After nearly five decades in the limelight, Dragon is one of those outfits that has confounded the pervasive rock band burnout cliche.
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These guys just keep on keeping on.
And that’s not to say they haven’t had their share of trials; the band has survived through heroin overdoses, car crashes (both literal and metaphorical), and terminal cancer, and yet always managed to reinvent themselves and come back swinging.
It seems that it doesn’t matter what they do, we’re still in love with them.
Perhaps it’s this habitually necessary process of reinvention that has kept them in good stead all these years.
Todd Hunter, Bruce Reid, Pete Drummond and Mark Williams are back on tour again this Summer, and coming our way, with their latest incarnation of their Countdown tour – an homage to 80s UK chartbusters.
But don’t expect just another ‘Golden Oldies’ nostalgia concert.
“To hell with posterity,” bassist and band constant, Todd Hunter said.
While they’ll be banging out to some well-worn classics from the likes of the Police, Bowie, Queen, Duran Duran, and Tears for Fears, Hunter said they’ve been conscious of coming off as “just another cover band” and have put some of their own flavour into the mix.
“If you’re too specific to the language of a bygone era, there’s no point. As a musician, it’s hard not to be impressed by current musical language. We’ll be using some of the language of contemporary dance culture, like big drops.
“And we’re being a bit more free-form these days – like jazz. We just play off each other.”
While many musicians have lamented the change in music culture from the days of LPs and radio listeners to the new ‘iPod generation’, with fast fingers and an even faster attention span, Todd Hunter looks at the change from a glass-half-full perspective.
“There’s more loyalty to songs than bands these days – but that’s good,” he said.
“It means that cult status is not important anymore. In the 70s and 80s, bands were put on a pedestal. Now it seems it’s less about egos, and it’s gone back to being about the music.”
And Hunter believes this is the best space to come at a well-loved and time-worn classic track.
“Noone knows how to write a hit song, otherwise there’d be nothing but hits. A good song is as much about the people who love it as those who wrote it,” he said.
“If you can get to see why they love it, then it makes an impact on you – it’s a two-way flow.”
And each of the band members were able to get in on that act with everyone having a say on the song selection process for the tour.
“If anyone disliked a song, we disregarded it. The second test was, ‘can we find the heart of the song, and bring something to it of our own, so as not to be a cover’? And apart from every other consideration, is the song fun to play and are people going to sing their hearts out?” Hunter said.
They’ll be giving the same treatment to their own repertoire which will feature in their second set.
My favourite memory of 80s Countdown was seeing the video clip for Rain, I think it was November 1983. It was one of my favourite songs, by one of my favourite bands... and now I’m in it!
- Pete Drummond
In spite of the modern digital drift where “you can rule the world from your bedroom”, Hunter said he’s noticed a band renaissance, which is playing out nicely for Dragon, with more and more live venues booking them in for gigs.
“I think going out to see a band will always be regarded as special. It only happens on that night, there and then – and it’s so much more in your face.”
But perhaps it’s always been this way. He remembers the discord between Dragon’s “shiny pop stuff on our records” and their “anarchic” live shows during the 80s – complete with whipping crops – which were hugely influenced by the punk rockers they were hanging around at the time.
“And at a live gig you can always invite the audience along for the ride. At a Dragon show, there’s always a lot of singing,” Hunter said.
“And there’s a buzz you get when you hit the first chords of a bar and the crowd erupts. It’s really rejuvenative. It’s a great way to grow old disgracefully.”
If you’re keen to belt out your best impression of April Sun In Cuba, then get along to the Macksville Ex-Services Club on December 28. Doors open at 7pm for an 8pm start.
Tickets are $30 pre-sale and $35 on the door. They can be booked in advance at the club or through trybooking.com