By NOEL MURPHY
GOOD songs have a happy knack of longevity, as Todd Hunter will happily attest.
Playing at Christchurch’s Great Kiwi Beer Festival in March he and his Dragon bandmates had 15,000 people jumping and rocking and singing out the verses to his anthemic hits.
“And not a one of them over 25,” he proudly states.
That’s not bad going for a 62-year-old muso. But it’s all pure icing on the cake, Hunter says. The real ambition for any musician is simply to be able to play in a working band. Forget about fame and celebrity.
“That’s all rubbish, it can destroy lives, to be a working musician is the reward,” Hunter says.
Dragon, legendary Kiwi-Aussie rock outfit of the ’70s and ’80s, are still belting out the hits and Geelong-bound, scheduled to play GPAC on May 9.
Hunter laughs at age of the band, describing its latest tour as “an archaeological dig”, but he’s a little more serious about the timelessness of its music.
“The songs are quite durable,” he says. “You can do anything with them.
“In our New Zealand cathedral and churches tour last November we played them acoustically, even with broken harmoniums. The guys I play with are very musically literate.”
Dragon is into its third age and this round of east coast engagements, the Trilogy tour, marks the latest in its Phoenix incarnation – after its Young Years of 1973-79 and Glory Years, 1982-1998, tragically truncated by the death frontman Marc Hunter.
The band is still pumping out its rock anthems with Kiwi singer Mark Williams at the helm, Hunter on bass, Bruce Reid on guitar and Pete Drummond on drums.
Those anthems, just in case you forgot, include April Sun in Cuba, Celebrate, Dreams of Ordinary men, Are You Old Enough? Magic, Cry and Still in Love.
Hunter reminisces about the on-stage power that characterised Dragon at its peak.
““The band in the ’80s made a huge sound,” he recalls.
“Tommy Emmanuel, Doane Perry, and Alan Mansfield gave it incredible oomph and class.
“Whether it was at a pub in Jindabyne where the sheer volume and intensity flattened the crowd on to the back wall, or in huge arenas in Europe to crowds of 100,000, it was an awesome outfit.
“One of the most memorable shows was to a crowd of 12,000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre that sang Rain at the top of their voices. That show was recorded and became The Live One album.”
Those spine-tingling audiences choruses seem almost typical of Dragon concerts these days – even 40 years after Hunter founded the band.
“It’s an amazing thing to be in your 60s and smashing through a great bunch of songs and to look out at 35,000 kids leaping up and down and singing songs that were written decades before they were born,” Hunter says.
“It’s a great way to grow old disgracefully.”
Dragon will perform at GPAC’s Drama Theatre Friday May 9.
