(TV) Radios vs Saints (with some TV thrown in)

[The Barman <cregan@optushome.com.au>]

on 21/7/02 4:52 AM, TV Digest at tv-owner@brainiac.com wrote:
> 
> Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 10:51:48 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Jay <piazzasanmarco@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: (TV) Best punk
> 
> Radio Birdman better than the Saints? You surely are
> in the minority, my friend, but that is what makes the
> world go round.  Radio Birdman never wrote anything
> better than Messin' With Kid or (I'm) Stranded (to
> name but a few). 
> 
Actually, opinion in Australia (among those who care) would be well in
Birdman's favour. I can appreciate why people overseas might see it
differently (the Saints being lauded for having the first punk single etc.)
but that's the case.

Chris Bailey de-valued the Saints name a little with some of the line-ups
he's toured over the years after Ed Kuepper's departure. Back in the day,
Birdman had much more of an impact on the surfing fraternity (with songs
like "Aloha Steve & Danno") and spawned a whole range of imitators. The
Birdman members have all kept musically active and the band toured far more
extensively in its home country in the '70s than the Saints ever did.

The quality of the Saints songs you can out down to Kuepper (who still
continues to re-invent and intrigue as a solo artist) but Birdman's back
catalogue includes some monsters ("New Race", "Murder City Nights", "Descent
into the Maelstrom", "Crying Sun") that the Saints could never match.

As an aside, the "classic" Saints line-up (Bailey-Kuepper-Kym Bradshaw-Ivor
Hay) reunited (Kuepper and Bailey were at loggerheads for 20 years) for an
awards ceremony in Sydney last year. It was "one song only" -  they played
"Stranded" of course - and Kuepper fucked up the bridge!

Anyway, sorry for being so far off topic...to bring it back to the
field...there's an interview posted on the excellent NKVD Records/Noise for
Heroes zine web site run by my US mate Steve Gardner in which TV gets a big
wrap.

Steve interviewed Brad Shepherd, the former Hoodoo Gurus guitarist (and
diehard Birdman fan!) about his (just broken-up) band The Monarchs in which
he talks about his influences:

> Steve: Yeah, that9s good. I ask this of a lot of people and I usually get very
> short answers. I9m always interested to hear what sort of things people listen
> to. Sometimes I get good ideas
you9ve convinced me that I have to go back and
> listen to the Strokes some more.
> 
> Brad: Well, yeah, it is pretty cool for me to hear a band like that, because
> I9m pretty sure my favorite album of all time is Marquee Moon by Television,
> despite the fact that I play in a band that9s highly influenced by the MC5 and
> Sonics Rendezvous Band.
  
Just goes to show the influence is everywhere. Brad's output is a million
miles from TV. The full interview is at

http://www.nkvdrecords.com/monarchs.htm

Regards,

Craig

The I-94 Bar: Sydney Rock Action via The Bowery and Motor City
http://www.i94bar.com
PO Box 105  Mortdale  2223  Australia
--------------
To post: Mail tv@obbard.com
To unsubscribe: Mail majordomo@obbard.com with message "unsubscribe tv"