Pavlov's Dog
| Pavlov's Dog | |
|---|---|
 Pavlov's Dog (2019) |
|
| General information | |
| origin |
St. Louis , Missouri , United States |
| Genre (s) | Progressive rock |
| founding | 1972, 2004 |
| resolution | 1977 |
| Founding members | |
| David Surkamp | |
| Steve Scorfina | |
| Mike Safron (until 1975, 2004–2009, 2011–2013) | |
| David Hamilton (until 1976) | |
| Rick Stockton | |
| Doug Rayburn | |
| Siegfried Carver (until 1975) | |
| Current occupation | |
| David Surkamp | |
Vocals, guitar |
Sara Surkamp (since 2005) |
Violin , singing |
Abbie Steiling (since 2008) |
guitar |
David Malachowski (since 2018) |
Keyboard |
Mark Maher (since 2018) |
bass |
Rick Steiling (since 2009) |
Drums |
Manfred Plötz (2010, since 2014) |
| former members | |
Keyboard |
Tom Nickeson (1976-1977) |
Drums |
Kirk Sarkisian (1977) |
guitar |
Bill Franco (2006-2007, 2009-2012) |
guitar |
Amanda McCoy (2013-2017) |
Keyboard |
Nick Schlueter (2009-2013) |
Keyboard |
Nathan Jatcko (2015-2017) |
| Live members | |
Drums |
Bill Bruford (1976) |
Pavlov's Dog is an American rock band founded in 1972 in St. Louis , Missouri , whose sound is unmistakable due to the expressive, extremely high- pitched falsetto voice of lead singer David Surkamp. The band belongs to the style of progressive rock . In addition to Surkamp's voice, the very rhythmic rock is characterized by the fact that in addition to the standard rock instrumentation (vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums plus keyboard), some classical instruments such as flute, violins and other string instruments as well as the mellotron are used to carry melodies.
history
General
Pavlov's Dog initially consisted of David Surkamp (vocals and guitar ), Steve Scorfina ( lead guitar previously with REO Speedwagon ), Mike Safron ( drums ), Rick Stockton ( electric bass ), David Hamilton ( keyboard ), Doug Rayburn ( mellotron and flute ) and Siegfried Carver (born Richard Nadler; various string instruments including the rare Vitar , a combination of guitar and violin).
Already in October 1973, the band recorded a complete, self-produced album within three days in the Golden Voice Studio in Pekin , Illinois , which was actually untitled and was referred to as the Pekin Tapes because of the location . The recordings were considered lost after the studio was destroyed by fire in 1977 to 2014. Because of the recordings, the band received a recording contract for USD 650,000 with ABC Records , which did not release the album but instead sent the band back to the studio. The newly recorded material, which in addition to five songs that were already on the Pekin Tapes and now clearly changed, contained five more new songs, was released in 1975 as an official debut album under the title Pampered Menial . A short time later it was re-released on Columbia Records . The album is particularly rocky compared to later releases. The most famous song Julia from this album is still regularly played by radio stations today. The song has meanwhile been included in various hit collections such as E.g. the hit giant Lovesongs CD by Sony BMG from November 25, 2005.
Siegfried Carver left the band after the first album. In 1976 the band released their second album At the Sound of the Bell , which was less harsh and more melodic. David Hamilton left the band and was replaced by Tom Nickeson . The former drummer of Yes , Bill Bruford , appeared as a session musician added.
The band recorded their third album in 1977 with drummer Kirk Sarkisian under the working title Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried? in memory of violinist Sigfried Carver, who left the band in 1975. Because of the poor sales of the first two albums, Columbia Records declined to release, canceled the contract and the band split. The third album was only released as a bootleg in a small number of stolen master tapes. It was first released on vinyl in a private press as The St. Louis Hounds (without mentioning the name "Pavlov's Dog" on the cover). In 1994 the album was released illegally by the German label TRC under the name Third . Only later (2007 & 2014) did it officially appear on Rockville Music under the original working title Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried? .
On July 5, 1989, Sony released the first two albums as a double CD.
In the 1990s, Pavlov's Dog was re-established, again with David Surkamp and Doug Rayburn from the original line-up. They recorded for the American label Telectro Lost in America , which was illegally published in Europe by the TRC label. It wasn't until 2007 that Lost in America appeared regularly in Europe on Rockville Music. At the same time, Mike Safron tried to revive the band in 1990. Without original singer David Surkamp, the unsuccessful album End of the World was created under the band name "Pavlov's Dog 2000" , which was released on Kanned Goose Records.
On June 26, 2004 in St. Louis , Missouri, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of "Pampered Menial", a memorial concert with the original line-up from 1974 took place, with the exception of Siegfried Carver. Pavlov's Dog has been touring regularly since 2005, with the original members David Surkamp and Mike Safron initially being accompanied by changing musicians. Original member Douglas Rayburn was briefly back in 2008, but said goodbye after just one tour. David Surkamp's wife Sara (vocals, guitar) has also been part of the band's line-up since 2005. For health reasons, Safron had to take a break in 2010 and left the band in 2013.
