The band's first single, "Dance the Night Away", was backed with an earlier recording, "Who Knows Why", by Kubiszewski and Nick Capetanakis (who performed with Kubiszewski in a prior group). The order of the songs was accidentally flipped on the record, so the older song appeared as the A side. "Who Knows Why" received moderate local radio play and became a surprise hit in Japan. Frank Vale joined the band as an additional keyboardist in September 1984. When Adams decided to leave to work with orchestras, the Exotic Birds broke up for the first time, playing a farewell show at the Phantasy Nite Club on February 16, 1985. In early 1986, Exotic Birds reformed as a five-piece band, with Kubiszewski, Freer, and Vale being joined by Mark Best on bass and
Trent Reznor on keyboards, programming, and backing vocals. In November 1986, Freer and Best moved on, with Vale having departed slightly earlier. In December 1986, Reznor invited
Chris Vrenna to play drums for the band, filling out the now-trio. However, by July 1987, the band had broken up again. Kubiszewski reformed Exotic Birds in early 1988 with a new line-up including Doug Beck on keyboards and Richard Carpenter on drums, and they released the group's first CD
Equilibrium in November 1989. In 1990, Beck left, and Nick Rushe (formerly of
Nine Inch Nails) joined on keyboards. The band signed to Alpha International Records out of Philadelphia, PA, for what was to be their next album. Instead, Alpha repackaged
Equilibrium, cutting several tracks, and adding the new song "Imagination" to lead off the disc. Alpha was bought out just days after "Imagination" was released as a single. After Rushe departed, Rodney Shields (keyboards) and Marty Step (guitar) joined, rounding out the final Exotic Birds' line-up. In 1993, Kubiszewski left to play drums with
The The, but returned for one final gig on January 22, 1994. Reznor, Vale and non-Exotic Birds member Mark Addison were the fictional band "The Problems" in
Paul Schrader's 1987 Cleveland set movie
Light of Day featuring
Michael J. Fox and
Joan Jett. One-time Exotic Birds manager
John Malm was Reznor's long-time manager and co-founder of
Nothing Records. To this day, Freer, now with the
Cleveland Orchestra, and Adams, formerly with the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, remain close friends and often teach together. ==Discography==