Medicos advocate neck braces for headbangers

True metalheads are a breed unto themselves so this silly season story on "PM", the flagship current affairs program of Australian national broadcaster, ABC Radio, comes as no surprise. The yarn was sourced from the respected British Medical Journal.

But did you know PM host Mark Colvin (the guy making the closing comment questioning which decade the reporter is living in) and who is pictured at right was once a committed Radio Birdman fan who went on to work on then-Sydney radio station 2JJ in its formative years?

Ritchie film also features the Scientists

That Guy Ritchie film with Radio Birdman's "Do The Pop" on the soundtrack is also said to feature the music of the Scientists amongst a bunch of more mainstream international names. It's called "Rocknrolla" and you can see a trailer here. No sniff in it of the Australian soundtrack content though.

"...and ate it with his bleeding hands"

Now, I swear I wasn't looking for this...

With legendary Radio Birdman spin-off The Visitors starting a run of shows with a freebie in Wollongong on Saturday night, this online story recalls the lyrics ("He killed a shark/And ate it with his bleeding hands") of their song "Brother John". It even namedrops its writer, Iceman (aka Dr Tek.)

Just in case you haven't noticed

Legendary in death but now walking the earth again, The Visitors are playing a select series of Australian gigs in August and September, including their first-ever Melbourne show.

The Visitors arose from the ashes of Radio Birdman in 1978, providing a musical outlet for that band's guitarist-songwriter Deniz Tek, keyboard player Pip Hoyle and drummer Ron Keeley. The original lineup featured Radio Birdman sidekick Mark Sisto, on vocals and teen prodigy Steve Harris on bass

The band left behind a self-titled EP - drawn from demo's - that drew rabid reviews and now changes hands for $500 on eBay. The full sessions were later released on LP by Australian label Citadel, and remixed/remastered on CD by Red Eye / Polydor Records.

The Visitors returned in 2005 for shows in Newcastle and Sydney. Two more sightings occurred in February this year, including a Brisbane support to American punk-and-soul sensations The BellRays.

Tek, Hoyle and Sisto remain at the core of The Visitors with former Tumbleweed and Deniz Tek Group drummer Nik Rieth and ex ME-262 bassist (and teenage Visitors fan) Andy Newman now filling the engine room. Saxophonist Jack Shanley (Vindicator Smooth, Detroit Actual) is part of an expanded line-up.

To mark the Return to Earth Tour, the band's original long-out-of-print album will be re-issued on Citadel.

And in a special coupling, ex-Screaming Tribesmen band leader Mick Medew will join one of the bills with his Brisbane band, The Rumours, for his first appearance in the Harbour City in nine years. That show - Saturday, August 30 at The Empire in Annandale - will be the only city gig for The Visitors and The Rumours and will be opened by locals 25th Floor.

Ticketing details soon.

"Night descends, daylight ends..."

Further to yesterday’s post about the 3rd Day of the Seventh Month and various events to do with that date including the passing of Doors singer Jim Morrison: Visitors vocalist (who doesn’t do a bad version of “Hyacinth House”), Radio Birdman alumnus and general conspiracy-theorist-about-town, Mark Sisto, points out that it was also the anniversary of the de-commissioning of the USS Bon Homme Richard, the aircraft carrier skippered by Jimbo’s dad, Admiral George Morrison, which makes it a doubly sad day for him. Admiral Morrison spoke at the ship's de-commissioning, 12 hours after his son's death and no doubt unaware of what had gone down in Paris.

While I knew that Morrison senior was, for many years, the US Navy’s youngest-ever admiral, I wasn’t aware his career may have been stymied by politics rather than his son’s psychedelic profile. Read more here.

This is the shit you need to know if you're doing serious business on the burgeoning trivia night circuit.