Guitarist GEORGE LYNCH Says DOKKEN Are In Talks For 2006 Reunion [Rock Hard - 05.06.24 10:25:13]
Abrasive Rock (www.abrasiverock.com) writer Greg Wilson recently spoke with guitarist George Lynch (DOKKEN, LYNCH MOB).
The following is an excerpt from the interview:
Abrasive Rock: So I guess the first question I've got for you is, how's your tour been going so far?
George Lynch: “We've only had a couple of dates, so I wouldn't even call it a tour.”
Abrasive Rock: Okay, how has your mini tour been going so far?
George Lynch: “Let's see, out of the two dates we did, one was great and one wasn't, so half of it's been fantastic, and the other half has been less than fantastic.”
Abrasive Rock: What was the problem with the one date that was bad?
George Lynch: “Well, it was funny. I mean, people see you go up, you do a show, and they somehow think this is easy to pull off. And you know what, at the higher levels, you've got a lot of support. It definitely is easier to pull off because you have layers of people checking and double checking things. You've got your own monitor system, you've got your monitor engineer, you've got your house guy, you've got your own p.a. system, you've got your own lighting designer with your own lights. You've got full crew. So basically we've got to try to pull off the same thing with a skeleton crew, sometimes two people, plus the band, with less than ideal situations, and it's very challenging. So basically everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Amps were blowing up, monitors are nonexistent, the sound house guy, the guy mixing the sound out front, apparently was drunk. I mean, he just kind of walked away from the board, everything's feeding back. It was one of those nights. And the strange thing about it, is personally I played well, and really was enjoying myself on that level, but there's a whole other level of how the band is coming across. That wasn't coming across so great. But the people are forgiving. I think in club situations and small venues, people are kind of used to that. And they really want to see that you mean it, you care, and they want to see what you do. It doesn't seem to bother people that shows don't go seamlessly. I think they're very forgiving in that sense. Anyways. So, yeah. We went from being rock stars the first night to a garage band the second night.”
Abrasive Rock: How did you go about picking the lineup for this tour?
George Lynch: “Well, the band members have been in rotation, in sort of a cyclical series of events over the last few years. I've really gone through a lot of member changes, which is something I never wanted to do. We felt that having a consistent band that stays intact and something that fans can depend on. Like in AC/DC, Judas Priest, bands that pretty much just stay changeless over the years, is a good thing, and I've always wanted that. I think the last time that existed for me was the first incarnation of The Lynch Mob. I would say Dokken stayed pretty intact for years and years. So it gives people time to sort of grow with the band and you become familiar with them, instead of there's a new face every record. And that's kind of the way it's been for me. It's unfortunate. I've got to the point now where I'm sort of leading up to building up a band that is the ideal band for me. It's just a constantly evolving situation. People drop in and drop out. It's not like when you're in high school and you're just playing with your best friends. You guys stick it out through hell and high water. Now people have family and jobs, careers, move, and different things happen, things come along. It's just part of-the only thing you can depend on is the fact that nothing's going to stay the same for very long. This present incarnation of the band is Kelly Keeling on vocals, Rob DeLuca on bass, and Mike Fro on drums.”
Abrasive Rock: You were supposed to tour with John Sykes this summer, correct?
George Lynch: “I wasn't supposed to.”
Abrasive Rock: There was talks about it?
George Lynch: “Yeah, this is the second year that that's been talked about, and it's kind of strange. I just thought I'd run the idea by him, you know, one guitar player to another. I got his number from Carmine Appice, who lives by me, who I know, and I just thought I'd give him a call and say, 'hey, I'd like to call John and run something by him.' So he gave me his number. No big deal. And I called him and left him a message. Well, apparently this guy got all bent out of shape and called-didn't call me back, but he called Carmen in New York, and said, 'did you give this guy my number?' Like I was going to abuse it, like I was a stalker, or something. Dude, don't worry, I'll tear it up. I don't care. I don't need your phone number. And who the hell are you? You live down the street, you're a guitar player, I'm a guitar player. I thought maybe we would tear up and go do something, because we've talked about it before. It was just amazing to me. Why don't you just call me and ask why I called you? And he's never called me back! I talked to Michael Schenker, and he was just-I had this hour and a half discussion about philosophy, and I was just calling him for the same reason, and then I guess apparently it got back to me that he thought I was trying to trick him. So he has some paranoid delusional thoughts going on in his head. I'm like, what the fuck is wrong with these people? Jesus Christ! All I'm trying to do is go out and get a tour together with a couple of guitar players, so we can get some butts in the seats, and make some noise. I just don't get it. Bunch of kooks out there. Anyways, whatever. I had Robin Trower on the table. That was pretty cool. But the only way we could tour with him-we had a tour set up for that, but that fell through for various reasons. We thought about Mike ??? for a second, but that didn't really pan out. I talked to Jerry Cantrell, who was a very sweet guy, very nice, and just, he didn't feel it was the right package for him. He plays with sort of newer bands, and a little bit more progressive. I appreciate that honesty. That's fine. Okay, we'll do that. We won't tour. I hit John Clive up, and he felt that it probably wasn't right for him, either. I'm really kind of looking for this ideal package. So then I called up, my managers called up Don, and we talked about opening up for them, being like Dokken, with Lynch Mob opening. And that didn't fly. So now there's talk of a Dokken reunion, so that could happen next year.”
The complete interview can be found at this location.
Reply With Quote
