Dragon

Biography

Through the ’70s, the notoriously decadent Dragon was among the largest rock rings in New Zealand, getting sustained success around the Australian circuit. Dragon’s background starts with brothers Todd and Marc Hunter, natives from the North Isle city of Taumarunui; from child years on, the siblings performed expertly within their parents’ jazz music group, with Todd learning acoustic guitar and Marc picking right up the drums. Because the years exceeded, both Hunter brothers performed in a number of regional bands, both collectively and individually; Dragon surfaced in 1973 from your remnants of Personnel, a group offering Todd on bass, furthermore to vocalist/pianist Graeme Collins, guitarist Ray Goodwin, and drummer Neil Reynolds. Character conflicts quickly surfaced, and quickly the clean-living Collins was sacked by his hedonistic bandmates and only keyboardist Ivan Thompson. That remaining Dragon with out a vocalist; nevertheless, the problem was quickly resolved when Marc Hunter authorized on as business lead vocalist. After Reynolds was changed by drummer Neil Storey, the traditional Dragon lineup was set up. The group preferred a heavy intensifying rock and roll sound which quickly gained them an evergrowing cult pursuing, and in early 1974, they required home best honors in the Auckland Festival’s all-day Rock and roll Marathon. Their achievement resulted in a agreement with Polygram Information, and within weeks, Dragon’s debut LP, Common Radio, appeared, getting among the best-selling “underground” information of the time. Throughout a month-long residency in the Fiji nightclub the Golden Dragon, the music group started developing their outrageous on-stage theatrics, antics filled with a transvestite mime troupe, pregnant strippers, rotting pigs’ mind on mike stands, and rampant damage of devices and stage products. During a following national tour, nevertheless, Storey was sacked, and Thompson stop in sympathy; with fresh drummer Geoff Chunn, Dragon battled like a four-piece before disbanding weeks later on. Scheduling commitments, nevertheless, quickly pressured Dragon to re-form; Storey was reinstituted behind the drums, with ex-Mammal member Robert Taylor to arrive on acoustic guitar. The group’s second LP, 1975’s Scented Landscapes for the Blind, bore small regards to their fresh live sound, which declined their prior prog rock and roll trappings and only even more concise and punchy pop tunes. After a group of NZ travels which significantly boosted their presence in the home, Dragon installed a tour of Australia; there Goodwin exited, and was changed by keyboardist Paul Hewson. The group originally fared badly in Australia; an individual known as “Starkissed” stiffed, and their devices was even taken. After departing Polygram, Dragon agreed upon with CBS. Their initial work for the label, “Wait around Until Tomorrow,” was failing, however the follow-up “THIS TIME AROUND” made an appearance poised to become hit. After that tragedy struck: Storey passed away of the heroin overdose in Sept 1976, an occurrence which produced headlines in the united states. With brand-new drummer Kerry Jacobsen, a reeling Dragon came back to the street using a vengeance, and spent another 2 yrs touring almost nonstop, ultimately conquering the all-important Aussie market. In middle-1977 they released the LP Sunlight, scoring popular with the one “Obtain That Jive”; by the finish of the entire year Dragon was typically the most popular music group in Australia, producing a U.S. cope with the Family portrait label. Their following LP, 1978’s Working Free, proceeded to go double-platinum right here, notching an enormous strike with “Apr Sunlight in Cuba.” An enormous tour implemented. Fueled by smack and champagne, Dragon was uncontrollable, leaving destroyed resort suites and dressing areas within their wake. Still, they continued to be enormously well-known, and their third CBS recording, O, Zambezi, was their biggest however, with lots a unitary in “ARE YOU CURRENTLY Aged Enough?” A following American tour demonstrated disastrous, nevertheless, so when Marc Hunter’s medication complications worsened, he was dismissed in early 1979. He was changed by vocalist Billy Rogers and violinist Richard Lee. Apparently overnight, Dragon dropped out of industrial favour; their next solitary, “Love ISN’T Enough,” didn’t graph, and their 1st New Zealand tour since 1975 was a washout. Once the 1979 LP Powerplay bombed, Dragon disbanded; nevertheless, in 1982 the group’s nucleus re-formed to repay their bills. The lineup — the Hunters, Taylor, Hewson, and Jacobsen — fared therefore well throughout their reunion tour which they quickly released a fresh solitary, “Joanne.” Its follow-up, 1984’s “Rainfall,” was an enormous hit, and several fans decided that its associated LP Body & the Defeat was amongst their greatest ever. Once the older personality conflicts quickly arose, just the Hunters had been left. (Tragically, simply hours after giving up the music group, Hewson was discovered dead.) Another Dragon LP, 1986’s Dreams of Normal Men, was made by Todd Rundgren; after 1988’s Bondi Street, the music group once again known as it per day.

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