Pavlov's Dog

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This article is about a progressive rock band. For the Russian scientist and his experiments with dogs, see Ivan Pavlov.

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). Richard Nadler left the band after the first album. In 1976, after the release of their second album At the Sound of the Bell, David Hamilton left the band and was replaced by Tom Nickeson. Former Yes drummer Bill Bruford appeared as a session musician, and the band's third album featured Kirk Sarkisian on drums.

The band's debut Pampered Menial was released in 1975, their second album At the Sound of the Bell in 1976. The band recorded a third album in 1977, but due to poor sales of the first two albums, Columbia Records 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 finally appeared legitimately on CD in 1994 from German label TRC, as Third. In 1990, a reformed version of the band, with only Surkamp and Rayburn from the original line-up, recorded Lost in America for TRC. The new album showed flashes of the band's old brilliance, but in general the songs fail to live up to the standard of the original line-up.

David Surkamp's highly distinctive voice has been compared to that of Geddy Lee of Rush. When the band split up in the late 1970s, Surkamp was falsely rumoured to be dead, although he in fact worked with former Fairport Convention member Ian Matthews on a band named Hi-Fi. They recorded a 5 track live 12" EP in 1981 entitled Hi-Fi Demonstration Record and a studio album in 1983 entitled Moods for Mallards, but Hi-Fi proved to be even more obscure than Pavlov's Dog.