5 June, 2010
Back To Work

Work on the Donovan's Brain and Deniz Tek albums has been on hold for the last few weeks due to other commitments. It's spring in Montana which his brought on a long list of important maintenance projects to be addressed. Deniz has been on the mend from surgery, which has left him unable to play guitar while recovering. We will meet up in Billings next week with Bob Brown to sort out a couple of the new songs.

A recent encounter with legendary drummer Ric Parnell has opened some new possibilities for the new albums. Discussions are underway to schedule some exporitory recording sessions.

Jason Lytle brought his friends, The New Entropy to record at GLEA. this young local band wanted to capture a few of their songs before one of their memebers moved back to Memphis. Jason will complete the recording and mix at his own studio The Warbler. Everyone seemed pleased with the results so far, and there is a possibility the band will return to record more material.

30 May, 2010
Midlake Comes To Montana

Midlake brought their expanded stage show to Montana for two shows this week. Our neighbor, Jason Lytle was asked to join the tour for ten dates, winding up in Bozeman and Missoula. They put together this special encore for the Montana gigs. I have a feeling we will be seeing more of them in the future.

2 May, 2010
Deniz Tek - Heavy Schedule - Soul Movers Spanish Tour

The dates for the September tour of Spain have been announced:

• 15th Wednesday: Burgos - Estudio 27
  16th Thursday: Gijón - Dom Pedro
  17th Friday: Vitoria - Hell Dorado
  18th Saturday: Madrid - Gruta 77 + KONGSMEN
  19th Sunday: Barcelona - Sidecar + MUY FELLINI

Deniz has returned from Australia, and is filling his day planner with enough appointments to keep him busy through the summer. Immediate plans include work on the four new Soul Movers tracks recorded in Melbourne. Overdubs and final mix will be completed at GLEA. There is also the matter of the Denis Tek solo album. We will begin to schedule sessions in Billings and Bozeman to further our efforts.

New big news in the Radio Birdman camp is the recovery of two dozen reels of multi-track master tapes.  Deniz spent several days in the studio mixing 44 tracks for a proposed box set. Deniz will be a guest on my radio show this Friday, the 7th. He's promised to preview a few tracks.

Work on material for the new Donovan's Brain album is moving forward. We will spend some time in the studio working on one of my new compositions. Den had some ideas he thought I should consider.

8 April, 2010
Donovan's Brain - Plotting and Scheming

Donovan's Brain has always been a non-stop process. Don't let the long gap between the release of Defeat Of Echoes and Fires Which Burnt Brightly fool you. There is rarely a moment when there is no Brain activity. Just a few months after the latest releases work has begun on the follow up. Ron and Bob Sutliff have been trading ideas over the last few weeks, with one new song coming out of the collaboration. Today, Bob sent over the beginning of yet another new song. At the end of the sessions for Fires, there was one new song in the can, as well as several tracks which had been diverted to the Where The DJ's roam project. A couple of more ideas were developed for the Ski film sound tracks. All these are now in the new file and are currently being adapted for the next album. The current plan calls for the new album to be written by the end of the year. With the unanimous positive response to Fires Which Burnt Brightly. the band is looking forward to the follow up.  Also on the agenda for the year is the new Deniz Tek Group album and there is also talk of the next Soul Movers record. There are also two archive releases in the planning stages.

8 April, 2010
Donovan's Brain - Under Review

Even while work is beginning on a new album, Donovan's Brain continues to get good reviews. The Soul Movers and Donovan's Brain have seen great reviews in print and on line around the Western World. Comments from the press are reposted on the Review Page, with links back to the source. We couldn't make this stuff up.

29 March, 2010
New Music From Penny Ikinger

We finally have a few copies of Penny's limited editon CD-EP Fragile.  This three song disc is a hand numbered edition of just 500 copies. Once again Penny recorded at Hothouse, with additional recording done at Pondarosa with Dave Graney and GLEA. Deniz and Ron contribute guitar and synth to the title track, powered by the Graney-Moore rhythm section. Memories Remain is a collaboration with Ron Peno (ex- Died Pretty). The third track is a cover of Lou Reed's All Tomorrow's Parties. No release date has been set for the album, so this is your only chance to hear new music from Penny for the moment. Find your copy of Fragile at the Career Shop.

25 March, 2010
The Soul Movers Back On Stage

The Soul Movers will be playing two shows this weekend. These are three only Australian dates scheduled for this year. A Spanish tour is being arranged for later this year.

