{"id":29002,"date":"2015-03-03T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T00:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=29002"},"modified":"2015-06-15T23:45:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T23:45:17","slug":"feature-sweet-and-lynch-03-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-sweet-and-lynch-03-15\/","title":{"rendered":"SWEET & LYNCH – Strength In Numbers (March 2015) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SWEET & LYNCH – Strength In Numbers<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nMarch 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n

Sweet & Lynch (l-r): Michael Sweet and George Lynch<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n


\nAmerican metal supergroup Sweet & Lynch was initially the brainchild of Serafino Perugino, founder of Naples, Italy-based record label Frontiers Music Srl. Serafino approached vocalist Michael Sweet of Christian metallers Stryper with a view to him forming a Frontiers-backed supergroup, erstwhile Dokken and current Lynch Mob guitarist George Lynch coming onboard soon thereafter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no real great story there,\u201d George corroborates. \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of boring. A label got a hold of me. Frontiers put this together actually, so it\u2019s kind of a label created project. As you know, Frontiers has a lot of 80s bands on their roster \u2013 legacy groups \u2013 and obviously they understand the music. They\u2019re huge fans, and they support that kind of music. Some people over there had the idea of putting together a sort of supergroup for lack of a better term. They got a hold of Michael and got a hold of me, actually, and asked me if I would like to get involved, which I obviously did. Then we got Brian Tichy (ex-Whitesnake) and James LoMenzo (ex-Megadeth \/ ex-White Lion) to fill it out. It was actually pretty easy, which is kind of unusual in this business (laughs) \u2013 for things to be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a conversation for a December 2014 Metal Forces<\/em> feature<\/a>, the axeman spoke of issues in generally maintaining stable line-ups through the years. \u201cThis is nothing like that,\u201d he observes. \u201cIt\u2019s about as easy as it could possibly get (laughs). The songs came really easy. There were no hiccups; it was very quick and painless, and a lot of fun. Boy, I wish they could all be like that (laughs), but anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approached with a view to forming Sweet & Lynch, George was obviously receptive towards the idea. \u201cFirst of all, I don\u2019t like to say no,\u201d he explains. \u201cI don\u2019t like to disappoint people and secondly, there\u2019s nothing more I like than just staying in the studio. I really prefer that to being on the road. I just love the creative process, especially when I\u2019m called on to write. I get hired frequently to just play guitar on things that are already written. To me, that\u2019s more like a job sort of, but a project like Sweet & Lynch where I\u2019m called upon to write the music… That to me is what I live for. I love that; I love being in the studio and just creating stuff from scratch, and then watching it turn into a finished product. I just love the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as well, the composer held Michael Sweet\u2019s vocal abilities in high esteem. \u201cWe had been doing some shows together,\u201d he remembers. \u201cHis band Stryper and Lynch Mob were out for about a year, and running into each other frequently. We did the Monsters Of Rock Cruise together. We also did quite a few dates around the country in the States here, and ended up doing some travelling together. In the process of hanging out, at some point we discussed the possibility of maybe finding a way to work together someday. One of the things I like about Mike is that he\u2019s not a bullshit guy at all. He\u2019s a really dedicated hard worker; he does what he says he\u2019s gonna do and that goes a long way with me, because there\u2019s a lot of people in Hollywood that aren\u2019t like that (laughs). They end up wasting your time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt can get very, very frustrating, so that meant a lot to me, and stylistically what he has going on, and the fact that he\u2019s taken care of his voice so beautifully, and sings the way he does. Obviously, he\u2019s a great singer and prides himself on his compositions \u2013 his hook writing and his arrangements \u2013 and he\u2019s a producer. He\u2019s the whole thing; he just does it all. He brings a lot to the table, and so I thought \u2018Well, we could make a pretty powerful record.