Iggy
Coal mining ruffian
You gonna just take that Don? Well ... are you? 
Dokken/Lynch reunion? Forget it!
- Thread starter That 70s Guy
- Start date
classicrockrevisited:
DON DOKKEN TRIED TO REUNITE DOKKEN
Brought To You By VH1’s Dave Basner
Don Dokken has revealed that he tried to make a Dokken reunion happen but it just didn’t work out. According to Blabbermouth.net, when the rocker appeared on Vh1 Classic’s That Metal Show with former Dokken guitarist George Lynch, they planned to announce a reunion but at the last minute, former bassist Jeff Pilson, who is now with Foreigner, asked that they not since he hadn’t run it by Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones yet. After that point, Jeff felt he’ll be too busy with Foreigner to rejoin Dokken and put the kibosh on the reunion plans. Read more at Blabbermouth.net.
DON DOKKEN TRIED TO REUNITE DOKKEN
Brought To You By VH1’s Dave Basner
Don Dokken has revealed that he tried to make a Dokken reunion happen but it just didn’t work out. According to Blabbermouth.net, when the rocker appeared on Vh1 Classic’s That Metal Show with former Dokken guitarist George Lynch, they planned to announce a reunion but at the last minute, former bassist Jeff Pilson, who is now with Foreigner, asked that they not since he hadn’t run it by Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones yet. After that point, Jeff felt he’ll be too busy with Foreigner to rejoin Dokken and put the kibosh on the reunion plans. Read more at Blabbermouth.net.
^^I'm not sure I follow that logic...although Pilson is a good bassist if he couldn't commit to a reunion then Don and George should have sorted that out before getting ready to make any kind of announcement. Plus how hard would it have been to find another bass player to fill that spot and tour anyway?
Lynch
Here for the cookies and the tunes
I've got a few (lengthy) thoughts on this whole thing, but I just don't have the time to put them to paper at the moment. Bookmarking/subscribing so I hopefully remember to later this holiday weekend.
Lynch
Here for the cookies and the tunes
Ok, here's my thoughts. I think that there are four sides to this entire story, in other words, lost of "he said, she said" (without the she's).
I will say this, everything I've ever heard and read about Don Dokken is that he's a world class pain in the ass to work with. He belittles the people around him and seems to be quite the prima donna. If I remember correctly, he even admits to being a major pain in the ass to be around and work with in the One Live Night video and also attributes his failed marriage to being a major *****.
I have also seen at least one youtube video of Don talking about (actually kind of bragging) about how he bought out the other guys from Dokken because he wasn't able to actually use the "Dokken" name unless there were at least 3 guys from the band, as Jeff, Don, George and Mick each owned 25% of the band. Anyway, in this interview, he totally degrades the other guys saying shit like they were losing their houses or something like that and said "hey, I've got money, how much to buy out your 1/4 of the band" and he said he bought out George, Jeff and Mick, so now he can do whatever the hell he wants with the band. This was back in the early-to-mid 00's I think. In this same interview....
.. wait, I need to back up. This wasn't a Don Dokken interview, it was a Sebastian Bach interview that Don just barged in on and started yapping. Sebastian is polite through the whole thing, while Don calls George a ****ing asshole, calls Skid Row a bunch of losers, etc.
Now to the others in the band. Mick has on and off played with Dokken since the beginning. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, he's played the drums on every single Dokken album. During downtime, he's also played with George in Lynch Mob both in the studio as well as on tour. In fact, even while he's still in Dokken, he has gone on the road with George Lynch, as recently as this last winter when Lynch Mob was on tour (which I was lucky enough to see and close enough to the stage to high five all of the band members.. (but another story for another thread)).
Jeff Pilson was the 2nd bassist, but is considered part of the core group that was with the band up through 2000's live release Live From The Sun. As far as I know, he hasn't been with them since. He's spent time with Dio, War and Peace, a collaborative effort with George called Lynch/Pilson, was in the fictional band Steel Dragon (from the movie Rock Star) and has been in Foreigner since the early 00's. Foreigner has been steadily touring almost the entire time that he's been with the group.
