Dungeon

DUNGEON

• Lord Tim (vocals, guitar)
• Stuart Marshall (guitar)
• Glenn Williams (bass)
• Tim Yatras (drums)

Band Information

Dungeon’s current level of success as arguably one of Australia’s top-drawing and top-selling metal acts is testament to singer/guitarist Lord Tim’s commitment and persistence. After a long and turbulent past, Dungeon now stands as one of the country’s most popular metal bands, with strong cult followings beginning to develop internationally.

The band began in the town of Broken Hill in 1989 playing a mixture of popular rock and metal covers and some hard-rock inspired original tunes. The original three piece of Tim, bassist Eddie Trezise and drummer Ian DeBono shortly became five with the addition of Carolyn Boon on keyboards and second guitarist Jason Hansen, with Randall Hocking replacing Trezise. Dungeon played what gigs they could until in July 1990 Hocking and Hansen left to be replaced by Jamie Baldwin and Dale Fletcher and by the end of the year DeBono had made way for Darryl Riess although by February 1991 only Tim was left in the band. Fletcher died from a brain haemmorhage in early 2005.

Dale Corney joined Dungeon on guitar and the band played as a duo for some time until they went to Sydney to record a demo in 1992. This recording received some favourable press and by early 1993 Tim and Corney were auditioning members for a new Dungeon line-up in Sydney. Eventually, 1995 found the band as Tim, Corney, Steve Mikulic (guitar), George Smith (bass) and ex-Dr Zeus drummer Andrew Brody. A demo called “Changing Moods” was recorded with Virgil Donati playing drums on the title cut and Jim Yannieh also laying down drum tracks on one song. A short time later, Brody left Dungeon and was replaced after some time by Wayne Harris of Maximum Carnage. Maximum Carnage also supplied new bass player Justin Sayers when Smith left, followed shortly afterward by Mikulic. While Dungeon’s endless personnel hassles continued, some wheels were turning for them.

The demo won support from the Japanese label TDK-Core, who wanted to release it as an album. Instead, Dungeon remixed the songs with new bass lines provided by Sayers and with some added further demo tracks the result was released as Demolition. Demolition moved 5500 units in Japan in five weeks and is now a highly sought-after rarity as the label ditched rock music shortly afterward and the album has never been re-pressed. Meanwhile, Harris refused to acknowledge the release and was fired. A stand-in, Tyrone “Ty Blakely” McMaster, was used in all promo for the album although he never actually played in the band.

With a second album ready but no label or drummer, Dungeon nonetheless got lucky when Steve Moore of Sydney thrash legends Addictive expressed interest in joining the band. Addictive soon broke up and Dungeon had its most concrete line-up for some years, scoring regular shows on the circuit and quickly winning a reputation for consistency that began to build a stong and loyal fanbase. At the same time, the Resurrection album was taking shape and while several overseas labels showed great interest, Dungeon signed to Warhead Records in Sydney in July 1999. Sayers had already decided to leave the band at this point in order to pursue other avenues and by the time Resurrection came out in September 1999 as Warhead’s last ever release, he had been replaced by one-time Dr Zeus guitarist Brendon “Dakk” McDonald. In the final part of the year Dungeon supported Yngwie Malmsteen and Nevermore and appeared at Metal for the Brain for the first time. They have played at the festival every year since.

For the next eighteen months Dungeon continued to support the album with constant live shows and touring but in August 2001, Corney left the band, playing his final show with them in September, when he was replaced by Stu Marshall. Marshall’s first show with Dungeon was their headlining set at that year’s Metal for the Brain festival.

Again, Dungeon had a new album ready but with the demise of Warhead they no longer had a label. During their tour in support of Edguy in mid-2002, they signed to Melbourne label Metal Warriors on stage at the end of their set in Sydney. A few months later, A Rise to Power was released in Australia and quickly became a best seller. The band supported the album with a solid touring schedule, during which they played the album in its entirety. They also found themselves in the unlikely position of supporting Mayhem in Sydney. At the end of the year, Dungeon supported Destruction as part of that band’s Australian tour.

In May of 2003, Dungeon went to Japan where they played two shows as part of the Melodic Metal Meltdown festival in Tokyo and Osaka. To publicise the tour, the band issued Rising Power, a special Japanese limited edition release featuring some songs from A Rise to Power plus reworked demos, covers and a video clip for “The Other Side”. The Tokyo show was recorded and later released as the Under the Rising Sun DVD in 2004. German label LMP released A Rise to Power throughout Europe in June 2003 with substantially different cover art that the band has since disowned.

2004 began with another high-profile tour, this time with Opeth, after which Dungeon began to concentrate on recording a new album. In fact the band started working on two recordings, a new full-length and a complete re-recording of 1999’s Resurrection. Tensions flared during the recording sessions however and McDonald left the band. Tim later re-recorded the bass parts himself. Meanwhile, Glenn Williams of Brisbane heavy rock band Mobstar filled in on bass during Dungeon’s national tour with Edguy; as Moore had also stood down from the tour for personal reasons, Infernal Method /Stronger than Hate drummer Grahame Goode also played these shows. At the end of the tour, it was announced that Moore had officially decided to leave Dungeon. Tim and Marshall then undertook a promotional tour of Japan, Europe and the US, playing a number of shows in Japan and Croatia as a two piece. Shortly after their return, One Step Beyond was released in Australia, in November 2004. At almost the same time it was announced that Infernal Method guitarist Pete Peric had joined on bass. The Dungeon line-up was now Lord Tim (vocals, guitar), Stu Marshall (guitar, vocals), Grahame Goode (drums) and Peric.

A small number of shows followed, but this devastating line-up was very short-lived and after performing at the Canberra Metal for the Brain festival in February 2005, both Goode and Peric left the band to reform Infernal Method. Williams returned and journeyman drummer Tim Yatras (Battalion, Nazxul, Black Reign) stepped into the band in time for Dungeon’s further live commitments at the Brisbane Metal for the Brain and tour dates with Nightwish and Angra.

Listeners of the Triple J network’s Full Metal Racket show voted One Step Beyond as the Australian Album of the Year for 2004, an honour it shared with Alarum’s Eventuality… . At the Australian Heavy Metal Music Awards in February 2005, Dungeon was voted Best Live Band and Lord Tim Best Singer. In April the band toured nationally as support to Megadeth before heading to Europe in June for more shows with Megadeth and several festival appearances, including a gig with Chris Caffery and Metal Church at the Bang Your Head pre-show in Germany. After this, Dungeon went to North America and Japan before returning to Australia in August.

Following their return and a support to US band Fozzy, Stu Marshall and Glenn Williams announced in September 2005 that they would both be leaving Dungeon. Because of this, it was felt that the Dungeon name should be retired and the two Tims would instead switch to the name Lord from 2006. Dungeon played its last ever show on December 11, 2005.

Marshall formed PainDivision in August 2005.

A final Dungeon album was released in late 2006.