\u2019 To me, him and I have the same kind of chemistry to the listener… Even though I didn\u2019t really work by writing with Don (Dokken, Dokken vocalist) in Dokken very much \u2013 I hardly ever wrote with him \u2013 to the listener, I think Michael and I pairing up has that same kind of chemistry between the guitar and the singer. Stylistically, he\u2019s kind of in the same world as Don. We could do a record that\u2019s maybe reminiscent of Dokken in some way, and sort of bring back that chemistry. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have been sort of hoping that I would do something like this for a lot of years. From what I\u2019ve been able to gather from feedback I\u2019ve heard over the years, people have been like \u2018You do all of these other projects and different kinds of music, but what about what you used to do in the 80s?\u2019 I didn\u2019t even know if I could do that any more, and so I thought that it was an interesting challenge. When Frontiers and Michael called me up, I thought \u2018What if I can do this? I figure that I\u2019ve gotta roll up my sleeve, and give it a shot.\u2019 It worked. I think it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Albeit sharing musical traits in several areas, endeavours outside of the Dokken realm for George weren\u2019t and aren\u2019t mere Dokken facsimiles. \u201cEverything that I do, and that any musician does…,\u201d he begins. \u201cWe\u2019re not working in a vacuum. What we play is a product of our environment, and the people that we\u2019re playing with and so forth. Me playing with Oni Logan (vocalist, Lynch Mob) and Mick Brown (drummer, Dokken and ex-Lynch Mob) and Anthony Esposito (bassist, ex-Lynch Mob) is gonna have a completely different result than playing with Jeff Pilson (bass, Dokken) and Don Dokken. I learnt some things from playing with Dokken; I learnt some things that I liked, and I learnt some things that I didn\u2019t like that I didn\u2019t really wanna have in a band. I definitely wanted a singer with more soul, and more grit, and a little dirtier, and a different type of lyricist. Somebody that was a poet and could paint surreal pictures with his lyrics (laughs), and have a certain vibe onstage \u2013 just all kinds of things. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a really tight band; tight in the sense that we were a tight-knit group of brothers that worked really hard. We did work really hard; we played constantly, and just kept honing and honing, and fine-tuning it. Fine-tuning the songs, and fine-tuning our sound in the early days. We really wanted to have that blues element \u2013 that kind of legacy rock element \u2013 but with a mystical kind of quality to it as well. I think we created something slightly unique, our own little sound that I think endures to this day. I can\u2019t play that way or write that way without anybody else but Oni. When I get together with Oni, we have a certain thing that happens (laughs). It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The musician\u2019s words paint a markedly different impression to those shared in the aforementioned December 2014 Metal Forces<\/em> feature. At that point in time \u2013 a mere three months prior to this fresh conversation \u2013 Oni had displayed commitment issues within the Lynch Mob fold, and had flown the nest. \u201cThat\u2019s happened quite a bit over the decades, since 1989 or 1990 \u2013 when we first got together,\u201d he admits. \u201cI don\u2019t even know how many versions of Lynch Mob there\u2019s been (laughs). There\u2019ve been quite a few, but I guess Lynch Mob is really Oni and myself when it comes down to it. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yeah, we have put together a new band. Just to complicate things further, the band we are taking out on the road is not the band that\u2019s playing on the new record that we\u2019re working on right now for Frontiers Records. Oni and I are just finishing up this new record \u2013 he\u2019s got two or three songs left to sing on. He\u2019s actually working in the studio right now as we speak, and trying to finish that up. It\u2019s being delivered April 1st, so I\u2019m thinking July it\u2019ll be released. We\u2019ve got Jeff Pilson playing bass, who has joined us on bass for this record. Brian Tichy is on drums, the drummer from Sweet & Lynch and the same drummer from T&N. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe band that\u2019s going out on the road is not Jeff and Brian, though. It\u2019s Sean McNabb from Dokken actually, which is kind of ironic. We have a new drummer who\u2019s an unknown guy, but he played in Kyuss in the early days. He\u2019s just a really, really great guy who\u2019s an interesting guy. I\u2019m a big fan of the whole southern California desert rock scene; I\u2019ve got a place out there, and I\u2019ve got a lot of history out there. For me, having him in the band is really adding an extra layer of just this whole other vibe that I think really fits Lynch Mob, because we are essentially a desert band. We came out of Arizona; we all lived out in the desert and are a product of that, and that permeates our music and continues to. I think he\u2019s a great addition.\u201d<\/p>\n

