Dungeon (band)
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Dungeon | |
---|---|
![]() Dungeon's last show, 11 December 2005 | |
Background information | |
Origin | Broken Hill, Australia |
Genres | Power metal, heavy metal |
Years active | 1989–2005 |
Labels | Modern Invasion |
Members | See below |
Website | www |
Dungeon was an Australian melodic power metal band based in Sydney, considered by some as one of Australia's leading metal bands.[1][2][3] The group existed from 1989 to 2005, released six full-length albums, and toured heavily both throughout Australia and internationally.
History
(1989–1996) Formation and early period
The band was formed in the New South Wales outback mining town of Broken Hill in 1989 by guitarist Tim Grose featuring himself, bassist Eddie Tresize and drummer Ian DeBono. According to an extensive bio at the band's official website, Grose took on the singing role due to an inability to find a suitable vocalist. The band played popular rock and metal covers and shortly expanded to a five piece with the addition of Tim's niece Carolyn Boon on keyboards and Jason Hansen on guitar. Randall Hocking replaced Tresize and by the end of 1990 the group's line up featured Grose, Boon, Jamie Baldwin (bass), Dale Fletcher (guitar) and Darryl Riess (drums). By February 1991 however, only Tim Grose remained but a short time later guitarist Dale Corney joined him and the pair wrote and played as a duo for about a year before relocating to Sydney in 1992. A demo was recorded and Grose and Corney decided to rebuild a complete band line-up.
By 1995, Dungeon's live line-up featured Grose and Corney plus Stephen Mikulic on rhythm guitar (giving the band three guitarists), George Smith on bass and Andrew Brody on drums. Several tracks were also being recorded for a demo entitled "Changing Moods", with Grose providing bass and keyboards along with guitars and lead vocals. Brody played drums on the opening track "One Shot at Life" with Jim Yannieh, who had answered an ad in the street press, laying down the drums for the songs "Paradise", "The Promise" and "Slave of Love". Neither proved technically proficient enough to play on the title track, an eight-minute instrumental, so Grose contacted BMG, with whom he had a publishing deal, for recommendations. They recommended Virgil Donati, who completed the track during a four-hour session.
Brody and Smith left Dungeon in 1996 shortly after the demo appeared and were replaced by ex-Maximum Carnage members Wayne Harris and Justin Sayers. Mikulic also departed shortly afterward. In the meantime, Japanese label TDK-Core had taken an interest in Dungeon and expressed a desire to release "Changing Moods" as an album. Instead, Dungeon chose to re-work it, remixing some of the tracks with bass lines provided by Sayers, dropping a song called "The Promise" and adding nine new recordings including a cover of Blondie's "Call Me". Released under the name Demolition, the album sold well after it was released in Japan but Harris refused to take part in any promotional activity for the CD and was fired from the band. A friend of the group, Tyrone McMaster, adopted the name Ty Blakely and appeared in promotional packages accompanying the release, however this was merely to give Dungeon the appearance of a complete line-up as McMaster was not actually in the band.[4] It was not to be the last time Dungeon was to resort to this tactic.
In spite of Demolition's moderate success, Dungeon was dealt a blow when TDK-Core decided to stop releasing rock music. The album, which was only released in Japan, is now deleted.
(1996–2005) Major career
With Wayne Harris gone, Dungeon had no drummer but enough material for another album release. Around the same time, Sydney thrash band Addictive had disbanded. Drummer Steve Moore was put in touch with Dungeon through a mutual friend and by early 1997 the new line-up was rehearsed and beginning to appear regularly on the Sydney live metal circuit. Resurrection was then recorded in 1998, featuring a third version of "Paradise", keyboards from Gustav Hoffman and Sayers providing lead vocals on the tracks "Let it Go" and "Wake Up". The period of the recording process was a bleak time for the band and Grose quit at one point only to return after less than a week.[5] Sayers was also keen to move on to other projects but he remained with Dungeon for almost another year.
Several record labels including
Dungeon toured solidly for another eighteen months until Dale Corney left in September 2001. Stu Marshall then joined, playing his first show with them as they headlined at Metal for the Brain. Most of the A Rise to Power album had been written and recorded by this time, although Marshall was able to contribute some lead guitar and vocal parts before it was released. In mid-2002, the group supported German power metal band Edguy on a small scale Australian tour that concluded with them signing to Melbourne metal label Metal Warriors on stage after their performance in Sydney. A Rise to Power was released shortly afterward, with Metal Warriors owner Steve Ravic helping them secure a worldwide deal with Germany's LMP. A busy live schedule rounded out the year and included support slots with Mayhem and Destruction.
