Don dokken-"we could never get in the bathroom when we were playing with van halen"

[Seshmeister]

DON DOKKEN - "WE COULD NEVER GET IN THE BATHROOM WHEN WE WERE PLAYING WITH VAN HALEN BECAUSE DAVID LEE ROTH MADE IT HIS TEMPORARY SEX OFFICE"

A conversation with Dokken leader, Don Dokken, is featured on the latest episode of The Hook Rocks...The Ultimate Rock Community Podcast.

Don sits down with The Hook Rocks in an engaging conversation reflecting on his career as one of the most recognizable frontman in rock history. He talks his friendship with Eddie Van Halen, Lemmy Kilmister, and The Scorpions while also breaking down the history and drama pertaining to the band Dokken... and touches on an upcoming Netflix movie about the band as well as their new album, Heaven Comes Down.

In the following excerpt, Don talks about the accuracy of The Dirt and if the drugs and debauchery were depicted correctly, and the upcoming Netflix movie about Dokken:

"Well, you know, Sixx wasn't alive for about 10 minutes. You know, he overdosed on heroin. But I would say The Dirt was very honest. You know, I mean, they didn't hide anything about heroin and drugs. They didn't hide anything, you know. So I thought that was great. And interesting. You mentioned that movie The Dirt, and right now Netflix is actually making a movie about Dokken from the 80s. And it's the same director that did The Dirt.

"It's gonna be a good movie. A couple months ago, I went down, and they wanted to film me at The Whisky where we started. And they just asked me, you know, questions. And they said, 'We want to know, because there's been so much talk about The Whisky and The Rainbow and everything that went on and people don't realize The Doors were the house band at The Whisky at one point.' And I just said, 'Well, I'll try to come up with some stories, you know, because it's already been put out there in The Dirt and Netflix about The Rainbow.' And so I tried to come up with stuff that people haven't heard. And I told the director I said, but I really shouldn't be talking about this stuff because it's debauchery. I mean, like I told him a story about The Whisky you know, there's only one bathroom upstairs in the dressing rooms. And we could never get in the dang bathroom when we were playing with Van Halen because David Lee Roth made the bathroom his temporary sex office."

Don reflects on his relationship with Eddie Van Halen, the strip, and losing friends from that era:

"There was competition, which is healthy. I just remember, Van Halen got the record. And we played with Van Halen... and Van Halen came out to the US festival, their first jam came out. I got that record. It blew my mind. When Eddie Van Halen played 'Eruption'. And I had never seen a guitar player use two hands on the neck. You know, he played while he tapped, and used two hands. And I said, 'What the heck is he doing?' You know? And he was a genius, you know. And it was kind of interesting that I knew Eddie really well, we played on the strip and played with Quiet Riot, Motley. And then you fast forward eight years, and we're playing stadiums with Van Halen, the Scorpions at the Monsters Of Rock. So Eddie and I used to just sit up after the show, in the hotel and in the stairwell, and just shoot the breeze. Because by then he had had Wolfgang, and I'd had my son Tyler, and we brought the kids and they were like three years old. So him and I would just sit out in the stairwell and just talk about who would have thought, eight years ago from the Whisky A Go Go 600 people, 200,000 people. So we were just talking about that. But we did talk about amplifiers and guitars and people didn't realize he built his first guitar. Wow, eight years went by really fast from clubs to stadiums. And we had reached that stadium level too. So we would just shoot the breeze and yeah, I know that Eddie's passing, I mean, really, really hit me hard, you know, when he passed, and there's been a lot of great friends of mine from the Sunset Strip days, Kevin Dubrow, Frankie Bamali, Randy Rhoads, a lot of people have passed, and it's tragic, you know, but it was the glory days, I have no regrets. It was chaotic. But there was also a lot of beautiful women walking up and down the strip."

Dokken will release their 13th studio album, Heaven Comes Down, on October 27 via Silver Lining Music. Today, the band release the new single and video, "Over The Mountain".

[Mushroom]

I just don’t, you know, see the allure of a Dokken movie, you know? I prefer Dokken’s music, you know, over Motley Crue. But you know Motley Crue’s story is much more interesting. I mean, you know…

[Seshmeister]

Given Don's issues over the years I guess it will be something like this...

[Nickdfresh]

LOL Wasn't Dave slamming a gilr right in the middle of the US Fest party?

[Seshmeister]

I believe that was faked, filmed a week or two earlier.

