Pavlov's Dog

Biography

Pavlov’s Dog is a 1970s progressive rock/AOR band formed in St. Louis in 1972. Pavlov’s Dog originally comprised David Surkamp (vocals and guitar), Steve Scorfina (lead guitar), Mike Safron (drums), Rick Stockton (bass guitar), David Hamilton (keyboard), Doug Rayburn (mellotron and flute), and Siegfried Carver (born Richard Nadler) (various string instruments including the rare vitar, a cross between a guitar and a violin). Carver left the band after the first album. On their second album At the...

Pavlov’s Dog is a 1970s progressive rock/AOR band formed in St. Louis in 1972. Pavlov’s Dog originally comprised David Surkamp (vocals and guitar), Steve Scorfina (lead guitar), Mike Safron (drums), Rick Stockton (bass guitar), David Hamilton (keyboard), Doug Rayburn (mellotron and flute), and Siegfried Carver (born Richard Nadler) (various string instruments including the rare vitar, a cross between a guitar and a violin). Carver left the band after the first album. On their second album At the Sound of the Bell (1976), Tom Nickeson was added to the line-up on guitar and he took over Hamilton’s keyboard position after the album had been recorded as Hamilton left the band. Safron was still a member of the band but did not appear on the second album, former Yes drummer Bill Bruford played as a guest musician. Safron left in the aftermath of this, partially due to his failure to receive a promised credit on the album sleeve and the band’s third album featured Kirk Sarkisian on drums.
The band’s debut Pampered Menial was released in 1975. It was briefly released on ABC Records but quickly re-issued by Columbia Records. The result was that both versions appeared in stores at nearly the same time, which may have confused the public. Their second album At the Sound of the Bell followed on Columbia in 1976. The band recorded a third album in 1977, but due to poor sales of the first two albums, Columbia refused to release it, hastening the band’s split. The third album finally appeared as a bootleg in the 1980s, a limited edition pressed from stolen master tapes. It was released under the name The St. Louis Hounds, without Pavlov’s Dog’s name on the sleeve.
The album was released legally in 2007 by German label Rockville Music, titled HAS ANYONE HERE SEEN SIGFRIED, remastered and including additional 10 bonustracks of unreleased material from the 70ies. The German label TRC illegally bootlegged the album titled THIRD, but this does not include the bonustracks.
In 1990, a reformed version of the band, with only Surkamp and Rayburn and some contribution from Scorfina from the original line-up, recorded Lost in America for US label Telectro. LOST IN AMERICA was re-released worldwide by Rockville Music in 2007, after TRC also having illegally bootlegged it in the late 90ies.
Also in 2007 the solo album DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A TEACUP by Pavlov`s Dog`s lead singer DAVID SURKAMP was released by ROCKVILLE MUSIC.
The band toures again annually in Europe since 2005. Among others they played the Arrow Rock Festival in Holland 2006 in front of 54000 people, as well as headlining both the Burg Herzberg Festival 2007 (12000 people) and the Woodstock Festival 2008 (5000 people).
David Surkamp's distinctive voice has been compared to that of Geddy Lee of Rush. When the band split up in the late 1970s, Surkamp was rumoured to be dead, although he in fact was working with former Fairport Convention member Ian Matthews on a band named Hi-Fi. While living in Seattle the group was successful on the club scene and recorded a 5 track live 12" EP in 1981 entitled Hi-Fi Demonstration Record and a studio album in 1983 entitled Moods for Mallards. The 2 Hi-Fi releases were on First American Records and were intended for national distribution, but promotion outside the Pacific Northwest was virtually non-existent. The label self-destructed and was later revealed to be losing large amounts of investor money on purpose as part of tax shelter scheme. Hi-Fi proved to be even more obscure than Pavlov's Dog.
Album:
1975 Pampered Menial [33 rpm] Vinyl LP CBS S 80872
1975 Pampered Menial Vinyl LP CBS SBP474339
1975 Pampered Menial [Gatefold] Vinyl LP ABC ABCD-866
1975 Pampered Menial [33 rpm] Vinyl LP Columbia KC 33552
1975 Pampered Menial [Gatefold] Vinyl LP CBS 80872
1988 Pampered Menial CD Columbia 462444 2
1988 Pampered Menial CD CBS CDCBS 32480
1988 Pampered Menial [Reissue] CD
2007 Pampered Menial [Reissue] CD Rockville
Pampered Menial CD Columbia 469085 2
Pampered Menial CD Columbia CDCOL 32480
Pampered Menial Vinyl LP CBS CBS 32480
1976 At the Sound of the Bell Vinyl LP CBS CBS 81163
1976 At the Sound of the Bell Vinyl LP Columbia PC 33964
1988 At the Sound of the Bell [Reissue] CD
1992 At the Sound of the Bell CD Sony 32405
At the Sound of the Bell CD Columbia CDCOL 32405
At the Sound of the Bell [Reissue] Vinyl LP CBS CBS 81163
At the Sound of the Bell CD CBS CDCBS 32405
At the Sound of the Bell Vinyl LP CBS CBS 32405
1977 The St. Louis 'Hounds'
1977 Third (aka 'St. Louis Hounds')
1992 Third (aka 'St. Louis Hounds') [Alternate Cover] CD ANT 5.11
1994 Third CD TRC TRC 0362007 Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried? (aka the Lost "Third" Album) [Bonus Tracks], [Reissue], [Remastered] CD Rockville 21258
2007 Has Anyone Here Seen Siegfried [Bonus Tracks] Rockville 1258
1990 Lost in America
2007 Lost In America [Bonus Tracks], [Reissue] CD 21259

