George Lynch Interview - Page: 2

George Lynch is one of the legendary heavy metal guitarists. He started playing guitar at age 10 and was in several bands in Sacramento, California. He relocated to Los Angeles as a teenager and started playing in many different bands including The Boyz and Xciter. He joined Dokken in the early '80s. After several successful albums he left Dokken in 1989. He then formed Lynch Mob and also recorded some solo material. Lynch rejoined Dokken from 1994 to 1997 and then reformed Lynch Mob. He also did an album with former Dokken bandmate Jeff Pilson in 2003. I recently had the honor of interviewing the guitar hero.

Chad Bowar: Tell me about your new album.

George Lynch: It's Furious George. I did it with my band. It's got Kelly Keeling on vocals, who's been working with Foreigner as well. Jeff Martin is on drums and backing vocals. He's from Badlands and Racer X. Mark Anderson is on bass from Lizzy Borden. I did it as a fun project, not necessarily something that I was going to spend a year laboring over, but something I could solo over and have a great time and not be in complete stress over.

How were the songs selected?

It was me and the label. We started with a huge list of stuff. We ended up deciding we needed to focus on a certain genre and a certain era. We let go a lot of blues-based stuff, a lot of aggressive stuff, funky stuff, R&B stuff that the label felt was blurring the lines of what we were trying to stay. We got it down to a short list. Half these songs were songs that I did in my earlier bands when I was growing up. I was also the singer in those bands.

How come you don't sing anymore?

Oh, I couldn't really sing. Back then we these P.A. systems that were so bad nobody knew I couldn't sing. I was going through the motions and was surprising myself.

With Kelly's obligations to Foreigner, are you going to be able to tour this summer?

There's some things in the works. We did 42 dates in 47 days already. I'm not sure we're going to do anything else.

Will there be another Lynch/Pilson album?

I don't really think so. At this point I'm just using my own name. Lynch Mob and everything else is not functioning at this moment. I'm just keeping it George Lynch.

There's a story floating around that Don Dokken says you told him you wanted to rejoin Dokken. Could you clear that up for us?

I ran into him at a drugstore. He came over to me and we shot the shit for a while. We then talked a few times over the course of a few weeks. He proposed that I come down and record a song, one of my old songs from Exciter. In the end I declined because it wasn't worth it to me to do that. What I suggested was down the road if there's ever an opportunity and it's all original members and we could do things equitably and fairly, who knows? That's where I left it.

Then he did an interview saying that I was sort of desperately calling him up seeking to rejoin the band. That's so far from the truth, such a complete lie. The guy is an unbelievable spinner.

In addition to performing, you've also been involved in conducting guitar clinics and doing some teaching.

I do. I work with my endorsers. I'm such a techie and a gearhead. Equipment is always something I've been vitally involved in. My sound is a big part of what I do, and equipment is responsible for that. I'm always looking for ways to tweak my gear. That's led to a lot of involvement with ESP, my guitar company. Peavey and I have been in development of an amp for 4 years. It's coming out in January and called the Brahma. I do a lot of work in support of those products and companies.

Any plans for an instructional DVD?

I've got a couple, but they're old. I will do one, but it's at the bottom of my to-do list.

What else do you having going on?

There are a couple other things in the pipeline that I have to finish this year. I'm putting my old band Xciter's music out on CD just for the fans on my website at http://www.georgelynch.com I've been working on that for a couple months. I've also got a double CD coming out called Lost Lynch which is a complete retrospective of the stuff I've done that's been released from the very first record I played on when I was 17 to stuff I did just recently and everything in between. There's some interesting Dokken stuff with Jeff (Pilson) singing.

I have a Lynch Mob DVD that we've been working on for almost a year and a half. It's a live show that comes with a companion audio CD. That will come out by the end of this year.

I'm going back to China, Korea, Hong Kong and Moscow. At the beginning of next year I'm going into the studio and start working on an original record.

You started playing guitar at an early age. When did you decide you wanted to do this as a career?

When you get to that age where you need to start making money. (laughs) I got tired of loading ice into catering trucks from midnight to seven in the morning. I worked there, I was a dishwasher at a place called the Mediterranean Chuckwagon. I didn't have a car, so I rode my bicycle everywhere. I also had a job folding newspapers overnight.

Looking back on your early days with Dokken and that L.A. scene, who were some bands you thought would be huge but never made it big?

I was always rooting for the underdog. I thought Poison was the biggest joke on the planet. I couldn't understand Twisted Sister. But King's X I couldn't figure out why nobody liked them and why they weren't huge.

What have been the high points and low points in your musical career?

The obvious would be getting gold and platinum records, getting a Grammy nomination, making lots of money, playing huge places.

You tend to think the low points are the struggles, but the struggles aren't the low point. You look back and fondly remember those hardships. It was the point where we worked so hard in Dokken to get to where the big payoff was on the table and Don decided to take the ball and pull the rug out from under the rest of us. It was actually during the Monsters of Rock that it occurred. That was a huge blow. Our manager walked in, said we're gonna do this tour and make a million bucks, but it's all over. Don's gonna leave. He's going to try to take the name. He's going to go to Geffen and you guys are out on your asses, basically, after this tour.

Who are some of your favorite people you've collaborated with over the years?

I've played with a lot of great singers. Ray Gillen was my favorite singer.

Furious George is available now. For more information, visit http://www.georgelynch.com