The Visitors
from Sydney, Australia
formed
January 1, 1978 (age 47)
Biography
Almost immediately following the demise of Radio Birdman in 1978, the Visitors appeared on the scene in Sydney, picking up where their predecessors had left off. Featuring ex-Birdmen Deniz Tek on guitar, Pip Hoyle on keys, and drummer Ron Keeley, along with ex-Birdman Minister of Defense Mark Sisto on lead vocals, the Visitors continued to do what Radio Birdman had done before them -- rock, seriously. Although they only made one album before Tek went off to join the U.S. Navy (he's a retired Captain now), it is a record that stands up as one of the best of the Australian rock genre. The Visitors were a bit more Doors-y than Birdman, mostly due to having a one-guitar lineup rather than twin leads. Sisto is somewhere between Rob Younger and Jim Morrison, vocally -- not a bad place to be if you are a singer -- and the songs, well, let's just say Deniz Tek was on a roll back then. Sadly, the Visitors didn't last long (they went on until about 1981), but had they, Captain Tek would never have taken it to the vertical in an F-18. While the military is not what comes to mind when you think of great rock & roll, there was a base in the Philippines that was thumping in the '80's! ~ Geoff Ginsberg, Rovi
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