In 2007 Pavlov's Dog signed a new record deal with the German label Rockville Music . As a result, the world's first legal version of the third album was released, now titled Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried? , supplemented with ten bonus tracks of unreleased live and studio recordings from 1973 to 1977. Lost In America was also released for the first time worldwide, and this was also supplemented with eight bonus tracks. In 2007 Rockville released David Surkamp's new album Dancing on the Edge of a Teacup . In 2009 Rockville released Pampered Menial with four bonus tracks and At the Sound of the Bell with three bonus tracks, each as digipak . The first in the design of the original ABC vinyl record from 1975 (not yet available on CD) with unpublished pictures in the booklet, the second with the only known band photo of the Mk II line-up including Bill Bruford.
In October 2010 the studio album Echo & Boo was released , which was dedicated to the former Pavlov's Dog musician Siegfried Carver aka Richard Nadler, who died May 30, 2009 in Kansas at the age of 60. On January 21, 2011, Live and Unleashed (Live in Europe 2009) was the first live album in the band's history.
Original member Mike Safron left the band in 2013. He was replaced by Manfred Plötz, who has also been the tour manager of Pavlov's Dog since 2006 and who had already represented Safron in 2010, when he suddenly failed due to health reasons.
In 2013, the original master tapes from the third album recorded in 1977 were rediscovered. It was released in February 2014 under the title Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried (original Mastertapes) . The cover shows the motif originally intended for this album in 1977 for the first time (Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Whatson with sniffer dog). Since the original master tapes were now available for this new release for the first time, it is characterized by an enormously improved sound quality compared to all previous versions (all previous versions came from inferior cassette copies). There are also 8 unreleased bonus tracks on the new release, which do not overlap with the bonus tracks of previous versions.
In 2014, a copy of the Pekin tapes recorded in October 1973 was discovered in a private estate. The recordings were restored and released in November 2014 along with demo recordings from March 1973 under the title The Pekin Tapes by Rockville Music.
On August 19, 2016, House Broken was their second live album. Double CD and DVD are complete recordings of the two-hour show on October 26, 2015 in Nuremberg.
Keyboard player Nathan Jatcko committed suicide on January 17, 2018. He was replaced by Mark Maher. As a result, Amanda McCoy left the band and was replaced by David Malachowski.
The studio album Prodigal Dreamer was released on December 7, 2018 . It contains 13 songs over a playing time of 61:11 minutes and is musically based on the first two albums. It was voted album of the month by the German Eclipsed magazine and subsequently ranked 14th among the albums of the year 2018.
Band name
The band name (Eng. " Pavlovian dog ") alludes to the famous attempt by the Russian behavioral scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov , with which he demonstrated the conditioned reflex in dogs.
Legends
David Surkamp's extremely succinct voice has been compared in America to that of Geddy Lee of the band Rush . Because of its height, it is often mistaken for a woman's voice by listeners unfamiliar with Pavlov's Dog.
After initially weak sales, the two records developed into the strongest longsellers, especially in Germany well into the eighties . Since the record company gave no more information about the band after the termination of the record contract and the band had split up, rumors arose: Among other things, it was said that the lead singer had been stabbed to death. The most widespread rumor, however, was that the singer had created the high-pitched voice by inhaling helium and that he died from it.
The fact that Surkamp formed a band called Hi-Fi with Fairport Convention member Ian Matthews could not harm these rumors . They recorded a 12 "live EP called Hi-Fi Demonstration Record in 1981 and a studio album called Moods for Mallards in 1983 , but the band remained largely unknown. Both albums were released in 2012 under the title Hi-Fi - The Complete Collection / The Seattle Years "re-released with 5 bonus tracks and bonus DVD.
Discography
Studio albums
- 1975: Pampered Menial
- 1976: At the Sound of the Bell
- 1977: St. Louis Hounds (vinyl)
- 1990: Lost in America
- 1994: Third (CD; identical to St. Louis Hounds )
- 2007: Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried? ( Third + 10 bonus tracks)
- 2010: Echo & Boo
- 2014: Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried? (Orig. Mastertapes) ( Third of orig. Mastertapes + 8 bonus tracks)
- 2014: The Pekin Tapes
- 2018: Prodigal Dreamer
Live albums
- 2011: Live and Unleashed (Live Europe 2009)
- 2016: House Broken - Live 2015 (DoCD + DVD)
Others
- 2007: David Surkamp - Dancing on the Edge of a Teacup
- 2012: Hi-Fi - The Complete Collection / The Seattle Years (CD + DVD)
Web links
- Pavlov's Dog at laut.de
- American page about the band, including the lyrics of the first two albums
- Entry in the English internet rock lexicon vh1
Individual evidence
- ^ Rockville Music website. Retrieved February 7, 2015 .
- ^ Rockville Music website. Retrieved February 7, 2015 .