Don Dokken dropped by the latest episode of The SDR Show with hosts Ralph Sutton and Aaron Berg, and the conversation covered a lot of ground: Dokken playing the first Rocklahoma, his early years in an orphanage until age six, starting out on drums and guitar in a musical family, working as a sous-chef for his uncle, landing in juvenile hall after stealing quarters, then moving in with his dad in Los Angeles.
He also got into writing “Dream Warriors,” the physical hits he’s dealt with (including a paralyzed arm and a shattered ankle), and the ongoing “what if” around one more release with George Lynch and other classic-era Dokken members before he finally calls it.
When asked if the classic Dokken lineup still has a real shot at making a new album, Don laid out where things stand right now (via Blabbermouth): “Well, the last 20 or so shows we’ve [the current lineup of Dokken] done in the last few months, George was coming on as a special guest. And he would play two songs with us, or three. And we’re old — we’re too old to bicker and fight, even though a couple of years ago he went at it again with the lawsuits. But that’s in the past. So, we’re both gray-haired now.”
“And then the last show he just did, he brought his whole band, the Lynch Mob, and they opened for us. And he still came on stage at the end of the night and did two songs, or three maybe. He did three songs… So we talked about it. And I said, ‘But the problem is I can’t play guitar anymore.’ And I said to George very openly, I said, ‘And you don’t write as I write.’ He’s got his own trip. If you listen to the last four Lynch Mob albums, they have nothing to do with Dokken. And you listen to [former Dokken bassist] Jeff Pilson‘s solo albums, they have nothing to do with Dokken,” he continued.
“It comes out of your mind, your spirit, God. I can’t stand when people go, ‘How do you write a song? You get a piece of paper, and you sit down, and you start playing your guitar, and that sounds cool. And start writing lyrics.’ I’ve never written like that. I wait — I wait for the moment. And the bitch is sometimes it doesn’t happen for, like, three weeks. I’ll write four songs. I’ll come back to ’em in my studio and go, ‘It’s crap.’ Or ‘I just repeated myself,'” Dokken elaborated.
For anyone hoping a reunion album would magically appear because George has been jumping onstage lately, Don made it clear that playing a few classics live and writing new material as a unit are two different beasts, especially when everyone’s styles have drifted.
He also pointed out that they already tried testing the waters years ago, and it went about as smoothly as you’d expect when history and pressure are both in the room: “So I talked to George — to answer your question — and a lot of labels keep approaching us. And we did an experiment — what’s it been, like seven years now? — We did an experiment, and we said, ‘We’ll write one song together’. And that was ‘It’s Another Day’. And we wrote, recorded it, and made a cool video. Original members.”
“We went to Japan. I said, ‘I’m not doing America. We’ll go to Japan, and we’ll see if we don’t kill each other.’ And that’s exactly what I said. We did the Japanese tour. It was a disaster, mostly because of me. I just wasn’t on my game. We did that song, ‘It’s Another Day’, put the video out, and we just came back, and I said, ‘I don’t think this is gonna work.’ So that was the end of that,” he added.
If an EP happens, Don wants it to hit like Dokken, not like a side project with familiar names.
“So now I’ve talked to George when we played, and I said, ‘I might be up for an EP only.’ But I said flat out, ‘It has to sound like Dokken. I’m not trying to insult you, George, but I’ve listened to all your records. It has to be Dokken.’ That’s what the fans want. They don’t want to hear tripped-out stuff… George puts out what he puts out, but it has nothing to do with the way I write.”
Pressed to confirm that the Dokken EP idea is “still on the table”, Don added one more detail that makes this whole thing even stranger: “We haven’t got down to the nitty-gritty. George is now my neighbor, which is weird. I live in New Mexico. He lives in New Mexico. He actually dropped me off from the airport two weeks ago.”