EP:
1995 End of the World [as 'Pavlov's Dog 2000']

Single:
1975 Julia / Episode 7" Vinyl CBS S CBS 3671

Compilation:
1976 Super Sound Vinyl LP K-tel TA 254
1989 Pampered Menial + At the Sound of the Bell [2 CD] [Alternate Cover], [Box Set] CD CBS CBS 465217 2
1989 Pampered Menial & At the Sound of the Bell
1992 Pampered Menial & At the Sound of the Bell CD Columbia 465217-2
2000 Collection
2006 The Essential Rock 70's & 80's CD Sony-BMG 82876747642
2007 Has Anyone Here Seen Sigfried? [Archival] CD Rockville 21258
2007 Classic Rock Box [Box Set] CD EMI Belgium 5099 95040222 9
The Best of Progressive Rock CD

Bootleg / Unauthorized:
Live, Detroit Michigan 1976 [Live] CD
Live in New York 1975 CD
Preludin (Live St Louis, MO 1975) CD
Live, The Ambassador Theatre, St. Louis, Missouri, March/April, 1975,
Live, CBS Records Studio B, New York, 1975, USA
Live, Ford Auditorium, Detroit, Michigan, May, 14th, 1976, USA
Reunion Concert, Stages Club, Illinois, Missouri, March, 21, 1984,
Live, Augsburg, June, 21 2005, Germany
Live, Trier, June, 26th, 2005, Germany
Live, Burg Herzberg Festival, Brieitenbach, July, 20th, 2007, Germany

David Surkamp
Album:
1970 David Surkamp & Touch «Street Suite» (3 songs), Gear Fab Records
2001 Roaring With Light USA
2007 Dancing on the Edge of a Teacup CD Rockville 21257
Single:
1984 Louie, Louie
Compilation:
2006 Not Alone: Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders [Box Set] CD Durtro DURTRO/JNANA 1963
Bootleg / Unauthorized:
1994 David Surkamp Band Live, September, 08
Hi-Fi:
1981 Demonstration Record
1981 It’s Almost Christmas
1982 Moods For Mallards

Stephen Michael Scorfina
Album:
1999 Polychrome Love Songs


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