five rehearsals to put a tour together - I think we did very well. Our first gig was shit house but the rest of them were very, very good. It stirred up a bit of excitement. We had the decency to split and not reform. Made ourselves scarce.

This is what everyone expected Radio Birdman to be like.
I think we’ve made ourselves pretty scarce. It’s been six years since we last played. I wouldn’t call that over staying our welcome. Unless, of course, you’re saying we should’ve just broken up and kept it that way. People do say that but people do tend to be unkind.

Why can we expect in the live show that we didn’t hear last time? Any new songs or new covers?
There’ll be a few new covers but there won’t be any new originals. My way of thinking is we’re re-forming and we’re not pretending that we’re sticking around or trying to re-invent ourselves.

What new covers?
They’re not left of field but it kind of spoils it to say. We’ll do another Masters Apprentices. Last time we did ‘Undecided’ this time we’ll do something else.

‘Living in a Child’s Dream’ done Radio Birdman style?
I like that song but no, not that one.

‘Wars or Hands of Time’?
That’s wonderful too but no. I’m not going to say so don’t keep asking.

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the Sand Pebbles' fanzine
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©2002 Christopher Hollow