Demolition

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. 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, has never been re-issued.

(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. Sayers was also keen to move on to other projects but he remained with Dungeon for almost another year.

Several record labels including Century Media courted the band but Dungeon signed eventually to Sydney's Warhead Records in July 1999. Warhead specialised in releasing Australian heavy metal bands and Moore had been friends with the owner Brad Sims for many years. This possibly swayed the group's decision at the time. Justin Sayers decided to leave Dungeon at this point on friendly terms and played a small number of live shows with them until he was replaced by Brendan "Dakk" McDonald. McDonald had previously played guitar in a band called Dr Zeus, the same band that had supplied Dungeon with early drummer Andrew Brody. Resurrection was released in September 1999. While it sold well among the band's growing fanbase, Warhead Records folded early the next year and the album was never re-pressed. Despite this, it won them considerable notice and Dungeon supported Yngwie Malmsteen and Nevermore late in the year before making their first appearance at the Metal for the Brain festival. They would go on to play at the event every year until 2005.

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.

(2005–2007) Break-up and aftermath

In September 2005, after a run of shows with wrestler Chris Jericho's band Fozzy, Dungeon issued a press release on their official website announcing that due to the departure of Marshall and Williams, Tim Grose decided to put an end to the band. They performed a final show at the Gaelic Club in Surry Hills, Sydney on 11 December 2005. Justin Sayers, Dakk McDonald and Stephen Mikulic made guest appearances during the band's almost two-hour set. A final album entitled The Final Chapter was announced. Recorded by Grose and Yatras, with guests Andy Dowling (bass) and Mav Stevens (guitar), this album was released in mid-2006.

The band's various members have moved on to other projects. Grose and Yatras continued to work together under the name Lord with Dowling. This name was previously used by Grose in 2003 for a solo release. Lord continues to play the Dungeon back-catalogue live and follows a similar musical path. Both men also featured in the Newcastle studio-based power metal band Ilium until Grose announced his departure in early 2008. Stu Marshall formed a band called 20 Grams with Yatras briefly on drums and later with Jordan Howe, a one-time member of The Harlots, on vocals. This band is now known as Paindivision and has gone on to issue two albums as of mid-2010. Former bass player Sayers plays in a heavy rock / punk act called Platinum Brunette that released an EP in early 2007 and now features Lord Tim guitar. This band released an album in early 2009. Stephen Mikulic is a member of Lycanthia. Grahame Goode and Pete Peric reformed Infernal Method shortly after their brief time with Dungeon, however that group split up for good in April 2007; Goode later joined the thrash band Killrazer and Peric is now with Nazxul. Glenn Williams joined Brisbane melodic metallers Sedition (former bassist Andy Dowling had left to join Lord.) One-time drummer Steve Moore played in thrash band Vaticide and now plays in a Brisbane rock and metal band. Dakk McDonald runs a CD/DVD duplication business. Of the band's early guitarists, Dale Fletcher died from a brain haemmorhage in January 2005, Jason Hansen builds handmade guitars and Dale Corney sings for a Broken Hill metal band called Soulforge.

Band members

Final line-up

'Lord' Tim Grose (1989–2005) – vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass

Tim Yatras (2005) – drums

Former

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