The Stooges and Radio Birdman World’s Collide With Williamson and Tek Album

The Stooges’ James Williamson and Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek will release an album together this week.

‘Two To One’ reunites Williamson and Tek for their first album together after working on an EP a few years back.

However, with thanks to Covid, don’t expect to see the song performed live too often.

“I don’t think we are going to play it live,” James Williamson tells Nois11.com. “Perhaps (the opening track) ‘Jet Pack Nightmare’ would be a good kick-off on the set (if we did a show). This album in general is mostly uptempo so it would make a hell of a set. Deniz still plays live. He is a guitar player, he is a singer. I’m hoping he’ll take some of these tunes and do them live”.

Deniz says he would add some of the songs to his setlist if he ever tours again, again due to Covid. “I’d like to get anything on the road at this point,” Deniz tells Noise11. “These songs would be great to play live. I certainly hope that at some point I can take a couple of these songs out on the road. If James is in the general area I’ll twist his arm and make him get up and play them with me”.

The Stooges had a huge influence on Deniz before he formed Radio Birdman in Sydney in 1974. “I was a fan since Raw Power,” he said. “I knew about him for a long time. The guitar playing on ‘Raw Power’ just blew me away. I had never heard anything like it. I had already been a fan of the first phase of The Stooges. So in 2011 we were on the same concert and got the chance to meet and found out we lived in the same area in Hawaii. We were neighbours and didn’t realize it”.

Radio Birdman regularly played Williamson’s Stooges classic ‘Search & Destroy’ in their set. “We’ve resurrected it from time to time. I guess the last time we played it live was only about three years ago,” Deniz says.

James is well aware of the covers of the song. His favourite? “I was going to mention Red Hot Chili Peppers. John Frusciante, he did the closest cover I’ve ever heard of that song. My favourite is the original”.

The Stooges’ ‘Raw Power’ was mixed by David Bowie just as Bowie was starting to make his name in the world. “He wasn’t in the studio with us by the way. He mixed the record for us because we couldn’t do it,” James says. “We played a completely different music to Bowie. He was a kind of tuney type guy, a pop type guy and we were something else. We got along with him fine but had no idea he was going to be as big as he ended up being”.

James Williamson and Deniz Tek ‘Two To One’ is out September 18 through Cleopatra Records.

Noise11.com