by Greg Olma

George Lynch is one of the premiere American guitar players. His style and tone very specific, and unmistakable. Lynch made his name and fortunes in 80s band Dokken, and later had some moderate success with his own Lynch Mob. Also, George Lynch came very close to being a guitar player for the original rock'n'roll madman, Ozzy Osbourne. Who knows how things would have gone for Lynch had he been chosen to play with Osbourne, but regardless of the fact he did amazingly well on his own.
George Lynch rose to fame with Dokken in the 1980s. Dokken had plenty of hits, gold records, a lots of success in their heyday. George Lynch was Dokken's secret weapon, his guitar abilities were always very highly rated by the fans and the critics alike. After the split with Dokken, Lynch formed his own band Lynch Mob. The band featured a very young promising singer, Oni Logan, but the collaboration didn't last beyond the debut album. More versions of Lynch Mob followed, but the one with Logan always remained everyone's favorite. George Lynch reunited with Dokken in the mid 90s for two more records, only to split again, and to eventually re-form Lynch Mob. Also, George Lynch was part of a great collaboration with another Dokken alumni, Jeff Pilson. The Lynch/Pilson album("Wicked Underground") was absolutely fantastic, but as it turns out it was only one off. In addition to keeping Lynch Mob going, Lynch formed yet another project called Souls of We. Lynch certainly likes to keep himself busy on all musical fronts.
Lynch Mob's latest release, "Smoke and Mirrors" features of course Oni Logan on vocals, and some outstanding guitar licks from Lynch himself. It's a great melodic bluesy-hard rock record full of catchy songs. A real treat to all fans of the genre.
George Lynch talks about the recent reunion with Logan in Lynch Mob, recalls some unknown Dokken facts, and shares information about other projects he's found himself participating in.
How did you get reunited with Oni Logan for the "Smoke and Mirrors" CD?
George Lynch: Well, Oni has made a few attempts to get the band back together over the years. One in the late 90s or early 2000s. I think he made a stab at it, just touring. That kind of fell apart. I guess he was really essentially at the point where he felt it was time to do it and if we didn’t do it sooner, then there wouldn’t be an opportunity later. He has since moved to Switzerland so that made it logistically difficult but we worked it out. He goes back and forth. So he flew in and went into the studio. The same day he flew in, he went right from the airport to my place. We sat around with acoustic guitars and started writing. The old chemistry was there. It was fun and we’ve been doing it ever since. [It’s] going on 3 years now.

Are you happy with the response you have gotten with the new CD?
Hmmm. I am happy with the response but it’s been a limited response. The record is on Frontiers Records. [It’s] a lot different than being on Elektra Records back in 1981. It’s a European label. The record is sort of the state of the music industry right now. It’s pretty tough. We have sold some records. It’s been OK but not what we had hoped for. I think that it is the same with just about everybody these days. But we’re somewhat of a legacy band so we’re able to go out there and tour not just on the strength of the record but who we are. That helps.
I bought the first pressing of "Smoke and Mirrors" with “Mansions In The Sky” as the bonus track. How do you pick which song is going to be the bonus track?
Those would be the one’s we don’t like...hahaha.
Really? Because that is one of my favorites off the CD.
Well, I’m sort of kidding. We like everything too. We like all that ends up on the record. Even the one’s that get left by the wayside. You have to prioritize. Some songs you feel you just can’t leave off the record; you gotta have bonus tracks these days. We sort of pick and choose. I also have an instrumental song on there as well. That was only for Japan. I can’t remember but there are 3 different versions; one in Europe, one in the States, and one in Japan. One of those territories got the record with the instrumental on it.
That makes it difficult for collectors like me who want all the songs. We have to buy 3 versions of the same CD.
We do that on purpose so you have to buy 3 copies….hahaha.