George refuses to divulge the identity of the desert rock sticksman assuming live duties. \u201cI don\u2019t wanna say his name right now,\u201d he replies.<\/p>\n

Oni\u2019s return to the Lynch Mob fold suggests recent problems between the pair have since been resolved. \u201cListen, Oni and I have had our ups and downs obviously,\u201d the axe-slinger concedes. \u201cHe\u2019s come and went many times, but I\u2019m always optimistic and hopeful that people can work things out and make things work (laughs). Right now, we are. Right now, it\u2019s going really well, so no complaints. I\u2019m not gonna let the past spoil the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

George had previously attempted to give each respective Lynch Mob member equal ownership in the venture, efforts which ultimately proved futile. \u201cWe did try it out again, and that didn\u2019t work,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cThe equal ownership thing, I\u2019m really a huge fan of that \u2013 I believe in that. I did everything I thought I could do to make that as democratic a situation as possible, where everything was equitable straight across the board \u2013 everything \u2013 and it ruined the band. Still to this day, I can\u2019t figure it out, so we\u2019re not doing that this time, but never say never. Right now, we\u2019re just playing it safe. We\u2019ve got Sean and the drummer in the band, and we\u2019re gonna go do some dates in 2015. We\u2019re gonna see how it goes, and then re-evaluate it at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to the topic of Sweet & Lynch, James as well as Brian had both performed alongside George on past endeavours, although this didn\u2019t prompt the pair\u2019s involvement in the project. \u201cThey weren\u2019t actually my suggestions,\u201d he discloses. \u201cIt was kind of Michael\u2019s pursuit. I think I had maybe chimed in with some opinion about who we should use, but I can\u2019t remember now. Having said that though, I have played with Brian \u2013 as I mentioned earlier \u2013 on multiple projects. He\u2019d been in Lynch Mob for a bunch of tours. James LoMenzo had done at least one tour with Lynch Mob that I can remember, so we had all played together. We all live very close to each other actually, except for Michael. It was very comfortable. It\u2019s not like I had to get to know anybody, like play with a stranger and do a strange, new project. I was playing with people that I knew, that were friends and that I was familiar with. That made it cool, although I have to say, we never recorded in the same room at the same time (laughs). We never saw each other. <\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Sweet & Lynch (l-r): Michael Sweet and George Lynch<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if that even mattered, but it was still nice to have Brian and James on the record though. They\u2019re great players, obviously \u2013 amazing players \u2013 and the record sounds so good. I mean, it really does. I am probably just dating myself, but all of this new production with just brick-walling everything, making it loud and un-dynamic… I mean, it was really nice to hear a record where it\u2019s got some of those old school qualities. It\u2019s polished and it\u2019s powerful, but it\u2019s also dynamic. Yeah though, these guys are pros. Brian is a super pro and James is a super pro, and it\u2019s recorded very, very well. I think you have to credit Michael for the production, because he definitely had a huge hand in the way that record ended up sounding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guitarist recorded his parts for resultant January 2015 full-length Only To Rise<\/em><\/a> at his own studio. \u201cI worked with my own engineer Chris Collier, who we call \u2018The Wizard\u2019,\u201d he credits. \u201cHe\u2019s a phenomenal engineer; he\u2019s just an all round great person. He\u2019s the whole package. Anyways, we work independently. What the label and Michael asked me to do is write a batch of songs instrumentally, which I did. We discussed the direction, and what we wanted to accomplish. Then I took to my file cabinet and just went to work, and kind of subconsciously was thinking \u2018Well, we\u2019re rooted in the 80s but modern.