This past Spring, we had the great opportunity to meet Mr. David Surkamp, whom you may recall is the lead singer and guitarist for the band Pavlov’s Dog. Now I won’t take up the space in this blog to tell you all about Pavlov’s Dog, but they are one of rock’s most iconic bands stemming from the 70’s. Here is a short bio on them, but I urge all reading this to Google our friends Pavlov’s Dog and catch up with this amazing band.
Founded in 1973 as a quartet consisting of David, bassist Rick Stockton, violinist Siegfried Carver & drummer Mike Safron, the band was duly signed to ABC Records to the then unheard-of sum of $500,000. With industry expectations through the roof, Pavlov’s Dog delivered one of the most brilliantly confounding debuts of all time with its initial release “Pampered Menial.” To say the album left journalists sometimes speechless, sometimes tongue-tied, would be a gross understatement. To put it simply, no one had ever heard anything like the incredible songs and vocal performances of this singular effort. Songs including “Julia,” “Late November” & “Of Once & Future Kings” remain concert highlights decades after their release. The foundations of mystery developed throughout the following few years. Concert performances with acts including ELO, Aerosmith, Kraftwerk, Nektar and Blue Oyster Cult met rave reviews. Soon upcoming giants, including Heart, Thin Lizzy, Bob Seger and Journey, found themselves opening shows for Pavlov’s Dog.
What a huge thrill this was, a major recording artist (PV has platinum albums) recording at S58. Not to mention, to experience how David creates his songs is amazing. He came to the studio, sat down at the piano, and just started playing a few chords. Long time buddies from the early days, Eric Salus and Howard Harris, sat in at the drums and bass, I was allowed to accompany on the guitar. David started playing and we all followed along. After a couple of rounds, David says- okay, that’s it, tomorrow we record. No music to follow, no lyrics (he had not thought of them yet), just a melody and progression of chords, and we have the beginning of a song.
The next day I picked David up at his place, and we drove to the studio, just talking and laughing about crap, and I asked, “so you have the lyrics figured out?” He said not yet, but it’s in his mind. Wow, I thought, this is really something else!
Now another good friend of David and the gang is involved- Bill Engel. Bill is going to do the sound engineering and produce this record. So, this go-around, David plays the piano, Eric on drums and Howard on bass. Damn- no guitar. I am in the control room with Billy. Which is fine with me, as I am in process of learning this end of music, and what better way to do this than with these fine musicians.
I know this blog is getting long, and we are coming to the end.
The next session, David brings in his band piano player- Mark Marham. David moves to guitar and works on the vocals (and the lyrics are now done). We use Eric’s drum track as he had to fly. And to finish off the session, Billy plays slide guitar- and I’ll tell you what, he was incredible to say the least. We’ll now, we have a song and time for all to sit back and evaluate it. A week goes by and David brings in his bud backup singer- Brian Clark. Many will remember Brian for his long tenure at the Dorsette Inn- Brian Clark and the St. Louis Browns. Brian is going to fill in on backup vocals, and Howard is going to polish up his bass track. So, if you’ve stuck with me this long you will come to find on this website, the final song complete. It’s called Holding Dixie, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did working with David.
Thanks David- We Love you!
