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COVER FEATURE:by
Tom Lounges
While most of the
“hair band brigade” of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s have thankfully
faded forever to the “retro” level, this writer is all over the new Dokken
release, Long Way Home, which shipped
in March and marks the band’s 20th anniversary of recording.
Perhaps this long
labored new studio record, which vocalist/namesake Don Dokken describes as being
hard rock but with a distinct Beatlesque and Zeppelinesque feel, will help them
have a Bon Jovi-like career resurgence in 2002.
“I know everyone
always says their new album is their best, but I really do think Long Way Home
is the best thing Dokken has ever done,” said the singer.
Growth is what Dokken said his band has always been about.
“I’ve never wanted to keep making the same record over and over just
to make money. A lot of bands do
that. I want to go to somewhere new
with each album I make. That’s
what bands like Aerosmith have done and why they’ve remained so successful.
You always can tell it’s Aerosmith, but they go to brand new places
every time they record.”
Long Way Home was co-written by
Dokken and the group’s third and latest lead guitarist John Norum (ex-Europe),
who stepped in as a full time member last year, replacing “hired gun” Reb
Beach. “Reb made it known back
when he first started working with Dokken that he was not in it for the long
hall,” said the singer. “He has
a family and is tired of always touring. Reb
had been on road for years with Winger and then Alice Cooper.
We were just a gig for him and that was understood.”
A more surprising change is the addition of bassist Barry Sparks, who
Dokken met in Sweden last summer. “Barry
was playing with Uli Jon Roth at a festival we were at,” said Dokken.
“He’s played with all the shred guys over the years (Vinnie Moore,
Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Schenker, etc.) and wanted to do something different.
When we called, he was happy to make the move.”
Sparks replaced 18-year Dokken veteran Jeff Pilson, most recently seen
playing a member of Mark Wahlberg’s on screen band in last summer’s
theatrical release, “Rock
Star.”
“It’s tough when you can play a lot of instruments and you are a good
singer, to be content to just be the bass player in a band,” surmised Dokken
of Pilson’s reason for leaving. “Jeff
is very talented and just wanted to get out and do his own thing.”
Pilson released a solo album overseas to little fanfare last year and is
currently working on as yet unnamed project with original Dokken guitarist
George Lynch. “Now that should be
interesting to hear. George is into
hip-hop and rap stuff these days and Jeff is into stuff like Radiohead,” said
Dokken. “I have heard from people
that their new [collaborative] stuff sounds like Nine Inch Nails meets Tool.”
Dokken played a series
of large club/small theatre dates during the early part of the year.
“We wanted to get out there before the album came out and limber up a
bit,” he laughed. “We usually
do that sort of thing before a big tour. If I’m going to crash and burn, I
want to do it in front of a few hundred people instead of a few thousand.”
With the CD now in worldwide release through CMC International/Sanctuary,
Dokken plans to tour Europe and Japan, where they still pack stadiums as a
headline attraction. “We had a
lot of success last year doing a big package tour (with Poison and Warrant,”
said Dokken, on why he is happy to be headlining the current Rock Fest 2002 tour
with Warrant, Ratt, L.A. Guns and Enuff Z’Nuff. While the tour stop in Chicago is pulling into a large club
(The Otherside @ Sammy’s), most of the dates are at outdoor sheds.
While they were once
part of the L.A. rock/metal community that gave rise to whole ‘80s hair band
scene, Dokken never really had much in common with the glam-metal bands of that
era. Dokken’s music was always
more old school hard rock which garnered them a lot more musical respect than
their spandex-wearing counterparts. So
much so, that Dokken was invited to participate in the prestigious 1988 “Monsters
of Rock” tour, along side Metallica, Van Halen and the Scorpions.
Dokken told how his big break came through the Scorpions.
They brought him to Germany where he ultimately got discovered and signed
to his first record contract.
“Klaus Mein of the Scorpions was having some throat problems at the
time they were recording ‘Blackout’
and someone told them I sounded just like Klaus,” he explained.
“So I went to Germany to help them out.
I sang some of the higher parts that Klaus was having trouble with at
that time. In return, they let me
use their studio to record some demos of my stuff.”
The manager of the
German band Accept, who were breaking big globally at that time with the album, Balls
To The Wall, was so impressed with the American singer’s demo that he
landed Dokken a European recording contract.
“My first album there (in Europe) was as Don Dokken and that’s not
what I wanted to be,” he said. “I
didn’t want to be a solo artist, I wanted to be in a band.
So we dropped the first name and just started going as Dokken.”
Dokken’s debut album became an in-demand import on these shores, which
resulted in their being signed to Elektra Records in the U.S.
As any rocker worth his salt knows, Dokken went on to release a string of
powerful albums including the best-selling –– Tooth & Nail, Under Lock And Key, and Breaking The Chains.
Living “a rock star
lifestyle” and the clashing the group member’s egos eventually resulted in
Dokken imploding in 1989. Don Dokken recorded his only solo album, Up
From The Ashes the following year with John Norum on guitar. Hence his being
asked to join Dokken when Reb Beach parted..
What was planned as
the singer’s second solo album (for Columbia Records) became the band’s 1995
reunion album, Dysfunctional, which proved to be an apt title.
“I thought we’d all grown up in our time apart, but nothing had
changed,” he said of that failed resurrection.
George Lynch left the band a second time in 1997 (replaced by Beach) and
the group was soon after dropped by Columbia who had lost faith in the band. Signing with CMC International, Dokken recorded two
more studio CDs –– Shadowlife and Erase
The Slate –– before giving fans a long awaited concert album,
Live From The Sun in 2001. That
CD had a companion video/DVD directed and produced by budding filmmaker, Don
Dokken, who is proud of the split screen effects and rockumentary style he
employed in its making.
“I’d be lying if I said didn’t want to be where Bon Jovi is right
now,” confessed Dokken. “But
I’m honestly not bitter about anything. You
can look at a glass as being half empty or half full and I choose to look at it
as half full. I’m still here
making music. I’m still getting
to travel all over the world. I
still have a major record company putting out my music.
I still have fans who support what I do.
I’m paid to make music which is what I love to do...
“You never know, maybe this is the album that will put us back on the
top of the heap. Maybe not.
Whatever the case, I know that I am a very lucky guy and I am happy doing
what I do.” DOKKEN perform with Warrant, Ratt, L.A. Guns and Enuff Z’Nuff on July 3 at The OtherSide@Sammy’s in South Elgin, IL
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