An Aussie-American rock icon with Turkish background: Deniz Tek

Deniz Tek was born and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the USA. As a child, Deniz spent many late nights with a little blue transistor radio, listening to early 60's rock and roll, surf and hot rod music, and Phil Spector's "wall of sound".

He started learning the guitar at age 12, taking lessons from Dan Erlewine, then a guitarist in the local progressive blues outfit The Prime Movers, which featured a young Jim Osterberg (aka Iggy Pop) on drums.

The first rock and roll song Deniz ever learned to play was Walk Don't Run, by the Ventures. He learned by copying from records, watching more experienced players, and endless practice. His first electric guitar was a Harmony solid body, with a little Gibson amp that he got for his birthday. Deniz recalls:

At 13 in '65, Deniz started a band with Roger Miller. Roger was already an accomplished guitar player, and inspired the others.They did Kinks songs and other cool covers. They never really played anywhere, maybe a couple of parties; mostly they just practiced in the Tek family basement. Roger went on to be in many bands and solo projects, including the Boston outfit Mission of Burma. Twin brothers Larry and Ben Miller were later in Destroy All Monsters with Ron Asheton and Niagara. Roger's gift to Deniz was the vision that anything was possible.

Deniz spent 1967 in Australia with his parents. It was the time of The Masters Apprentices, The Purple Hearts, The Loved Ones, Phil Jones and the Unknown Blues, The Easybeats ... a golden period of Australian rock, and the soundtrack to news of remote wars in VietNam, the Middle East, and the streets of America.

Carrying a guitar, Deniz migrated to Australia in 1972. Nothing much was going on locally, and a post hippy, drugged out phase was tediously working itself out with the occasional mega groups like Deep Purple and Zeppelin on tour. He lived in a student house where the soundtrack was often Stooges, Stones, Alice Cooper, Velvets, Zappa and Captain Beefheart, collections of Atlantic and Motown soul singles, and occasional jazz records including Coltrane and Coleman. Deniz gravitated to and became friends with others with similar musical taste ... notably Lee Taylor, who shared a love of the Stones and of soul music; and John Needham, a fellow student who would become a lifelong friend and partner in music.

In 1973 Deniz met Rob Younger. Rob was the first person Deniz met in Australia who knew about the Ann Arbor / Detroit sound. Rob had hundreds of records and a big singles collection, and the two would sit around listening and marvel over great sounds. Rob filled in many gaps for Deniz, especially the 60's British material that was unreleased in the USA.

The next big influences were the release of Raw Power, the first three Blue Oyster Cult albums, and the New York Dolls. It was in this context that they started thinking about Radio Birdman. Deniz started and worked with the following bands in the 70s:

TV Jones
Radio Birdman
The Visitors
Angie Pepper Band
New Race

In the early 80s Deniz moved back to America. He became a licensed doctor, specialising in emergency and aerospace medicine. He worked for a time as a flight surgeon and aviator. And you might even have heard of his call sign... Iceman.

90s: THE SOLO YEARS

Deniz began his solo career in 1992 with the recording of the album Take It To The Vertical (1992). In the mid - 90's Deniz combined forces with the legendary twins, Art and Steve Godoy. The internationally famed skateboard champions of the 80's had now turned their intense focus on recreating late 70's punk mayhem and had become world renowned tattoo artists. As part of Deniz' American touring band, they played dozens of concerts on both sides of the continent. The Godoy's intense energy and positive spirit was a perfect match for Deniz and they would later combine as the three piece hard rock outfit, the Golden Breed. Deniz and the Golden Breed made one album of original songs in the late 90's for Career Records. Their partnership continues to this day with the renegade hard rock outfit The Last Of The Bad Men.

In the early '90s Patrick Boissel from Alive Records began a crusade to resurrect the Detroit Sound. He had the idea of forming a "Detroit Super Group" of surviving players who were still active in music. Deniz and Wayne Kramer were asked to lead the effort, and both agreed. Less than a week after touring ltaly with The Deniz Tek Group Deniz flew to LA to record. Scott Morgan (the Rationals and Sonics Rendezvous Band) had been recruited to sing with Paul Ill on bass and Brock Avery on drums and percussion. Recording was done at a small studio in West Hollywood called the Music Box. Some songs were written on the spot, others in Deniz' motel room. MC5, Birdman, and Sonics Rendezvous standards made the cut. The entire album was done in less than 5 days. Dodge Main (1996), named after the now defunct automobile assembly plant in central Detroit, was released by Alive to rave reviews and a 4 star treatment in Rolling Stone. Deniz never short of adventure had the following acts in rest of 90's:

Deep Reduction and Deep Red 2
Rendezvous Band: Getting There Is Half The Fun

THE 21ST CENTURY

The Glass Insects

The Glass Insects are David Weyer and Deniz Tek, doing free form spontaneous heavily processed harmolodic guitar, and electronic noise music. Approximately 40 copies were eventually sold to listeners around the globe. Glass Insects have never played a live concert.

Res Ipsa Loquitor

The millennium saw Deniz Tek and Angie Pepper working together on an album with producer / engineer Dave Weyer.

ARIA Hall of Fame 2007

In July 2007 Radio Birdman was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIAS) Hall of Fame. Original plus current members attended the ceremony at the Regent theatre in Melbourne. Daniel Johns (Silverchair) gave the induction speech, which was followed by the band playing a short but energetic set which saw most of the audience giving them a standing ovation (while some fled for the exits). The three guitarists (Tek, Masuak and Dickson) held aloft their howling guitars in a spontaneous salute to the drums as the ending of the song New Race ascended into auditory chaos.

Last Of The Bad Men

Deniz's long time association with Art and Steve Godoy continues to this day with the twin's own band "The Last Of The Bad Men". They have toured in the USA and Canada, and have produced two independently released albums : "Nowhere Is Safe" (2007) and "Ride" (2008) both on the Godoy's DHD record label.

Powertrane

Deniz' enduring friendship with Scott Morgan dates from when Deniz first saw Scott's mid-60's band, The Rationals, when he was 14 years old. They began to play together in the mid 70's, when Deniz did the occasional guest spot with Sonics Rendezvous Band. Since then they have worked together in Dodge Main, 3 Assassins, the SRB Reunion), and finally, Powertrane.

The Soul Movers

In late 2008 Deniz teamed up with Lizzie Mack, and began writing new material custom made for Lizzie's voice, which seemed to fall into a 60's groove somewhere between Memphis Soul and Beat music. They called the studio-assembled band the Soul Movers, and had completed an albums worth of tracks by March of 2009.

Australia 2009

Everyone was suitably impressed by the Soul Movers' debut performances in Sydney and environs during the month of October. Australian tour dates for Soul Movers are:

AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 2009
Fri 9th: Brass Monkey - Cronulla
Sat 10th: Wickham Park Hotel - Newcastle
Fri 16th: Notes - Enmore (Sydney Album Launch)
Sat 17th: Heritage Hotel - Bulli

Deniz Tek discography

The content on this page was taken from Deniz Tek homepage. Most band histories have been written by Deniz and reflect his viewpoint. Other members of these bands may and in some cases do disagree with this viewpoint. There has been a small amount of third party editing.