\u2019 It was just derivative of this song, or that song. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe would bring up certain songs, like a Dokken song for instance. He\u2019d say \u2018George, I\u2019d really like it if you could come up with something that\u2019s sort of reminiscent of \u2019The Hunter\u2019 (from November 1985\u2019s Under Lock And Key<\/em>).\u2019 That\u2019s a Dokken song. I said \u2018Okay, I\u2019ve got that,\u2019 so I\u2019d write that down, and then when Chris and I would get into the studio. Chris would program a beat and I\u2019d say \u2018Give me something like \u2018The Hunter\u2019,\u2019 so we\u2019d listen to the song and go \u2018Okay, let\u2019s program something similar to that tempo.\u2019 Then I\u2019d build off of that and write something obviously different than \u2018The Hunter\u2019, but in the vein and the spirit of \u2018The Hunter\u2019. By the time Michael got the song, he did his own thing to it and he wrote \u2018Dying Rose\u2019, which has a huge hook. Beautiful, my favourite song off of the record. Unless you told somebody that we were thinking of an old Dokken song, and that it was derived from an old Dokken song. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody would\u2019ve thought that it was when listening to the song, but there are other instances, like going for an early Van Halen vibe. There\u2019s a song on there that has that kind of vibe. I had my inspirations and sources that I was pulling from, and then I\u2019d make a bed for basically most of the record. Instrumentally, some of the songs were pretty complete while some were just three parts. I\u2019d just send them over to Michael and the guys, and say \u2018Arrange it however you feel you need to arrange it.\u2019 That\u2019s gonna happen when you\u2019re working independently and remotely. I\u2019m gonna write some parts, and then Michael\u2019s gonna look at it and go \u2018Well… I\u2019d rather have this part here, and I\u2019d rather shorten it or lengthen it, and so forth.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cThey did all of the arrangements, and nipping and tucking. Once they put all of their parts down, they sent them back to me. I went in and did a second round of rhythm guitars, and then I did all of the solos as well. The last thing I did was the sweetening I like to call it, where I just add an acoustic part, or a clean part, or a 12-string, or some weird effect, or feedback. Who knows? Just all of the ear candy stuff that really creates other levels and dimensions so that when you\u2019re listening, it\u2019s not so one-dimensional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lending such musical ingredients to a given composition can generate the difference between a demo take and a fully realised track. \u201cI did this project with Ray Luzier (KXM), which is pretty close to the Korn band in certain parts if you listen to Ray and what\u2019s going on with that,\u201d George observes. \u201cAlso, our engineer Chris has been doing some work with him. Ray was actually working on The Paradigm Shift<\/em> (October 2013) pre-production when we were working together, and I saw the process that they went through. It\u2019s the same kind of thing. They\u2019re bare bones pre-production tapes, as most bands\u2019 are I imagine \u2013 they\u2019re just that. There\u2019s not a lot of stuff on top, but then when you listen to the record. You hear all of the synth stuff and the whammy guitar stuff, and the effects and the backward vocals and everything (laughs). It really makes a huge difference. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh, by the way, the pick-ups that I use are from Rob Timmons. They\u2019re called Arcane Pickups. He\u2019s standing over my shoulder, making sure I mention that (laughs). I\u2019m actually sitting right outside the shop here, so he\u2019s like \u2018Make sure you mention the pick-ups in the interview\u2019 (laughs). I have my own pickup line with Arcane Pickups, so that\u2019s why he wants me to mention that. Mr. Scary is one of the models, yeah. I\u2019ve got another pickup called the Desert Eagle, which is a single coil pickup. His company is Arcane, and they\u2019re all hand wound. They\u2019re just insane \u2013 you\u2019ll never need to buy another pickup. You might be thinking \u2018Should I get Seymour Duncan? Should I get Bare Knuckle? Should I get this or that?\u2019 No, just get Mr. Scary and Desert Eagle Arcanes, and you\u2019re fine. You won\u2019t need any other pickups (laughs). <\/p>\n

