Before they made it big in Australia, New Zealand and internationally, ’70s rock-pop band Dragon had a brief stint at the Golden Dragon nightclub on Suva’s Victoria Parade.
Ken Janson, the owner/operator of the venue widely regarded as Fiji’s music mecca, said he recalled the day the group dropped in to say bula.
“There were two brothers Todd and Marc Hunter, they’ve got Fijian links but I’m not sure where from,” Janson said.
“They were still in the process of putting their sound together and asked if they could play when our house band, the Dragon Swingers, took a break.
“I said of course, we were always glad to have bands drop in.
“And from what I can recall, they had a very different sound — it was a mix of soul, pop and rock and it took the locals some time to get into their music.
“It’s just amazing that a few years later they went to international fame with songs like April Sun In Cuba and Are You Old Enough.
“Marc left Dragon in the late ’70s and in 1979 recorded an album titled Fiji Bitter and had a hit single from it called Island Nights.”
Janson said not much was known about the Hunter brothers’ heritage and their Fijian link.
Early years According to HotShotDigital Marc Hunter Biography, the Hunter brothers grew up in the middle of New Zealand’s North Island in a little town called Taumaranui.
You could say they were raised in a place where they were literally surrounded by music, where groups of people would gather with guitars and sing traditional Kiwi songs and their renditions of American soul and rhythm and blues classics.
Music pundits believe the Hunter brothers’ Fijian heritage helped them gain an understanding of Maoritanga – an appreciation of life, art and culture from the Maori perspective.
Marc used to sing in local choirs and at school; one of his favourite pastimes was learning classic pop tunes and “running them ragged”.
Todd enrolled at Waikato Teachers College in 1970 and in his spare time used to hang out with local musicians.
He picked up the bass guitar and hooked up with a band called OK Dinghy, which changed names to Anteapot, Staff and during a gig at the Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival, the group finally settled on the name Dragon.
Marc followed Todd to Auckland and went through a string of jobs – door-to-door salesman, kitchen hand and sometimes drummer/singer with a band called Quintessence.
Todd decided to hook Marc up with Dragon and the band landed a residency at Levis’ Saloon in June 1973.
Dix’ Ponsonby, in an essay titled Rock-Sordid Tales of Dragon, said Dragon scored residencies at other venues including Do Re Mi and Rasputin’s led to the band progressing to scoop first prize in the Auckland Festival’s all-day Rock Marathon in 1974.
Two of Dragon’s albums, Universal Radio and Scented Gardens For The Blind, received airplay and rave reviews.
With the success of their two albums, Dragon hit the road as a supporting act for Ghanaian-British Afro-rock band Osibisa and English rock band Uriah Heep and toured New Zealand and Fiji.
