Steerpike
08-06-2007, 11:05 AM
And we’re back. Slight delay due to circumstance that weren’t beyond my control, but we are back.
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531576
Swans – A Study in Evolution
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=532051
DJ Shadow – Hip-Hop of Tomorrow
The DJ Shadow uploads will be out later tonight in case you were wondering.
Biography
Australia. Those who have never been there know very little about it. They know that it is home to marsupials and the platypus, and its main exports seem to be Steve Irwin and Hugh Jackman. They know just about everything there can kill you. And apparently if you mistake an Ozzy for a Kiwi, they get really pissed (I’m not in too much of a hurry to test that one though). But did you know they also produce metal bands? Really ****ing good metal bands?
Dungeon began as a fledgling crew of musicians in 1989 in the little mining town of Broken Hill in the Australian outback, which by its very nature is statistically one of the most metal places on earth. The founder of the group was a young guitarist, Lord Tim Grose. Tim was originally the band’s guitarist, but pulled double duty on vocals when an adequate singer could not be found.
As is the case with start-up bands, line-up changes bordered on the ludicrous. It was hard to keep a line-up stable for more than a few months, but a lot of gigging, radio interviews, and persistence won over an early and devoted fanbase. By early 1991, Tim, guitarist Dale Corney, and their drum machine were… pretty much the whole band. At that point, they figured they were due to record an actual demo tape.
The pair moved out to Sydney to record 19 complete songs, which immediately received critical praise. Tim and Dale made the move permanent and immediately set about solidifying their line-up. The problem was that the drum work the duo had written was very technical and demanding. It was difficult to find a suitable player, and what ensued was a rotating door of drummers coming and going and trying to fill in for this song or that song… Just a mess.
In 1995, one of their old drummers Wayne Harris re-joined the group just as rhythm guitarist Steve Mikulik left. Justin Sayers joined as bassist just in time for the newly formed Nu-Town Records label to pick Dungeon up and distribute their demos. Turns out that TDK-Core Records in Japan liked the tapes so much, that they offered to distribute them as an album. Dungeon first remixed all the songs and then allowed it to be distributed as Demolition. If you didn’t laugh at that, don’t feel too bad. No one else did.
The album sold over 5,000 copies in only a couple of weeks, which was very positive and hopeful. Unfortunately, Wayne wasn’t feeling the groove on that one. He refused to participate in the promotion for the album and was fired. Without a drummer, Tim got his friend Ty McMaster who had absolutely no drumming ability whatsoever to stand in for all the photo shoots and interviews, pretending to be Dungeon’s drummer. Go with what works.
Unfortunately, fate decided to kick the band when they were down. Abruptly, all communication with TDK-Core ceased. Several weeks went by before everyone finally learned that there had been a massive turnover in the label’s management and they decided to no longer carry rock and metal music. Why? How the **** should I know? Considering how much metal fandom there is in Japan, seemed like kind of a stupid move to me.
Regardless, Demonlition sold for a little over a month and moved 5,500 copies, but without a distributor in Japan it went out of print. Without the support, Dungeon and Nu-Town terminated their contract as well.
It was a bleak time. Dungeon managed to find a new drummer in Stevo Moore and released some new demo tapes, but they were still reeling from the TDK-Core debacle and Justin wanted to move on to other projects. Money was also an issue.
After saving up for months, the group finally had the cash to go back into the studio and record Resurrection, their first proper album. The reviews for the demos were pouring in, as were offers from different labels. With the band’s future now more stable, Justin parted on amicable terms and Brendon McDonald joined to fill in on bass.
In 1999, Dungeon signed to Warhead Records and Resurrection was at last released.
The positive press the ensued resulted in 18 months of touring and festivals, sharing the bill with names like Nevermore, Mayhem, Destruction, Edguy, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Opeth. They got to play at Australia’s Metal for the Brain Festival and were subsequently invited back for next year. Indeed, they continued to play the festival every year up to 2005, and headlined the main stage in 2001.