About a year before "Smoke and Mirrors," you released an album called Souls Of We. How different was it working with London Legrand as opposed to Oni Logan?
It’s a totally different universe; different kinds of music, different kinds of players. Actually that record, when it came together, wasn’t a band at all until after the fact. [It was] just a hodge-podge of musicians on there. I have Mike Wengren from Disturbed, got Morgan [Rose] from Sevendust on drums. Five members on the record and a variety of bass players. It was really a five year process and that record was really kind of a culmination of different projects I put together that have kind of fallen apart. Originally I was working with London around the time of the L/P (Lynch/Pilson) record that I recorded with Jeff Pilson. I jumped right out of that into a project with London. He joined Brides Of Destruction so that kind of fell apart. And that turned into another project called Band Of Flakes with Jason Slater from Snake River Conspiracy and Scot Coogan. That also fell apart. Then it turned into a third project, we just kind of put a funny name on it, called West Hollywood Starfish, I think…hahaha. It was just working titles. We wrote 6 or 7 songs, had a band together for that, and that also fell apart. Then I sort of consolidated all that stuff and rewrote everything; rerecorded everything. All that is what became the Souls Of We record. London came in right at the end of the process and finished it off. We had about half the lyrics and melodies written and then London came in and sang those and wrote the balance of the record and recorded it. It was a very long and torturous process. Now the band as it is now is different. We have many different members in the band. We had the drummer from As I Lay Dying in the band for a while. We had John Chow from Cavalera Conspiracy. As it stands right now, the band is Adrian Ost the drummer from Powerman 5000 and Nic Speck the bass player from Run Run Run. London is no longer with the band. We got a singer from Earshot, Wil Martin. That worked out for about 3 months and he left. Se we recorded a new Souls record and wrote everything in 10 days; recorded it all in 2 weeks minus the vocals. Right now we’re trying to orient ourselves in how we are going to finish the record. We’re looking at a couple of singers. Hopefully the record will be released January or February of next year.
One of the things you touched upon was the Lynch/Pilson album you did in 2003. Are there any plans to do another one?
Well, I have to be careful about having too many things out there because it confuses people; too many projects. Right now I’m writing with Dokken and that may happen, who knows? Lynch Mob may do another record and Souls Of We is working on it’s record. That’s 3 right there. I just recorded an instrumental record called Orchestral Mayhem. I’m planning on doing another instrumental album in 2012. So if I add L/P to the mix….. I also want to do my blues record someday. From just a music standpoint, yeah, I would love to do everything.
I purchased a CD at one of your shows called Lost Anthology. Are there any other unreleased recording that you have in the vault that might make it onto a Lost Anthology 2?
The Lost Anthology, I believe, was just a collection of songs that I did as sessions.
Disk 2 was, but disk 1 had Xciter and Dokken stuff.
Oh, I’m thinking of Will Work For Food. I don’t recall that record but to answer your question, yeah, I have tons of stuff in the vault. The hard-drive [has] those projects that never materialized for whatever reason.
If you were given the chance to re-do one of your albums, which one would it be and why?
I would say, the record that I would most want to re-do would be the first Dokken record "Breaking the Chains." We were very frustrated with the way that record came out and our reaction was "Tooth and Nail." We were so disappointed with the results of that record ["Breaking the Chains"] knowing we could do a lot better that we just poured everything into that next record "Tooth and Nail" and subsequent record "Under Lock and Key." That first "Breaking the Chains" record, when it was first recorded in Germany in Dieter Dierks studio with Michael Wagener, sounded actually phenomenal. It really did. It sounded huge and warm. It was recorded on a 24 track tube Telefunken machine, and old MCI board, Ritchie Blackmore’s bass cabinet, Marshall bass cabinet, and an old Rangemaster Treble Booster. The tone was just awesome. The Scorpions were upstairs recording Blackout. Rory Gallagher was next door. I really wanted to impress these guys; playing my ass off. It was really awesome. The end result for some reason was just horrid. Don got a hold of it and ran it through an APHEX Aural Exciter and remixed it without us there; turned the guitars down, turned the vocals up. [It] sounded hideous.
Was that the version that came out only in Europe on the Carrere label or the Elektra version?
I think it was improved on the Elektra version because we went in and re-recorded some songs and added some songs. Both of them are pretty weak…hahaha. I would say that the Carrere one was closest to the original. It left a lot to be desired. It was a French release actually.
Yeah, it had a blue Dokken logo instead of the common red one.
There’s one that’s even earlier than that that has a picture of just Don on the front. I think they did a few hundred for that without any pictures of the band anywhere. It wasn’t even called “Dokken”; it was called “Don Dokken”. It was funny, when Don and I went to Germany to pick up the record; we drove halfway across Germany to the printing plant. [I] opened up a box, pulled the record out of the box, and it says “Don Dokken”. [I was like] “what the hell is this?” “Oh geez, they must have made a mistake, we’ll have to get that fixed”…..hahaha.
What was the last concert you attended as a fan?
Opeth.
Out in California?
Yeah, here in L.A. at the Wiltern Theater. [I’m a] huge fan. They’re phenomenal. They’re just so outside [the box]. They do whatever they want, not like they have to live up to these expectations or anything. It was a 3 hour show with an intermission. It was a religious experience.
For my last question, what is next for George Lynch?
I’m very busy with my guitars that I’m doing, Mr. Scary Guitars. You can check those out at www.mrscaryguitars.com. I do a lot of session work for outside artists. I just did something for Sony Pictures, stuff for ESPN, and new stuff for music libraries that license out to movies and commercials. I do art work as well. I’ve done gallery showings here and there. I sell art pieces. I’ve sold over a hundred pieces.

Links:
http://www.georgelynch.com/wordpress/