George Lynch recalls time just before Dokken’s classic line-up broke up as “very demoralizing & depressing”

George Lynch recalls time just before Dokken’s classic line-up broke up as “very demoralizing and depressing”

Lynch Mob, The End Machine, Sweet & Lynch, KXM, The Ultraphonics and occasional Dokken guitarist George Lynch was recently interviewed by Andrew DiCecco for Vinyl Writer Music.

Lynch was asked what led to the demise of Dokken‘s classic line-up, which also included singer Don Dokken, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer “Wild” Mick Brown, following the release of the band’s fourth studio album Back For The Attack (1987).

The guitarist replied: “Being on stage during that period was very disheartening because different elements of the band had calculated that it would be in their best interest to peel away from the group, fire the group, or do whatever they had to do legally to try to grab everything for themselves. It was just very demoralizing and depressing, so that was the end of that. That’s the way people are, and you live and learn. Sometimes, it’s two sides of the coin where some of the things that allow us to do what we do — invent great things and explore the outer limits of every facet of the universe. The flip side of that same coin is the thing that allows people to be driven to greed and the kind of things that get us into trouble and are on the dark side. So, I don’t think you can take one away without having the other, unfortunately. In every endeavor in life, you’re gonna run into this kind of thing; we’re not immune to it collectively or individually. We all have things in our personal makeup and our personal past that’s imperfect. Somebody in Dokken took a chance and tried to grab the whole brass ring, and we all ended up falling in the pool and drowning.

The flip side of that coin is we’re all really happy where we’re at. All of us in the band have gone on to do other things that we’re very proud of. We’ve all been afforded the luxury of doing something we love and getting compensated for it very well. I’m very appreciative of the lot I’ve been given, despite the obstacles, hardships, and some of the detours I’ve taken.”

You can read the rest of the interview with George Lynch at Vinyl Writer Music‘s website.

Dokken‘s “Burning Like A Flame” video (from Back For The Attack album):