Unfortunately, it was also in 2001 that Warhead Records folded and stopped trading. Resurrection was into its third pressing by then, and so the band had to continue distributing it themselves. It was also at this time that even though they had written enough material for a new album, Dale was growing weary and announced his desire to leave. He stuck with the band long enough for them to pick up Stu Marshall, who played his first gig with them after only being a member of the band for 5 weeks.
Given the success of Resurrection, the band wanted the follow-up album Rise to Power to be even better. Tim now had his own home studio and to test it out, they recorded 6 tracks of covers they regularly played live. They sent it to some local radio stations under the name Maiden Our Spare Time, and the response was a demand from fans to officially release it. Of course, budget constraints wouldn’t allow that. The band only had the time and money for Rise to Power.
They recorded it over the course of several months, taking breaks for some of the shows they had to do, and then decided to shop around for a new label. They made negotiations with Metal Warriors and signed their new contract on stage in front of 600 fans in 2002. A Rise to Power was released that same year and heavy touring ensued.
The signed with Limb Music Productions for international distribution, and soon kicked off a world tour. The headlined at the Melodic Metal Festival in Japan, and were a huge hit. They sold out of merchandise and singed CDs within minutes of the doors opening up. What’s the only thing crazier than a British soccer fan? Asian soccer fans/metalheads. Footage from the Japanese festival was used to make Dungeon’s first live album and DVD, Under the Rising Sun.
Dungeon returned home to Australia in time to see A Rise to Power being distributed in Europe and the US, albeit with new cover art that they really hated. Though it was of course very difficult to crack the American market, the album still sold well overseas and helped to cement Dungeon as one of Australia’s finest metal bands.
After talks with LMP, Dungeon decided to re-record Resurrection for a new pressing at the same time they would be recording One Step Beyond, the new album. They hit 2 setbacks however. First there was the touring obligation they had with Edguy, but more importantly, Brendan and Stevo had decided to leave. A temporary rhythm section filled in for the tour, and the band went right back to the advertisements.
One Step Beyond came out in late 2004, and a new line-up was needed for touring. Glenn Williams, who had helped the band out after Brendan’s departure signed up on bass. After a bitter split with drummer Graham Goode, the surprisingly young Tim Yatras filled in on the kit, astounding everyone with his skill he had developed playing in Australia’s black/death metal scene.
Among the gigs, they supported Nightwish and Angra in April of 2005, and later joined Megadeth on tour after being handpicked by Dave Mustaine personally. That same year, they were present at the Australian Heavy Metal Awards where they were nominated for multiple categories and won Best Live Band and Best Lead Vocals.
The world tour with this line-up produced nothing less than resounding success. The tour leg with Megadeth took them over most of Europe before they went for their own headlining dates in Belgium and Holland. They appeared at several festivals and rubbed elbows with names like Metal Church and Chris Caffery. The tour continued on into Canada and finally Japan before the group returned home with a lot on their minds.
You see, they had recently parted ways with their management and were running the tour themselves. The strain it put on all of them backstage took a toll on not only them personally, but their relationship.
After some serious talking, Stu and Glenn decided to leave the band. Lord Tim, growing weary of the constant changes in the line-up and seeing himself as the only founding member remaining made the decision that it was time to dissolve Dungeon and move on. The band agreed to play one last live show on December 11 of 2005 at the Gaelic Theater in Sydney. The following year, the released a posthumous farewell album titled The Final Chapter featuring Andy Dowling and Mav Stevens as guest musicians, all intended as a last thank you to the fans.
After the split, both Tims and Andy went on with Lord Tim’s sideproject-turned-full-time-band LORD with the intention of carrying on the Dungeon sound and legacy. Stu went on to form PainDivision, while Glenn has since joined Sedition.
