{"id":1628,"date":"1986-04-01T00:00:50","date_gmt":"1986-04-01T00:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1628"},"modified":"2013-05-28T16:24:44","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T16:24:44","slug":"feature-dokken-mf17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-dokken-mf17\/","title":{"rendered":"DOKKEN – All Keyed Up? (MF17, 1986) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOKKEN – All Keyed Up?<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nDave Reynolds<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 17 (1986)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dokken (l-r): Mick Brown, Jeff Pilson, Don Dokken and George Lynch<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nUnlike in the United States, taking a shopping trip after half past five in the evening is futile, because that\u2019s when the working day for most Britons comes to an end; doors are locked and all your shop assistants and owners go home to watch Eastenders or Coronation Street. There are exceptions of course, usually \u201call-night\u201d supermarkets around the corner owned by enterprising Asians; but these are, in comparison, few and far between.<\/p>\n

I met Dokken members George Lynch and Jeff Pilson after they had just tried to do a spot of shopping in one of London\u2019s infamous tourist traps and home of Music For Nations, Carnaby Street, and were a mite pissed off because everything was closing down for the day. A far cry from the US where shopping malls don\u2019t close until nine o\u2019clock, and a good many other stores including record shops perhaps an hour or two later. To be honest, I\u2019m sure this is one of the reasons why the UK\u2019s economy is so bad. Anyway, back to Dokken.<\/p>\n

The band have recently been in Europe touring as support act to Accept, which included a seven date UK jaunt. Dokken\u2019s latest album, Under Lock And Key<\/em>, has only just been put out in the UK (to coincide with the tour), although if, like me, you can\u2019t wait for such occurrences you\u2019ll already have picked up US or German pressings about four months ago.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019ve always been in two minds about Dokken. On the one hand I\u2019ll agree that they are a fine bunch of musicians and have a pretty good collection of songs, but on the other they\u2019ve always struck me as being a little too restrained; a little too laid back in style. They\u2019ve never realty been heavy enough for the style of music they were supposed to represent and if you remember, that was the Accept style, if you\u2019ve been following the band\u2019s fortunes from day one like I have!<\/p>\n

Of course nowadays they get mentioned in the same breath as Ratt, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a> and the Scorpions, a band you may recall that mainman Don Dokken is pretty good mates with through his longstanding association with Dieter Dierks. Where the mainman was I did not know, for Dokken\u2019s record label Elektra had arranged for me to talk with the band\u2019s guitarist and bassist.<\/p>\n

So how come it\u2019s taken Dokken so long to get to Europe to tour in earnest? Jeff: \u201cNobody invited us before!!\u201d George: \u201cAs you know we played a little bit in Germany a few years ago, but that\u2019s about it. I guess that the sales figures for the Tooth And Nail<\/em> album didn\u2019t warrant us coming over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

You must have a considerable market in Germany though? George: \u201cWell I guess we do.\u201d Jeff: \u201cYeah, it\u2019s probably the country in Europe where we sell the most albums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Ratt were supposed to be playing support to Accept in Europe weren\u2019t they? Jeff: \u201cYeah, but for some reason they decided not to, so Accept came to us and asked whether we would be interested in doing the tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you played with Accept before? Jeff: \u201cNo, but we\u2019ve played with just about everybody else! Last year we played with Twisted Sister, Dio, Sammy Hagar, Krokus, Kiss… quite a year last year!\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there any way you\u2019ll be able to break out into a headlining act? George: \u201cWell we will be when we go back to the States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dokken\u2019s new album Under Lock And Key<\/em> is doing quite well for them in the United States even though it\u2019s only a few months old and yet to grow, as it were. I mean, look at how Autograph\u2019s debut album, Sign In Please<\/em>, stayed dormant for nearly a year before increased radio play of \u2018Turn Up The Radio\u2019 forced it right into the Billboard Charts!<\/p>\n

