New Race

An interesting one-time-only band, New Race was proof that good music can occur when "teachers" and "students" get together. In this instance, the "teachers" were ex-<a href="spotify:artist:4BFMTELQyWJU1SwqcXMBm3">Stooges</a> guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2qRSfHR4VCi8MhcnxX0BP7">Ron Asheton</a> and ex-<a href="spotify:artist:4WquJweZPIK9qcfVFhTKvf">MC5</a> drummer Dennis Thompson, who joined forces with "students" <a href="spotify:artist:0myLqEMXHlWqE05LuWrSLh">Deniz Tek</a>, Rob Younger, and Warwick Gilbert, the latter three members of the seminal Australian punk band <a href="spotify:artist:4cpMQdcPKsbw2SaTjGazQf">Radio Birdman</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:0myLqEMXHlWqE05LuWrSLh">Tek</a> was a Michigan native who'd emigrated to Australia in the early '70s, bringing his love of high-energy Detroit proto-punk with him. After <a href="spotify:artist:4cpMQdcPKsbw2SaTjGazQf">Birdman</a>'s demise, he contacted <a href="spotify:artist:2qRSfHR4VCi8MhcnxX0BP7">Asheton</a> and Thompson to come to Australia and form this ad-hoc touring outfit. New Race toured Australia once in 1981, playing mostly small halls and releasing one legit live LP and a few lo-fi bootlegs. While the resulting record, The First and the Last, benefits from a significant amount of in-studio sweetening (backing vocals are added, guitar solos overdubbed), it's still an exciting, guitar-fueled rave-up. Fans of the early-'70s Motor City sound or early Aussie punk wouldn't want to be without it. ~ John Dougan, Rovi