Tou

 

 

La Bonne Route, Remade

 

Ron Sanchez writes...


The first time I met Deniz Tek was when he came to play in Bozeman in October 1995. The Deniz Tek Group was in camped out in Billings, to record the second DTG album, Le Bonne Route at Dave Weyer's studio. I can't claim to have been a huge Birdman fan at that point. I knew of them. In fact I had just missed them in London, when I was there in 1978. Funny thing, I did catch up with The Flamin' Groovies, who I knew from meeting them a few times in SF. It was only later that all this near miss became apparent to me.

Karen had gotten heavily into Australian music in the mid '80, and would call Au GoGo to order records. I'm sure one of the first things Bruce and Greta told her to buy was Radios Appear. We also started listening to bands like The Celibate Rifles, Died Pretty, Eastern Dark and Exploding White Mice. My pal Jack Tielman turned me on to The New Christs with his release of the the Born Out Of Time comp on his Lance Rock Label.

A few days before the Bozeman gig, I did an hour long feature of Birdman, Australian music as I knew it, and the Detroit bands that had influenced them. I figured it was a rare event to have this lot coming to town, and wanted to make sure there was a good audience out.

At the Filling Station, the promoter, John Bissel introduced me to Deniz. As I said my hellos a friend of Deniz' turned to him and said "that's the guy who played all your records I was telling you about". Deniz thanked me and introduced my to Angie Pepper, while he got down to the business of setting up. I knew Kent Steedman was in the band, but I had to ask who was on bass. Angie said "it's Jim Dickson, from the Passengers". I didn't know the Passengers, but I knew the name from the Barracudas. The 'Cudas were one of my favorite '80's bands. I was stunned... Sure I'd just met Deniz Tek and Angie Pepper, two major figures in the Australian scene, but there was Jim Dickson! Karen and I ran over to say hello, which I think took Jim by surprise.

Well, the dynamics of that band playing flat out was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Kent teased the girls, the crowd went crazy, and I realized I should have bought Radios Appear when it came out!

After the gig, Deniz asked if I wanted to come over to visit while the worked on the album. I know it's best to pass up an offer like that, and made plans to make the trip to the Weyer Ranch. By the time I got there, Jim and Nik had split back to Sydney, leaving Kent to wrestle the mix with Deniz and Dave. They were still adding bits to the tracks as they mixed. At at one point, Kent asked if I could sing a harmony back up part on Away From Here. I probably could have come up with something, but considering the company I politely declined.

During the course of the day, I heard a few of the completed tracks, which were very impressive. Sitting in front of Dave custom made speaker arrray, you could feel the kick drum in your chest, but the volume was never too loud. Amazing studio.

At the end of the evening, Den asked where I was going to spend the night. I had planned to get a motel, as it was too late to make the 120 mile trip back home. Before I could say anything, Deniz was on the phone with Angie, making arrangements for me to spend the night at their place. Needless to say I was not expecting this hospitality from people I had just met.

As we sat and talked, Deniz asked me what kind of music I did. I told him I'd send him an album I had been working on when I got back home. A few days after that, I got a call from Deniz saying "he really loved Donovan's Brain and that we needed to talk". Well you know where that has lead to. But the it's the Deniz Tek Group album we are here to discuss.

Le Bonne Route was ultimaltely released on Citadel, after the deal with Red Eye fell though. It also got an American release though Twin Tone. Unfortunately Twin Tone was on it's last legs, and US copies were near impossible to find.

Now, ten years after the initial release of Le Bonne Route, the rights have reverted to Deniz. At our 2005 A&R meeting, Deniz laid out his plans for the eventual reissue of the album on Career Records. Before we could begin, there was some research needed to be done to make sure all the source materials needed for this deluxe reissue could be found.

so read on...