However, when I played Under Lock And Key<\/em> for the first time I found to my disappointment that it was even less heavy than Tooth And Nail<\/em>. George: \u201cReally? There are a couple of songs on there that are kinda light but the stuff that\u2019s heavy is heavy, it\u2019s got a much better production.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having said I found it less heavy I\u2019ve got to admit that the opening track, \u2018Unchain The Night\u2019, is one of the best things you\u2019ve done. George: \u201cI think there\u2019s a real good mix on that song. \u2018Til The Livin\u2019 End\u2019 and \u2018Lightning Strikes\u2019 are also real good, heavy songs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to hand it to the band though, that whatever the song there\u2019s always a hook line that sticks in your mind all the time. George: \u201cYeah, we try to write the whole album like that. To be on our album a song has to have a reason to be there, it has to be something that people would remember. Once we\u2019ve established that, we can branch out and write songs that don\u2019t necessarily have to have a hook.\u201d<\/p>\n

But do you write for the radio? Jeff: \u201cNo, we write for our own tastes. It\u2019s like the other day I was listening to the first Montrose album, a band that I\u2019m a real big fan of. I could see whilst I was listening to it why that album was never the huge mega success I always thought, at the time it was made, that it would be, because it doesn\u2019t contain those hooks even though the material is great. So we want to have the hooks and that kind of energy Montrose had to make the songs more song-worthy, so we can be mega-successful. Ha! Ha!\u201d<\/p>\n

I might add that Jeff\u2019s tongue was firmly in his cheek when he added that gem, lest you think we\u2019re dealing with one of those tiresome big-headed bands. Now I knew that these guys are pretty much down-to-earth people but there\u2019s been such a big deal made that the band just does not get on with each other, that there\u2019s always dissatisfaction and in-fighting. The American press appear to be the ones that get a great kick out of this \u2018fact\u2019… Jeff: \u201cSomewhere along the line the whole thing\u2019s been blown way out of proportion and I think you\u2019re right, the press do seem to get a kick out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then again, it has given the band an awful amount of media attention just because of that fact! George: \u201cWhich is probably why the people who blew it out of proportion did, because they\u2019ve seen that it\u2019s worked! So guys like you can ask us about it and we can say that it\u2019s just a bunch of bullshit!\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, how about the story that was going around when Dokken was formed that you taught Eddie Van Halen how to play guitar George?! \u201cOh yeah! He still owes me for the lessons!\u201d Jeff: \u201cThat\u2019s funny, I taught Paul McCartney how to sing and play bass!\u201d George: \u201cNo, that\u2019s bullshit! I couldn\u2019t believe it when I read that story. How old do you think I am?!\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know George, but I\u2019ve got a hilarious video of you with short hair from German TV of 1981 vintage that also shows Juan Croucier (later to join Ratt) with a Fargo T-shirt on as a member of Dokken!! \u201cOh no! Ha! Ha!\u201d<\/p>\n

And, what\u2019s more, I\u2019ve also got Xciter demos with you and Mick (Brown; Dokken\u2019s dynamic drummer) struttin\u2019 your stuff on \u2019em! George: \u201cYou\u2019ve got all the bad stuff on us! No wonder we\u2019re not big over here. Ha! Ha!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, want some more? Tell me how you got involved in Mike Varney\u2019s Cinema and the Rock Justice<\/em> LP Jeff?!! \u201cOh boy! Mike and I started doing demos for this project that Marty Balin was putting together and I came in and played bass and sang, then we branched out and formed a band called Cinema which also included Leonard Haze from Y&T. We did the album, (which also includes contributions by Phil Kennemore of Y&T and Gere Fennelly who later joined Anvil Chorus), but it didn\u2019t work so that was it!\u201d<\/p>\n

So how did you hook up with Dokken? Jeff: \u201cThrough Mike Varney. Don called him up one day and asked him if he knew any bass players that could sing, so Mike put me into contact with Don and it\u2019s just been one big happy family ever since. Ha! Ha!\u201d<\/p>\n