\u201cAnother person who wants mentioning is Jeorge Tripps from Dunlop, a very famous pedal maker guy. Dunlop makes pedals, which are unbelievable. I work with them a lot; we\u2019re designing some really awesome pedals. He\u2019s actually standing over my shoulder right now, making sure that I mention him in the interview. Dunlop Manufacturing make MXR pedals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
George Lynch<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

As well as drawing inspiration from erstwhile concern Dokken, the axeman drew inspiration from several other sources. \u201cI can\u2019t really remember what I was pulling inspiration from,\u201d he ponders. \u201c\u2018September\u2019 is obviously \u2018Wasted Years\u2019, by Iron Maiden (from September 1986\u2019s Somewhere In Time<\/em>). I blatantly ripped that off, no question (laughs). Let\u2019s see… And there\u2019s the Van Halen song that ends really badly (\u2018Only To Rise\u2019). The biggest problem I had with that record was the end of that song where it just ends with an abrupt drum solo that fades out. I was like \u2018What?,\u2019 but it\u2019s got a definite early Van Halen vibe \u2013 I was definitely going for that. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be early Dokken too because we had songs like \u2018Til The Livin\u2019 End\u2019 (from Under Lock And Key<\/em>) and \u2018Turn On The Action\u2019 (from September 1984\u2019s Tooth And Nail<\/em>), and those were kind of in the same vibe, so I\u2019d say that that was Dokken \/ Van Halen-inspired. That\u2019s back in the day when you had to have a fast song on the record; it was like \u2018Oh, we need a ballad… And we need a fast song\u2019 (laughs), so we\u2019d always write these upbeat, double bass things in Dokken and in Lynch Mob.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballads like \u2018Love Stays\u2019 and \u2018Me Without You\u2019 additionally complement Only To Rise<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a couple, like two or three on there,\u201d George muses. \u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019re traditional ballads in the sense you would think of ballads, like an 80s ballad or anything. I think they\u2019re just really beautiful songs that happen to be ballads (laughs). The thing is, with Michael\u2019s stuff, I think he\u2019s very religion-centric in his lyric writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prospect of a second Sweet & Lynch platter is unclear at this point. \u201cWe haven\u2019t even got to the point of thinking about that,\u201d the songwriter notes. \u201cI think one of the things that we really wanna do is do a record with Michael; Jeff Pilson, Mick Brown, and myself wanna do a very Dokken-esque kind of a thing. Just without Don, with Michael replacing Don. We think we\u2019re gonna call it Nekkod, which is Dokken backwards (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Dokken alumni George, Jeff, and Mick had cut material as T&N in recent years, issuing lone effort Slave To The Empire<\/em><\/a> in October 2012. \u201cRight, but we\u2019re not gonna call it T&N,\u201d he clarifies. \u201cWe\u2019ll call it something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweet & Lynch have ambitions to become a touring entity, although whether this will transpire is currently uncertain. \u201cI can\u2019t really say right now,\u201d the musician divulges. \u201cWe\u2019ve got an agent working on it, but we have no concrete plans to tour yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only To Rise<\/em> was released on January 23rd, 2015 in Europe and subsequently on the 27th in North America, all via Frontiers Music Srl.<\/p>\n

Interview published in March 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SWEET & LYNCH – Strength In Numbers Anthony Morgan March 2015 Sweet & Lynch (l-r): Michael Sweet and George Lynch American metal supergroup Sweet & Lynch was initially the brainchild of Serafino Perugino, founder of Naples, Italy-based record label Frontiers Music Srl. Serafino approached vocalist Michael Sweet of Christian metallers Stryper with a view to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1597],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-sweet-lynch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29002","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=29002"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29105,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29002\/revisions\/29105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}