Lynch.. my buddy, my man, my guitar idol. I have a lot to say about him concering just this topic alone and I'm sure I'll miss some stuff and forget other stuff, but bear with me. Let me start with this. There is a video on youtube from the late 80's, where George is asked a question about the future of Dokken and he is very polite in talking about the band wasn't "officially" broken up, but they were going to work on some other projects. In this interview, he almost looks like he's ready to cry while answering that question. You can also hear it in his voice. I remember reading something many years ago in separate interviews with Don and George as to what happened with the band and George usually took the way of caution, speaking generically about things not working out, different visions, etc. I remember one thing in particular that Don said about George being jealous of something. Either it was Don wanting to play guitar on some tracks or some other crap, and him saying George wouldn't stand for it. I dunno. He said/she said. But the personalities spoke for themselves if you ask me.
Fast forward about 20 years only to look back at what George has done in that time. In Lynch Mob, he's recorded a couple of albums with Oni Logan. The first one was Wicked Sensation, to which Oni was let go at the end of the tour. To my knowledge, Lynch never came out and publically gave a reason for Oni's departure even though it was painfully obvious in concert that Oni had drinking issues prior to, and while performing on stage (youtube vids out there for those who weren't privy to see any of these shows as well). Anyway, to me that shows some class on Lynch's part to not publically call a guy out. Then 17 yrs later, they hook up again, tour a bit, record a new album, tour some more. And during the most recent tour, again there are a number of youtube vids out there showing that Oni still has drinking issues while on stage. But George either puts up with it because they are friends, or some other reason and still not calling Oni out on it. Not the self-absorbed type of actions we would expect to see from many other rockers over the years.
George has gotten together with Robert Mason a couple of times as well. He seems to keep in touch with and maintain friendships with many of the musicians he's worked with in the past. He also seems to get asked to play on a lot of other musician's projects, something I don't really ever see Don do. Maybe it's a financial thing, maybe it's just that he's a good guy and can't say no.
Now, late in 2010, I heard rumors that Dokken may have some reunion plans in the works, but it may not happen until late 2011 or maybe 2012, depending mostly on Jeff. I even saw an interview with George from late last year where he's talking about it and said that Jeff has his committment to Foreigner over anything else right now, and when there's a break in that, then they will all sit down and talk about it. George seemed very excited about the whole thing. He admitted to friction in the past, but wanted to do something for the fans as they are always requests and questions about a reunion.
Not long after that, Don went public saying there wasn't going to be a reunion, flat out. Just wasn't going to happen. Again, George seemed to be a bit disappointed, but you could also feel it wasn't a super-huge letdown. I am guessing he maybe knew in his heart it wasn't going to happen, but was being hopeful.
I dunno folks. As LG pointed out, I'm probably going to take George's side here and he's right, I am. I appreciate Don's talent. Or at the very least, his former talent. The guy had one hell of a voice for the better part of 20 years and is someone I always put in a list of my top/favorite rock vocalists of all time. On the other hand, George hasn't lost a THING in his guitar playing. IN fact, I'd say he's better now than he's ever been, something I saw and heard with my own eyes and hears just a few short months ago from about 4 feet away from the guy.
As much as I'd love to see and hear a reunion, I've never held my breath on it. I've seen a few reunions that fail to live up to the memory of the glory days and I think quite possibly that a true Dokken reunion may fall in to that category. I will always hope that the bridges can be unburned and rebuilt, but I won't hold my breath. If they do get back together, you can bet your ass I'll be there with bells on.
I will say this, everything I've ever heard and read about Don Dokken is that he's a world class pain in the ass to work with. He belittles the people around him and seems to be quite the prima donna. If I remember correctly, he even admits to being a major pain in the ass to be around and work with in the One Live Night video and also attributes his failed marriage to being a major *****.
I have also seen at least one youtube video of Don talking about (actually kind of bragging) about how he bought out the other guys from Dokken because he wasn't able to actually use the "Dokken" name unless there were at least 3 guys from the band, as Jeff, Don, George and Mick each owned 25% of the band. Anyway, in this interview, he totally degrades the other guys saying shit like they were losing their houses or something like that and said "hey, I've got money, how much to buy out your 1/4 of the band" and he said he bought out George, Jeff and Mick, so now he can do whatever the hell he wants with the band. This was back in the early-to-mid 00's I think. In this same interview....
.. wait, I need to back up. This wasn't a Don Dokken interview, it was a Sebastian Bach interview that Don just barged in on and started yapping. Sebastian is polite through the whole thing, while Don calls George a ****ing asshole, calls Skid Row a bunch of losers, etc.
