Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Savage Dog

ORIGINS: Western Sydney, NSW
GENRE: Metal
YEARS ACTIVE: 1993-1998
 
MEMBERS:
  • Danny Young - Vocals
  • Jayson Maguire - Drums
  • Matt Palmer - Guitar
  • Ben Palmer - Bass
  • Jonny - Guitar (1993)
  • Steve - Bass (1993)
 
RELEASES: 
 
  • Hail to the Underground (1997) - Download Here.
    • 1. Hail to the Underground
    • 2. Burn
    • 3. Snakebite/Vampires
    • 4. Fight in the Pit
SUMMARY: Forming in 1993, Savage Dog started playing shows as a tight four-piece band in 1994 alongside other Sydney metal bands such as Mortality, Cryogenic, Mortal Sin, etc, and built a reputation for themselves as a solid live band in the scene. An EP was recorded towards the end of the band's time but never released. Savage Dog called it a day not long after vocalist Danny Young left. 
 
SHOWS:


 

ORAL HISTORY:
JAYSON: Myself and Danny put the band together. Dan and I had pitbulls - we met at a dog show and got chatting. We were into the same music and Danny said he had some ideas about vocals and had started to write lyrics. I had played in other bands and went to the Institute of Music and the Academy of Drumming and Percussion, so I knew my way around the kit! Dan had seen me play and was like, "Fuck, dude, we gotta get a band together", and so we formed then and there. We called the band 'Savage Dog' because we had awesome pitbulls. Dan put an ad in the paper and we had two brothers turn up for the first rehearsal... Johnny was on guitar and he could play good but his bro on bass had no fucking clue whatsoever. So Jonny and I got stuff started and by first rehearsal we had one song from start to finish and it kicked ass! And so, Savage Dog was formed.
Jayson Maguire (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DANNY: I was into the band scene. Mainly international bands but I'd also go to see my good friends from Mortality play, and sometimes Cryogenic. I saw Mortality play once and after that I thought, I'll give this band thing a crack. I had never sung before but you need to start somewhere. The bands that influenced me most were Alice in Chains, Pantera, Faith No More, Rob Zombie, and Life Death Sex. We did a lot of rehearsals in and around Sydney... we had some band member changes at that point but once the band settled it was the same lineup from our first show to the end. 
Danny Young (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 

 
JAYSON: Jonny and his brother only lasted for a month or two - they were pains in the arse and broke and too young! So we put up a new ad and Matt and Ben, another brother combo, turned up and fuck yeah, the magic started. We were influenced by Fear Factory, White Zombie, Sepultura, Pantera and all the big heavy hitters but we created our own sound.
Jayson Maguire (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
MATT: I used to work at Rural Press in North Richmond and they used to print Drum Media, so I'd read it and always wanted to be in a metal band! I answered an ad for a punk band in Penrith. They didn't get my kinda vibe, I was bit hurt but moved on. I tried out for Savage Dog and the singer was unmovable on the name. I walked in and did some Hammett shit... they went, what the fuck? So I joined and they had two brothers in the band - one could play rhythm okay but his brother was just doing the job on bass, and I mean just. I said to Dan and Jay, my brother plays bass and has Mesa Boogie amps and all the shit, and can actually play. We had a jam without the other brothers and it was all over for them. When Ben came in it all just clicked. We rehearsed for at least six months. Our first gig was in Redfern - we played lots of gigs with a band called Shattered Mass but our first big gig was at Seven Hills supporting a Pantera cover band. Wayne Campbell from Mortal Sin was there and he said to us, "Where the fuck have you been hiding?"
Matt Palmer (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JAYSON: We gelled big time and started to rehearse three days a week and shit got real really quick! We had a good set list and got hit up to start gigging. So off we went... and were kicking ass. Gigging with the likes of Mortality, Cryogenic, Neophobia, Shattered Mass, Sulkus... and so on. The list was mad.
Jayson Maguire (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 

 
DANNY: The first gig was at a pub in Alexandria, Sydney. We did what any broke-arse band did and invited all our friends. It wasn't a bad night. To perform in front of people and get over the stage fright was the hardest thing. The band itself - those guys - they could play almost anything. They were (and no doubt still are) very talented. Me being a new-start - it was hard to sound like some of my favourite bands. 
Danny Young (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
MATT: Ben was the best player outside of Luke Ford (Mortality) back then but he was underage when we first started so he had to come in the back door all the time until he was legal. 
Matt Palmer (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JAYSON: First Savage Dog show was at the Waterloo Tavern in Woolloomooloo on a Saturday night. It was fuckin' awesome, we had a medium turn out of people and the place was pumping.
Jayson Maguire (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
MATT: Playing in a metal band in the '90s? I loved it. We made no money but no one cared. Some weekends we would do a show Friday night and then play in the city Saturday night, then pack up and play yet another show on the same night in Richmond or Kurrajong Heights. It was just fun. My Mrs, now my wife Rachel, would drive home so I could drink; it was one of the best periods in my life.
Matt Palmer (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
 
JAYSON: There were so many great shows. We played at Bondi Pavilion and it was recorded by JJJ and played on the 3 Hours of Power show. Dan and I were listening to it on our way home and they played two of our songs back to back on the radio, was sick as!
Jayson Maguire (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DANNY: We recorded but, sadly, we did not release. The original master recording sits in a bag in a dark closet in my home... we made some unmastered copies for ourselves but nothing more came of it. The band had really evolved in the four or five years we'd been together. You could hear it in our sound and music.
Danny Young (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 

 
MATT: We got pretty close to releasing our EP. I was happy with most of it but the guy who recorded it had different filters and stuff on my sound. Any little stuff ups I did and wasn't happy with, he'd just say, "Ahh, we'll just fix it in the mix". Some of the little lead things I did were recorded with some sick effect that sounded awesome but he left it off on the recording. When I listen back to it I realise how much Dimebag had influenced me. The song 'Burn' was my favourite to play and the last song, 'Fight in the Pit', was popular at shows. We were starting to get heavier around the time we recorded.
Matt Palmer (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
DANNY: The shows that stood out most were the ones at the end. We would pull some large crowds. Our music had started to evolve - we wee finally finding our place in the Sydney music industry. Other bands told us they had noticed the support we had from the community. I think we were approachable - people could talk to us before or after the show and at other venues when we would go to support other bands. The metal community were just a bunch of awesome people. My favourite memory of being in Savage Dog was hanging out with a good group of people who had a common interest. The band and the community - everyone was there for the music.
Danny Young (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
JAYSON: We were going really good - new songs in the making, heaps of gigs booked, and we were about to kick some goals and open doors, but Danny had a dream to be a soldier and without us really knowing he joined the army. Before long we knew about it and we had to miss gigs, and then he was gone full time. We tried a few singers out but it just didn't have the same vibe, so when that happened I moved to Hunter Valley and Matt and Ben started a new band. We remain awesome brothers and stay in touch all the time, even though we're spread out where we live.
Jayson Maguire (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024
 
RELATED BANDS: Judgement, Sharkara
 
Artwork is a combination of tattoos that the band members had.

 
 
  
 


 
 

 
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