A Musical Release 40 Years in the Making
Today’s guest blogger is our East Tulsa historian and bon vivant, Mr. Eric.
In September 2025 Radio Milan released an EP entitled The Origin of Insects. The featured music was originally recorded in 1982 at Longbranch Studios in Tulsa. For the next 43 years those tapes lay dormant.
These four early compositions express an energy that was flowing throughout the Tulsa “new wave” scene of the early Eighties. The driving rhythms, upbeat melodies and intelligent lyrics combine for an Eighties flashback that is surprisingly current.
The Lost Tapes
These recordings were created at the historic Longbranch Studios in Tulsa in 1982.
The sessions were subsidized by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios. The film producer had reserved weeks of studio time to create the soundtrack for his avant-garde film Rumble Fish. Coppola requested that any unused time be gifted to deserving local bands creating new original music. Without this gift, studio recording sessions like these would have been well out of financial reach for “local” kids.
The Insects got the call. Over two nights in July, the group took to the big room at Longbranch and recorded some of their best music.
These songs represent the band at a turning point, just before the group was renamed Radio Milan. Totally live, with minimal overdubs, the result is powerful and original.
Soon after these tracks were recorded, the filming wrapped. The subsidy ran out. Hollywood went home. The expense of working in a studio on a 24-track recording was well out of financial reach. As a result, the master tapes went on the shelf.
For over forty years the tapes lay dormant, nearly lost to the ravages of time. More than forty years later, in 2025, the gifted staff at The Church Studio digitally rescued the decaying 24-track tapes. They used a process to heat the tapes to preserve the delicate magnetic coating. Each reel was then loaded up for one more pass through the reel-to-reel.
What you hear today are the first fully produced, mixed and mastered versions of four unique songs from this recording:
Boy from the Sixties: This song is a version of Boy from the Fifties, originally written by Mikel Automatic and David Holland.
So Many People: An energetic comment on overpopulation and the “One Child Policy” implemented by China in 1979.
Vampire 4 U: One of the first Insect songs. Inspired by the T-Rex song Jeepster.
Downtime: A recent creation at the time of this recording, haunting lyrics thread through a jazzy rhythm.
The Players: Tony Dapolito-vocals, Scott Miller-guitar, Rex Brown-bass, Les James Mobley-drums, David Burdick-12 string guitar
Words & Music: Rex Brown, except Boy from the Sixties
Recording Engineer: Gregg Gardner for Longbranch Studio
Digital Transfer: The Church Studio
Photography: Buck Miller
Mixdown & Production: Eric Kehr/60708house
Producers: Rex Brown & Eric Kehr for Radio Milan