Now to the others in the band. Mick has on and off played with Dokken since the beginning. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, he's played the drums on every single Dokken album. During downtime, he's also played with George in Lynch Mob both in the studio as well as on tour. In fact, even while he's still in Dokken, he has gone on the road with George Lynch, as recently as this last winter when Lynch Mob was on tour (which I was lucky enough to see and close enough to the stage to high five all of the band members.. (but another story for another thread)).
Jeff Pilson was the 2nd bassist, but is considered part of the core group that was with the band up through 2000's live release Live From The Sun. As far as I know, he hasn't been with them since. He's spent time with Dio, War and Peace, a collaborative effort with George called Lynch/Pilson, was in the fictional band Steel Dragon (from the movie Rock Star) and has been in Foreigner since the early 00's. Foreigner has been steadily touring almost the entire time that he's been with the group.
Lynch.. my buddy, my man, my guitar idol. I have a lot to say about him concering just this topic alone and I'm sure I'll miss some stuff and forget other stuff, but bear with me. Let me start with this. There is a video on youtube from the late 80's, where George is asked a question about the future of Dokken and he is very polite in talking about the band wasn't "officially" broken up, but they were going to work on some other projects. In this interview, he almost looks like he's ready to cry while answering that question. You can also hear it in his voice. I remember reading something many years ago in separate interviews with Don and George as to what happened with the band and George usually took the way of caution, speaking generically about things not working out, different visions, etc. I remember one thing in particular that Don said about George being jealous of something. Either it was Don wanting to play guitar on some tracks or some other crap, and him saying George wouldn't stand for it. I dunno. He said/she said. But the personalities spoke for themselves if you ask me.
Fast forward about 20 years only to look back at what George has done in that time. In Lynch Mob, he's recorded a couple of albums with Oni Logan. The first one was Wicked Sensation, to which Oni was let go at the end of the tour. To my knowledge, Lynch never came out and publically gave a reason for Oni's departure even though it was painfully obvious in concert that Oni had drinking issues prior to, and while performing on stage (youtube vids out there for those who weren't privy to see any of these shows as well). Anyway, to me that shows some class on Lynch's part to not publically call a guy out. Then 17 yrs later, they hook up again, tour a bit, record a new album, tour some more. And during the most recent tour, again there are a number of youtube vids out there showing that Oni still has drinking issues while on stage. But George either puts up with it because they are friends, or some other reason and still not calling Oni out on it. Not the self-absorbed type of actions we would expect to see from many other rockers over the years.
George has gotten together with Robert Mason a couple of times as well. He seems to keep in touch with and maintain friendships with many of the musicians he's worked with in the past. He also seems to get asked to play on a lot of other musician's projects, something I don't really ever see Don do. Maybe it's a financial thing, maybe it's just that he's a good guy and can't say no.
Now, late in 2010, I heard rumors that Dokken may have some reunion plans in the works, but it may not happen until late 2011 or maybe 2012, depending mostly on Jeff. I even saw an interview with George from late last year where he's talking about it and said that Jeff has his committment to Foreigner over anything else right now, and when there's a break in that, then they will all sit down and talk about it. George seemed very excited about the whole thing. He admitted to friction in the past, but wanted to do something for the fans as they are always requests and questions about a reunion.
Not long after that, Don went public saying there wasn't going to be a reunion, flat out. Just wasn't going to happen. Again, George seemed to be a bit disappointed, but you could also feel it wasn't a super-huge letdown. I am guessing he maybe knew in his heart it wasn't going to happen, but was being hopeful.
I dunno folks. As LG pointed out, I'm probably going to take George's side here and he's right, I am. I appreciate Don's talent. Or at the very least, his former talent. The guy had one hell of a voice for the better part of 20 years and is someone I always put in a list of my top/favorite rock vocalists of all time. On the other hand, George hasn't lost a THING in his guitar playing. IN fact, I'd say he's better now than he's ever been, something I saw and heard with my own eyes and hears just a few short months ago from about 4 feet away from the guy.
As much as I'd love to see and hear a reunion, I've never held my breath on it. I've seen a few reunions that fail to live up to the memory of the glory days and I think quite possibly that a true Dokken reunion may fall in to that category. I will always hope that the bridges can be unburned and rebuilt, but I won't hold my breath. If they do get back together, you can bet your ass I'll be there with bells on.
Lynch
Here for the cookies and the tunes
how's that for a few "short thoughts" on the subject!? 
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on all this Lynch!!! I can't say that I disagree with your post at all.
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