[twonabomber]

we're playing stadiums with Van Halen, the Scorpions at the Monsters Of Rock. So Eddie and I used to just sit up after the show, in the hotel and in the stairwell, and just shoot the breeze. Because by then he had had Wolfgang, and I'd had my son Tyler, and we brought the kids and they were like three years old.

Pretty sure Wolfgang was born a few years after the American version of Monsters Of Rock.

[Seshmeister]

Shows how totally unreliable these old rock guys memories are and why you shouldn't trust their autobiographies. Hell of a false memory to have especially since that must have been about the only time they played stadiums.

The Van Halen Monsters of Rock was summer of 1988, Wolfgang was born in 1991 and older posters will remember the queues in malls that year during the infamous California baby food shortage crisis.

[Terry]

I just don’t, you know, see the allure of a Dokken movie, you know? I prefer Dokken’s music, you know, over Motley Crue. But you know Motley Crue’s story is much more interesting. I mean, you know…

I think that's pretty much the case...certainly in terms of commercial success and career longevity - putting aside which band was 'better' - I mean...Dokken had their degree of success. They had their moment, which was a solid 3 or 4 year run circa, say, 1984-1988. I think the albums released during that period - Tooth And Nail, Under Lock And Key, Back For The Attack - all (if memory serves) went platinum, if not multiplatinum. Even having 3 albums in a row that each only managed to squeak out a million copies sold...nothing to be ashamed of there.

For whatever reasons, the band never transcended their opening act status and became a group that could fill arenas as a headlining act. They became a very solid opening act in that promoters could see the advantage of having Dokken open up for a headlining act as opposed to, say, Black 'n Blue or a similar hard rock act that only had one semi-hit and fairly minimal play on MTV. Dokken always seemed poised to break bigger for 4 years. Seemingly, all the components were there. In terms of musicality and tunesmanship, for me Dokken were every bit as good as, say, Ratt. Or Motley Crue. George Lynch was getting raves for his ability back then. The band certainly toured a lot during 1983-1987, so it wasn't the case that they weren't getting enough exposure live to hard rock audiences across the country. Plenty of rotation on MTV. The singles from each of the albums did pretty well. None of it amounted to the band reaching that multiplatinum opening act status.

Maybe the band weren't visually distinctive enough? I dunno. But when the band split in the late 1980s, after that they kinda sank without a trace vs. Motley Crue. Sank to playing small venues with countless numbers of lineups. When Lynch and Don Dokken did reunite a couple of times post-1980s it wasn't a particularly successful reformation in commercial terms.

A movie? Nah. I like Dokken, but they were a one-hour VH1 Behind The Music show at best: not much screen content to be had outside of Lynch and Don Dokken not liking one another.

[Mushroom]

I think that's pretty much the case...certainly in terms of commercial success and career longevity - putting aside which band was 'better' - I mean...Dokken had their degree of success. They had their moment, which was a solid 3 or 4 year run circa, say, 1984-1988. I think the albums released during that period - Tooth And Nail, Under Lock And Key, Back For The Attack - all (if memory serves) went platinum, if not multiplatinum. Even having 3 albums in a row that each only managed to squeak out a million copies sold...nothing to be ashamed of there.

For whatever reasons, the band never transcended their opening act status and became a group that could fill arenas as a headlining act. They became a very solid opening act in that promoters could see the advantage of having Dokken open up for a headlining act as opposed to, say, Black 'n Blue or a similar hard rock act that only had one semi-hit and fairly minimal play on MTV. Dokken always seemed poised to break bigger for 4 years. Seemingly, all the components were there. In terms of musicality and tunesmanship, for me Dokken were every bit as good as, say, Ratt. Or Motley Crue. George Lynch was getting raves for his ability back then. The band certainly toured a lot during 1983-1987, so it wasn't the case that they weren't getting enough exposure live to hard rock audiences across the country. Plenty of rotation on MTV. The singles from each of the albums did pretty well. None of it amounted to the band reaching that multiplatinum opening act status.

Maybe the band weren't visually distinctive enough? I dunno. But when the band split in the late 1980s, after that they kinda sank without a trace vs. Motley Crue. Sank to playing small venues with countless numbers of lineups. When Lynch and Don Dokken did reunite a couple of times post-1980s it wasn't a particularly successful reformation in commercial terms.

A movie? Nah. I like Dokken, but they were a one-hour VH1 Behind The Music show at best: not much screen content to be had outside of Lynch and Don Dokken not liking one another.

All 100%

Dokken’s Girl Quotient was nothing compared to the Crue.