In May 2003, Dungeon went to Japan for festival appearances in Tokyo and
Dungeon supported Opeth in early 2004 before entering the studio to work on both a follow-up to A Rise to Power and a new version of Resurrection. Tim had always expressed dissatisfaction with the original version and demands from fans for the now-deleted album convinced Dungeon to redo it. Sessions had barely begun however when McDonald left rather acrimoniously and while Grose was able to play the bass parts on the albums, the band was due to undertake another tour with Edguy. A long-time friend of the band, Glenn Williams—who was at the time playing bass with a Brisbane hard rock band called Mobstar—took over McDonald's role for the tour. Moore was also replaced by Grahame Goode from Infernal Method. While this was mooted as a temporary move, Moore confirmed his resignation from Dungeon after the tour in August 2004. Grose and Marshall then headed overseas ahead of the release of One Step Beyond, performing as a duo in Japan and Croatia with local backing musicians, and doing some other promotional work in the U.S.
One Step Beyond was released in November 2004. Echoing the band's situation at the time of Demolition, Justin Sayers appeared in the accompanying booklet photos despite not having been a member of Dungeon since 1999. Goode was retained as drummer and since Infernal Method had disintegrated, founding member Petar Peric came into the group on bass. Following a handful of shows both Goode and Peric quit after their appearance at the Canberra leg of Metal for the Brain in February 2005. Goode's departure was particularly unfriendly and an air of animosity has surrounded his relationship with Dungeon ever since. Williams returned to the line-up and long time fan and experienced drummer Tim Yatras took over Goode's role in time for the band to play at Metal for the Brain in Brisbane the following weekend. Yatras was considerably younger than the rest of the group but already had an impressive resume having featured in a string of black and death metal bands from the NSW South Coast area including Malice and Battalion, with whom he had recorded a CD. He had also been the touring drummer with Sydney black metal band Nazxul the previous year. In April, Dungeon supported Nightwish and then Angra before a national tour with Megadeth. Dave Mustaine's approval of Dungeon was so high he personally selected them to support Megadeth on a European tour in June. Dungeon then played shows in Japan before returning to Australia in August after promotional work in Canada and the U.S.
(2005–2007) Break-up and aftermath
In September 2005, after a run of shows with wrestler
The band's various members have moved on to other projects. Grose and Yatras continued to work together under the name
Members
Final line-up
- 'Lord' Tim Grose (1989–2005) – vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass[7]
- Tim Yatras (2005) – drums
Former members
- Jason Hansen (1989–1990) – guitar
- Dale Fletcher (1990–1991) – guitar
- Dale Corney (1991–2001) – guitar, vocals
- Stephen Mikulic (1992–1996) – guitar
- Stu Marshall (2001–2005) – guitar, vocals
- Eddie Trezise (1989) – bass
- Randall Hocking (1989–1990) – bass
- Jamie Baldwin (1990–1991) – bass
- George Smith (1994–1995) – bass
- Justin Sayers (1996–1999) – vocals
- Brendon McDonald (1999–2004) – bass
- Petar Peric (2004–2005) – bass
- Glenn Williams (2005) – bass
- Carolyn Boon (1989–1991) – keyboards
- Ian DeBono (1989–1990) – drums
- Darryl Reiss (1990) – drums
- Andrew Brody (1994) – drums
- Wayne Harris (1994–1995) – drums
- Tyrone McMaster – drums (1996)
- Steve Moore (1997–2004) – drums
- Grahame Goode (2004–2005) – drums
Discography
Changing Moods
- Released: 1996
- Format: Demo
- Released: 1996
- Format: CD
- Label: TDK-Core (Japan)
- Producer: Lord Tim
- Released: 1999
- Format: CD
- Label: Warhead Records (Australia)
- Producer: Lord Tim, Mark Worrall
- Released: 2002, 2003
- Format: CD
- Label: Metal Warriors (Australia), LMP (Germany)
- Producer: Lord Tim
Rising Power
- Released: 2003
- Format: CD
- Label: Metal Warriors (Australia)
Under the Rising Sun
- Released: 2004
- Format: DVD/CD
- Label: Metal Warriors (Australia)
- Producer: Steve Ravic (video), Lord Tim (audio)
- Released: 2004
- Format: CD
- Label: Metal Warriors (Australia), LMP (Germany), Sound Holic (Japan)
- Producer: Lord Tim
Resurrection
- Released: 2005
- Format: CD
- Label: Modern Invasion (Australia), LMP (Germany)
- Producer: Lord Tim
- Released: 2006
- Format: CD
- Label: Modern Invasion (Australia), Sound Holic (Japan)
- Producer: Lord Tim
References
- ^ "Lord of all they survey". The Mercury. 1 June 2006.
- ^ Naidoo, Meryl (6 December 2007). "Leading band set to show its metal". The Mercury.
- ^ Young, Kane; Brockman, Tom (14 May 2009). "Good LORD, it's a heavy dose of Kylie". The Mercury.
- ISBN 3-931624-23-4
- ^ Interview with Lord Tim, Pyromusic.net, 27 September 2005
- Canberra Times. 26 August 2010.
- ^ "LORD: Information". lord.net.au. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
External links
- Dungeon.cd – official website
- Dungeon at MySpace
- PainDivision.com Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine – official website