Deniz Tek | Artist
Deniz Tek is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter born 1952 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tek is best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Radio Birdman, and for his solo work in later years. He has played in many underground rock bands of the 1970s, including Australian bands The Visitors and New Race, but is most known for exerting his burning Detroit-style guitar influence over the punk rock genre in Australia. Growing up near Detroit, Tek was exposed to Motor City music icons such as MC5, The Stooges and The Rationals. In the late '60s Ann Arbor became a nexus for rock music, hosting festivals with performers such as Pink Floyd, Johnny Winter, Captain Beefheart, and a personal favourite of Tek's, The Rolling Stones. Tek was heavily influenced by the local underground scene of Ann Arbor, which included bands such as The Frost, Mitch Ryder, The Up, and SRC. In 1971 Tek left Ann Arbor to pursue his medical studies in Sydney, at the age of nineteen, and by late 1972 had joined the band TV Jones as lead singer/guitarist. When that band split Tek formed a new band with longtime friend Rob Younger, with the addition of Chris Masuak, Warwick Gilbert, Pip Hoyle and Ron Keeley, calling themselves Radio Birdman. Despite the band's initial shunning from the Australian music scene, Radio Birdman went on to become legends, their raw uncompromising sound echoing the Motor City influences of Tek's youth. Following the demise of Radio Birdman in 1978, Tek was a member of The Visitors and The Angie Pepper Band. Then came what was hailed as the ultimate Motor City supergroup New Race, formed by Tek with fellow Birdmen Rob Younger, and Warwick Gilbert, along with guitarist from The Stooges, Ron Asheton and the drummer of MC5, Dennis Thompson, for a once off tour of the east coast of Australia in 1981. Tek's excellent debut solo album Take it to the Vertical was originally released in 1992 on Red Eye Records and reissued by Wild Honey Records in 2021. The album was recorded at SugarHill Studios Houston Texas with the help of Scott Asheton and Chris Masuak. He has released to-date a total of 10 solo studio albums, including 2020's Two to One collaboration with James Williamson of The Stooges. Outstanding releases include Take it to the Vertical (1992), Detroit (2013), Mean Old Twister (2016), and his most recent album Long Before Day (2022), not to mention the great Radio Birdman albums, New Race, The Visitors, etc. Tek has Turkish origins but was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. He spent 1967 in Sydney with his family and was greatly attracted to the Australian landscape, moving there permanently in 1972 to commence his medical studies at University of New South Wales in Sydney. Tek is a trained ER doctor and ex-navy flight surgeon who currently splits his time working in emergency departments in hospitals in New South Wales and Hawaii while still taking time to record and tour.
Artist Website: deniztek.com
Featured Albums: Deniz Tek
Related Artists: New Race, Radio Birdman, The Stooges, The Visitors, Donovan's Brain, Angie Pepper
