Mention âApril Sun in Cubaâ or âAre You Old Enoughâ to any rock and roll fan in this country, whatever their age, and chances are they would not only know the song but probably all the words as well. Dragonâs songs have became part of our musical landscape and it is reassuring to know that they are still being performed today, in some cases more than 30 years later, albeit in a somewhat different style to the one we are used to.  In 2010, Dragon is a very different band to the original group we remember from the seventies or eighties. Of the original members, only bassist Todd Hunter remains. I spoke to him recently about the current Dragon and what finally persuaded him to get the band happening once again, after all these years.
Todd says that Dragonâs live shows these days encapsulate everything that the band has done to date. âMark Williams is a great lead singer,â  he tells me, âwhoâs got a very different energy from Marc Hunter. He just takes the songs and actually inhabits them so it sort of makes this incarnation of the band not a nostalgia band but it actually has validity in this day and age. Itâs funny, songs like âAre You Old Enoughâ, which meant something in the seventies, are now like anthems and whatâs happening now is that the crowd is as much a part of the band as the band is. Itâs not like the band stands on stage and dishes it out to the crowd. Everybody sings. Thereâs an incredible feeling in the room every night. Itâs not like these songs have to be played again, after ten years of nothing.â
It seems to me that many Dragon songs are timeless. âWell, they certainly do seem that way when youâre out there playing,â agrees Todd. âWeâve got to keep the immediacy and the enthusiasm going. Now, the crowds sing them.â
The band has seen numerous line up changes over the years and more than its fair share of tragedy along the way, with the untimely passing of Toddâs brother and lead singer, Marc Hunter, keyboardist and chief songwriter, Paul Hewson and drummer Neil Storey.
âItâs weird,â says Todd, âwhen you get a thousand people in a big venue, singing along⊠itâs like Marc and Paul and Neil are there. They live on through the songs. Itâs great to be a part of. You know, there wasnât a Dragon for ten years after Marc died. I did soundtrack work and it was like some distant thing that I wasnât very happy about because Iâd lost everyone.â  But Todd found his way back to his passion through an unexpected source. âAfter a long time, I played at a parent/teacher thing at my kidsâ school. The parents and teachers played and one of the other parents was Johnny Diesel so I just played bass to all the music all night and afterwards I thought âThat was great! Thatâs what you do, you twat!â Iâd sort of forgotten. Iâd been working in studios for so long, in terms of doing soundtrack work, and itâs a very solitary business. And about three out of the last five series Iâve done have come out of New York and London so you get up at five in the morning and youâre over at the studio and youâre talking to them on the net, back and forth and sending stuff. Thereâs no one else there. Sometimes, you spend weeks by yourself. Itâs a very different kind of energy.  In the end, it got too solitary. And I wanted that immediacy of playing live again.â
But Todd admits that, for a while there, the solitude was exactly what he needed. âIt still is,â he says. âWe live in Sydney on the weekends and here during the week.â  âHereâ is a property located two and a half hours south of Sydney, in the mountains. âThereâs a big valley and thereâs a couple of houses, no street lights and no people. You can stay here for a week and not see one human being.â
âIâm always pottering around here,â he tells me. âThis is just a barn that Iâve made into a studio and Iâve got all my crap in it.  Everythingâs here basically. There used to be a huge 24 track tuner and a great desk but itâs all gone now and itâs just me and the current Mac and everything runs by the computer. There were a hundred of those weird and wild and woolly instruments doing soundtrack work but Iâm slowly trying to get rid of it all. I have young bands coming down and carting off old analogue systems because Iâd much rather they were using them than having them sitting here like they were in a museum.â
While Todd might spend a fair bit of time in the studio, writing songs and âpottering aroundâ, his main focus is on live performances. But life on the road is much different these days for Dragon. Thereâs no more touring the country with back to back gigs. âWe play weekends only and quite often weâre at three separate places on the weekend,â he explains. âWe only have our guitars when we fly and itâs incredibly mobile. Thereâs no crew, and we just get up and play. It kind of is, now, as it should have always been. The crowds are young. There are twenty year olds to forty year olds. It happens every decade that you play because a lot of our stuff is still on radio so everyone knows the songs. Itâs just part of the background. And the crowd has changed. When we started, it was much more a nostalgia thing where people would come back and say âI remember seeing you in 1974â and now thereâs none of that. Theyâre just all kids who are singing these obscure songs. But thatâs the great thing about I Tunes. All tunes exist. My kids know it all, music from all eras.â
The new Dragon evolved from an acoustic band, Todd explains, as a way of working into the Dragon repertoire on stage. âFor the first six months or so, we couldnât hear the band over the singing and we just got our electric guitars and stuff and started making a hell of a noise. Weâre sort of playing harder all of the time now in order to get above the crowd to get the energy up there. Iâm noticing too on I Tunes, the people who used to buy Dragon music, and who also buy James Reyne and Choirboys stuff are now buying Kings of Leon. So thatâs sort of reframed. Itâs interesting,â he muses. âI guess it sounds familiar and people get thrilled by something they recognise. But, saying that, we also play some new songs and the crowds are really incredibly supportive of the songs. Itâs everything that everybody knows plus Mark does an a capella version of âShow No Mercyâ and sometimes somebody will start a song and weâll just play it, like âShoutâ or âMessage in a Bottleâ or whateverâŠâ
Todd is very happy with the current Dragon line up and the way that the band just seemed to effortlessly fit together from the outset. âItâs a great band. It was a very simple thing of getting it together when I decided to play again. I just rang Mark Williams out of the blue and said âHow about it?â and he said âYeahâ and then I asked the guy who was working in the studio who a great guitar player would be. He recommended Bruce. He worked with Wendy Matthews. I rang him up and said âDo you want to be in a band?â and he said âYeah, why not?â and then he recommended Pete and so we all just got together in a room and started playing and that was it. There were no auditions. Everything just came together this time around.â
In 2008, Dragon was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. It was a rather emotional night for the band and, clearly, the absence of Marc, Paul and Neil would have been felt by everyone in the room, making the experience somewhat bittersweet. But the accolade was well deserved and, in the minds of many, long overdue. Todd was chuffed at receiving the honour. âIt wasnât something youâd ever give a minuteâs thought to. The night was very diverse. It went from The Triffids to Rolf Harris to Russell Morris being inducted. I had to overcome my phobia about having to speak in public,â he laughs, âbecause I had to give an acceptance speech.â He admits that was a bit scary. âYou have to fit everything in and you donât want to be boring, you donât want to be pompous. Itâs just about striking the right balance.â
by Sharyn Hamey
Copyright © Sharyn Hamey 2010.  All rights reserved
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