• March 20 - Mojo's Music 32 York St, Sydney Afternoon show 3pm
• March 27 - Northern Star Newcastle, NSW
• March 28 - The Sports Bar Towradgi Hotel Wollongong, NSW

18 February, 2010
Radio Interview

Ron Sanchez will be interviewed live on Radio Base Camp by Steve di Costanzo, this Friday the 19th at 3pm Eastern (GMT -5). WPKN is heard at 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, Connecticut and 88.7FM in Montauk, New York, and streams on the web at WPKN.org

Steve saw the review of Fires Which Burnt Brightly in Shindig and wrote. He had a lot of nice things to say about our record and was also very curious about my KGLT. We will be discussing Donovan's Brain and KGLT and the KSAN connections. Listen Here

You can check out the Facebook Fan Page for Radio Base Camp here.

11 March, 2010
Micky Jones - Farewell To A Friend

Micky Jones, guitarist from the band Man, and a very dear friend passed away on the 10th of March after a long illness. You can read a little about him here

25 March, 2010
Donovan's Brain From The Vault And In The Studio

The Bridger Bowl Ski Film project has turned up an unreleased Donovan's Brain track, originally known as Miami. This was recorded in the spring of 1998 during the first phase of the Tiny Crustacean Light Show sessions. A remodeled version can be now be heard on the Armchair Explorer's page. Another new film track has also been posted.

With the Ski Film project now completed for this year, attention has now to new material for the next Donovan's Brain album. Two new songs appeared this week. Bob Sutliff sent over a demo which has been adapted to fit a new set of lyrics. A second lyric has been written for one of the ski film tracks, which has been expanded for use on the Brain album.

Several of the songs recorded for the Where The DJ's Roam sound track were originally intended for Fires Which Burnt Brightly. One of Colter's pieces is currently being given the Brain treatment. There are three or four more which will be looked at in the next few weeks. The first song for Donovan's Brain No. 7 was recorded at the same sessions as Vanished, in November 2008. Three Trials was never considered part of Fires Which Burnt Brightly, rather the starting point for the follow up. The current plan is to have enough material for an album by the end of the year.

11 Febuary, 2010
Deniz Tek Back In The Studio Roy Loney Back In Spain

Deniz and band were in the studio last weekend. Vocals and guitars were added and arrangements were discussed. Rough mixes were prepared. It was quickly decided one of the songs ran too long and most of the intro was removed. Sessions will continue when Deniz returns from Australia in the Spring. Meanwhile, DenizTek.com is seeing some major updates. This is the official DT information site with band histories and discographies. Check back soon for the new additions. Roy Loney is back on tour with Señor No. There are now plans being made for a return visit to Seattle for shows and recording. Roy has been writing new material with the Long Shots in mind. Jim Sangster will once again serve as musical director when that time comes.

31 January, 2010
More Reviews - Future Planning

More reviews of Fires Which Burnt Brightly and On The InSide have appeared on line this week. Michel Toland has posted a short review of the new Donovan's Brain in his column at Big Takeover on line and Anders Svendsen gives The Soul Movers a great review at Luna Kafe. More at our reviews page, and links.

Deniz has begun recording demos for his next solo album Two tracks were recorded at Bob Brown's, with Steve Brown sitting in the drum stool. I'll join them next weekend for another session. While reviewing the recordings, I remembered a group of demos Den had recorded in 2004, for Zeno Beach. When we listend, we found early sketches for Heyday and We've Come So Far. Two other ideas were recorded for Zeno, but didn't make the final running order. A fiftj piece was never pursued, but is now back on the table. By the end of the evening there were at least six songs under consideration for the new DTG album. The band on the record will include Bob and Steve Brown and myself. I'm sure that list could grow before the album is done.

To round out the day, we worked on a new film music piece which may be called Tomorrow Never Snows.

20 January, 2010
Film Music

The Armchair Explorers page has been updated. The film music currently being created can now be heard here. This Donovan's Brain side project has existed in some form since the earliest days. A few tracks appeared on Eclipse And Debris and Tiny Crustacean Lightshow. Thinking Of Neutrons, on Fires Which Burnt Brightly may also be the work of Armchair Explorers. The dividing line is blurred so no one could give you a difinitive answer as to where one ends and the other begins. You will have to use your ears to decide. Armchair Explorers currently have the studio locked out, and are producing music non-stop. Archival material is also being made available. Listen here. Video pages for The Armchair Explorers and Donovan's Brain and friends have been created as well.

12 January, 2010
Deniz Tek Online

Deniz Tek is a singer, guitarist and songwriter founder of Radio Birdman. Deniz has taken up the virtual pen, the results can be seen at the new Deniz Tek Blog. Photos, history, diary's and the latest news. No more rumors and gossip, just the facts. Read it.

DenizTek-Art.com features the graphic art and sculptures which Deniz has produced over the last few years.  Paintings, photography and ironwork sculptures are on display in several galleries.