How does Dokken fit in with what\u2019s happening in LA now? If Kelv Hellrazer is to be believed, it\u2019s the centre of the US glam explosion at the moment. Jeff: \u201cDokken wants to be the band that\u2019s not glam anymore. Ha! Ha! (this guy is a laugh a minute seriously!)\u201d<\/p>\n

Really? So how come on the cover of your new album you\u2019ve got your hair ratted up and stuff?! George: \u201cThat was Jeff\u2019s idea!\u201d Jeff: \u201cYeah, I invented ratted-up hair… after I taught Eddie Van Halen how to play guitar!\u201d<\/p>\n

George: \u201cThere used to be a scene in LA but from what I can see that doesn\u2019t exist anymore. In LA now it just seems to be full of bands that mimic bands that have broken out of LA; there\u2019s no bands creating anything new.”<\/p>\n

How come Don decided to concentrate on singing? Was it because he couldn\u2019t compete with George as a guitar player?! George: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a matter of competing, it was a matter of lack of focus in the band. We were a little non-descript at that point (just before Tooth And Nail<\/em> arrived) so we psyched it up a little bit, sound-wise and look-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff: \u201cWe really had an idea for the sound we were going for with just George playing guitar. The main thing was having a lead singer and the band, performance-wise, has come a thousand miles since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it always Don who was to be the frontman? You could\u2019ve done the job equally as well Jeff? George: \u201cYeah, but have you ever heard Don play bass?!!!\u201d The interview is brought to a temporary standstill as we all curl up laughing our heads off!<\/p>\n

So guys, this is the mighty Metal Forces<\/em>. What\u2019s your opinion on thrash metal? Jeff: \u201cAnything that\u2019s good is fine with me. There\u2019s some good thrash metal bands and there\u2019s some bad ones.\u201d George: \u201cIt\u2019s like punk\u2026 another step further really. It seems to appeal to 15-year-old boys with overactive glands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whereas you seem to appeal to 15-year-old girls, which is much better don\u2019t you think?! Jeff: \u201cYeah! Especially if they have overactive glands! Seriously, I love extremes. I think it\u2019s great when bands do that, it\u2019s just that the thrash metal thing doesn\u2019t happen to be our thing. But I love that energy, which we try to put across. \u2018Lightning Strikes Again\u2019 is a real energetic tune… wait \u2019til you hear it live.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think your most energetic and heaviest track is the title track on the Tooth And Nail<\/em> album, that even crept into Bernard Doe\u2019s thrash filled Top 20 albums of 1984! Are you a 15-year-old girl with overactive glands Bernard?!<\/p>\n

So, what do you think of being called a \u201cposer faggot band\u201d by the anti-Cr\u00fce \/ Ratt \/ glam metal brigade? George: \u201cWell, I can understand it. If I was a kid into Slayer<\/a> and Anthrax I would be put off by Dokken \u2013 seriously! But the only thing I could equate it to when I was younger and listening to the most extreme stuff I could get my hands on would be Journey or something. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re a poser or a sell-out band. We can fill that gap, not that we want to, but because we have some melody. We also play hard rock that we\u2019ve been playing all our lives and we\u2019ll continue to play it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s fast then people might call it thrash metal, or if it\u2019s slow then they call it dirge metal or gothic death rock. Y\u2019know what I mean? Or if it\u2019s got melody to it then it\u2019s a ballad and you guys are selling out. We\u2019re not trying to appeal to everybody; we just play a lot of different kinds of hard rock music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff: \u201cBut there are a great many people we do appeal to, so whatever we\u2019re doing must be right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Need I say more?<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 17 (1986)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DOKKEN – All Keyed Up? Dave Reynolds Metal Forces, Issue 17 (1986) Dokken (l-r): Mick Brown, Jeff Pilson, Don Dokken and George Lynch Unlike in the United States, taking a shopping trip after half past five in the evening is futile, because that\u2019s when the working day for most Britons comes to an end; doors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dokken","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1628"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11725,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628\/revisions\/11725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}