Dungeon have quite an interesting story behind them as Australia’s most famous metal band. The story ended in a rather interesting way, but it’s clear that the legacy itself isn’t over.
http://www.dungeon.cd/
Official Web Site
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531576
Swans – A Study in Evolution
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=532051
DJ Shadow – Hip-Hop of Tomorrow
The DJ Shadow uploads will be out later tonight in case you were wondering.
Biography
Australia. Those who have never been there know very little about it. They know that it is home to marsupials and the platypus, and its main exports seem to be Steve Irwin and Hugh Jackman. They know just about everything there can kill you. And apparently if you mistake an Ozzy for a Kiwi, they get really pissed (I’m not in too much of a hurry to test that one though). But did you know they also produce metal bands? Really ****ing good metal bands?
Dungeon began as a fledgling crew of musicians in 1989 in the little mining town of Broken Hill in the Australian outback, which by its very nature is statistically one of the most metal places on earth. The founder of the group was a young guitarist, Lord Tim Grose. Tim was originally the band’s guitarist, but pulled double duty on vocals when an adequate singer could not be found.
As is the case with start-up bands, line-up changes bordered on the ludicrous. It was hard to keep a line-up stable for more than a few months, but a lot of gigging, radio interviews, and persistence won over an early and devoted fanbase. By early 1991, Tim, guitarist Dale Corney, and their drum machine were… pretty much the whole band. At that point, they figured they were due to record an actual demo tape.
The pair moved out to Sydney to record 19 complete songs, which immediately received critical praise. Tim and Dale made the move permanent and immediately set about solidifying their line-up. The problem was that the drum work the duo had written was very technical and demanding. It was difficult to find a suitable player, and what ensued was a rotating door of drummers coming and going and trying to fill in for this song or that song… Just a mess.
In 1995, one of their old drummers Wayne Harris re-joined the group just as rhythm guitarist Steve Mikulik left. Justin Sayers joined as bassist just in time for the newly formed Nu-Town Records label to pick Dungeon up and distribute their demos. Turns out that TDK-Core Records in Japan liked the tapes so much, that they offered to distribute them as an album. Dungeon first remixed all the songs and then allowed it to be distributed as Demolition. If you didn’t laugh at that, don’t feel too bad. No one else did.
The album sold over 5,000 copies in only a couple of weeks, which was very positive and hopeful. Unfortunately, Wayne wasn’t feeling the groove on that one. He refused to participate in the promotion for the album and was fired. Without a drummer, Tim got his friend Ty McMaster who had absolutely no drumming ability whatsoever to stand in for all the photo shoots and interviews, pretending to be Dungeon’s drummer. Go with what works.
Unfortunately, fate decided to kick the band when they were down. Abruptly, all communication with TDK-Core ceased. Several weeks went by before everyone finally learned that there had been a massive turnover in the label’s management and they decided to no longer carry rock and metal music. Why? How the **** should I know? Considering how much metal fandom there is in Japan, seemed like kind of a stupid move to me.
Regardless, Demonlition sold for a little over a month and moved 5,500 copies, but without a distributor in Japan it went out of print. Without the support, Dungeon and Nu-Town terminated their contract as well.
It was a bleak time. Dungeon managed to find a new drummer in Stevo Moore and released some new demo tapes, but they were still reeling from the TDK-Core debacle and Justin wanted to move on to other projects. Money was also an issue.
After saving up for months, the group finally had the cash to go back into the studio and record Resurrection, their first proper album. The reviews for the demos were pouring in, as were offers from different labels. With the band’s future now more stable, Justin parted on amicable terms and Brendon McDonald joined to fill in on bass.
In 1999, Dungeon signed to Warhead Records and Resurrection was at last released.
The positive press the ensued resulted in 18 months of touring and festivals, sharing the bill with names like Nevermore, Mayhem, Destruction, Edguy, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Opeth. They got to play at Australia’s Metal for the Brain Festival and were subsequently invited back for next year. Indeed, they continued to play the festival every year up to 2005, and headlined the main stage in 2001.
