Dragon

Originally from New Zealand, Dragon swaggered their way through late 70s Australian rock in true rock and roll fashion, like a Rolling Stones or Faces, delivering roaring live performances, and backing them with strong anthemic recordings.

Dragon starts and ends with the Hunter brothers, Todd and Marc. Their father played saxophone, their mother was a pianist, and before they reached their teens Todd and Marc performed in the Hunter family orchestra. By the time the two year older Todd entered college in 1970 he was leading a band called OK Dinghy, playing Grateful Dead covers at clubs and parties. OK Dinghy lasted about two years, was replaced by a Pink Floyd tribute group called Anteapot, and then a covers band called Staff. These bands lasted as long as the gigs that supported them

In 1973 Todd Hunter put together a new group for an appearance at the Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival. They wrote original songs for their set list, and someone pulled the name "Dragon" out of an I Ching book. Their performance at the festival led to more performances. Although they had a name, the line-up was constantly changing. Eventually brother Marc, who had followed Todd to college and had joined a band of his own, was hired as Dragon's lead vocalist.

This Dragon rented a house in one of Auckland's toughest neighbourhoods, writing and rehearsing new material, performing wherever they could get a gig. By the end of 1974 they had become one of New Zealand's top live attractions and signed a record contract with Phonogram's Vertigo label. In the style of the label's international signings - Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep etc - they did not release singles. This was deemed progressive art rock. On stage Dragon was performing in Hawaiian shirts and beachcombing attire; anything that made an impression. They recorded two albums during this era, 'Universal Radio' and 'Scented Gardens For The Blind', finally managing a first single, 'Vermillion Cellars'. The line-up was still changing.

It was time to take on Australia, but they would have to do it without their manager Graeme Nesbitt who had been covering the band's tour expenses by selling drugs and was heading for jail. On his way he suggested keyboard player Paul Hewson as a possible member. Dragon relocated to Sydney in May 1975, reassessed their musical options, and badgered Hewson by letter and telegram to come and join them. They'd only met him that once (at their final New Zealand performance) but knew him by reputation from other bands he's been in. Paul Hewson wrote great pop songs. Finally he relented and joined Dragon in Sydney.

The band had moved into a tiny house in Paddington, where it was necessary to move the keyboards regularly as new leaks appeared in the roof, and they had to look out for cockroaches hibernating in their guitar cases. Within weeks of arriving in Sydney burglars broke into their house and stole all their equipment. Vertigo relaced the instruments, but then dropped the group after their first Australian single failed to chart. Then Dragon lost more of their equipment, along with their truck, in a car accident. Somehow they kept working and writing songs.

They were playing for the meal at the end of the night with what was left of their equipment at Sydney's Recovery Wine Bar, when local record producer Peter Dawkins dropped in with some international executives he was taking to the airport. Dawkins secured the record company's permission to sign Dragon, put the executives on their plane, and started working on Dragon's recording career.

When their first CBS single, July 1976's 'Wait Until Tomorrow' failed to chart the group's new manager called the band into his office and ordered them to write a song that would get airplay. Within 24 hours they were in the studio recording 'This Time'. Not only did radio play it, the song was starting to chart when drummer Neal Storey was found dead in his bed after a heroin overdose.

Todd Hunter almost broke the band up and called it quits. But a few weeks later, armed with new drummer Kerry Jacobson and a Top 40 hit, Dragon was back on the road. This was the line-up which would record Dragon's next single 'Get That Jive, and took Australia by storm. For a while, the hard times were over. Their hits were making them pop stars, their concerts deemed them legitimate rock heroes. Their first Australian album, 'Sunshine' was also released in America.

The next album 'Running Free' contained the Paul Hewson song 'inspired by a Bobby Fisher chess tournament, 'April Sun In Cuba'. A Number 2 hit at the time, it's become one of the all-time most played songs on Australian radio. The follow-up album 'O Zambezi' contained the Number One hit, 'Are You Old Enough', an ode to leaving jail and avoiding jailbait. America combined these latest albums as one and Dragon embarked on a memorable tour of the US, with Marc continually baiting unappreciative audiences and causing near-riots. Their American record company was quickly losing interest.

His rock and roll lifestyle was catching up with Marc Hunter. He was out of control, and to save Marc from himself and to save the band, in February 1979 Dragon sacked their singer. Marc recorded a solo album 'Fiji Bitter' and took the message. He cleaned himself up. Dragon recorded one album ('Powerplay') without Marc, and in December 1979 broke up.

The band members went every which way, but Dragon had left behind a lot of debts. In August 1982 the classic line-up reconvened for a tour with which to wipe the slate clean. The tour was so successful, the sessions for Marc's next solo album spilled over into a new group album. The single 'Rain' returned the Dragon name to the charts for the first time in four years. English producer Alan Mansfield had become a band member in the process. Drummer Kerry Jacobson left through illness and the Hunter brothers approached former XTC drummer Terry Chambers who had married an Australian girl and was living in Belmont, about 60 miles from Sydney. Nine days after its release, the 'Body and the Beat' album was certified gold.

This was a different Dragon, focussed on the studio. The dynamics had shifted, and Paul Hewson had written just one song for the new album. After Dragon completed a tour to support 'Body and the Beat' Paul flew to New Zealand to rethink his future. Within weeks, On January 10 1985, he was found dead in his car from an overdose. Once, it might have been the end of the band. Now, it was just the final footmark in the history of the old band. To avoid confusion with a heavy metal band, for America Dragon renamed itself Hunter.

Polygram wanted to break Dragon in the US, and offered the band a list of American producers who would be willing to work on the band's next album. Dragon selected Todd Rundgren to record what became 'Dreams Of Ordinary Men'. With another new line-up "Hunter" toured Europe for six months, their final shot at international success.

Dragon dropped the "Hunter" nickname in 1988, and recorded a new album, Bondi Road. By early 1990 Dragon had become an active but part-time activity. Everyone was busy doing other things. Dragon's last studio album was a greatest hits package called 'Incarnations', where the band reworked, re-interpreted and re-recorded their classic hits. By 1997, Dragon's lineup included Marc Hunter, Alan Mansfield and some session men; Todd left the band to compose the musical score for the television drama, 'Heartbreak High.' In November 1997, just before commencing Dragon's 40-date Australia-New Zealand concert tour, Marc felt something odd in his throat. One doctor told him he probably had tonsillitis and sent him home. Unsatisfied with this diagnosis, Marc visited a throat specialist. He was diagnosed with throat cancer and died in July 1998.

In January 2006 Todd Hunter recruited NZ singer Mark Williams for an album of acoustic versions of Dragon's hits, 'Sunshine To Rain', including a rendition of 'Age Of Reason', the John Farnham hit written by Todd.