Unfortunately, it was also in 2001 that Warhead Records folded and stopped trading. Resurrection was into its third pressing by then, and so the band had to continue distributing it themselves. It was also at this time that even though they had written enough material for a new album, Dale was growing weary and announced his desire to leave. He stuck with the band long enough for them to pick up Stu Marshall, who played his first gig with them after only being a member of the band for 5 weeks.
Given the success of Resurrection, the band wanted the follow-up album Rise to Power to be even better. Tim now had his own home studio and to test it out, they recorded 6 tracks of covers they regularly played live. They sent it to some local radio stations under the name Maiden Our Spare Time, and the response was a demand from fans to officially release it. Of course, budget constraints wouldn’t allow that. The band only had the time and money for Rise to Power.
They recorded it over the course of several months, taking breaks for some of the shows they had to do, and then decided to shop around for a new label. They made negotiations with Metal Warriors and signed their new contract on stage in front of 600 fans in 2002. A Rise to Power was released that same year and heavy touring ensued.
The signed with Limb Music Productions for international distribution, and soon kicked off a world tour. The headlined at the Melodic Metal Festival in Japan, and were a huge hit. They sold out of merchandise and singed CDs within minutes of the doors opening up. What’s the only thing crazier than a British soccer fan? Asian soccer fans/metalheads. Footage from the Japanese festival was used to make Dungeon’s first live album and DVD, Under the Rising Sun.
Dungeon returned home to Australia in time to see A Rise to Power being distributed in Europe and the US, albeit with new cover art that they really hated. Though it was of course very difficult to crack the American market, the album still sold well overseas and helped to cement Dungeon as one of Australia’s finest metal bands.
After talks with LMP, Dungeon decided to re-record Resurrection for a new pressing at the same time they would be recording One Step Beyond, the new album. They hit 2 setbacks however. First there was the touring obligation they had with Edguy, but more importantly, Brendan and Stevo had decided to leave. A temporary rhythm section filled in for the tour, and the band went right back to the advertisements.
One Step Beyond came out in late 2004, and a new line-up was needed for touring. Glenn Williams, who had helped the band out after Brendan’s departure signed up on bass. After a bitter split with drummer Graham Goode, the surprisingly young Tim Yatras filled in on the kit, astounding everyone with his skill he had developed playing in Australia’s black/death metal scene.
Among the gigs, they supported Nightwish and Angra in April of 2005, and later joined Megadeth on tour after being handpicked by Dave Mustaine personally. That same year, they were present at the Australian Heavy Metal Awards where they were nominated for multiple categories and won Best Live Band and Best Lead Vocals.
The world tour with this line-up produced nothing less than resounding success. The tour leg with Megadeth took them over most of Europe before they went for their own headlining dates in Belgium and Holland. They appeared at several festivals and rubbed elbows with names like Metal Church and Chris Caffery. The tour continued on into Canada and finally Japan before the group returned home with a lot on their minds.
You see, they had recently parted ways with their management and were running the tour themselves. The strain it put on all of them backstage took a toll on not only them personally, but their relationship.
After some serious talking, Stu and Glenn decided to leave the band. Lord Tim, growing weary of the constant changes in the line-up and seeing himself as the only founding member remaining made the decision that it was time to dissolve Dungeon and move on. The band agreed to play one last live show on December 11 of 2005 at the Gaelic Theater in Sydney. The following year, the released a posthumous farewell album titled The Final Chapter featuring Andy Dowling and Mav Stevens as guest musicians, all intended as a last thank you to the fans.
After the split, both Tims and Andy went on with Lord Tim’s sideproject-turned-full-time-band LORD with the intention of carrying on the Dungeon sound and legacy. Stu went on to form PainDivision, while Glenn has since joined Sedition.
Dungeon have quite an interesting story behind them as Australia’s most famous metal band. The story ended in a rather interesting way, but it’s clear that the legacy itself isn’t over.
http://www.dungeon.cd/
Official Web Site