The 4 albums that made DOKKEN one of the ‘80s top rock bands are now being collected together as a box set (available in LP or CD formats) from BMG, ‘The Elektra Albums 1983-1987.’
Released on January 27, 2023, the limited edition set will include Dokken’s million-selling, worldwide charting first 4 studio albums (‘Breaking the Chains,’ ‘Tooth and Nail,’ ‘Under Lock and Key,’ and ‘Back for the Attack’) as a either a 5LP or 5CD set.
All of the albums feature the classic line-up of Don Dokken (vocals), George Lynch (guitar), Jeff Pilson (bass), and “Wild” Mick Brown (drums), and all have been newly remastered by Andy Pearce (Black Sabbath, Motorhead). Additionally, the LP box features 180g black vinyl.
Includes “Breaking The Chains” (#32 US Rock) and “Paris Is Burning (Live)”
Tooth And Nail (1984) – PLATINUM – US #49
Includes “Into The Fire” (#21 US Rock), “Just Got Lucky” (#27 US Rock), and “Alone Again” (#64 US Hot 100, #20 US Rock)
Under Lock And Key (1985) – PLATINUM – US #32
Includes “The Hunter” (#25 US Rock), “In My Dreams” (#77 US Hot 100, #24 US Rock)
Back For The Attack (1987) – PLATINUM – US #13
Includes The Theme From Nightmare On Elm Street 3, “Dream Warriors” (#22 US Rock), “Burning Like A Flame” (#72 US Hot 100, #20 US Rock), and “Prisoner” (#37 US Rock)
5LP boxset includes:
Breaking The Chains 1LP
Tooth And Nail 1LP
Under Lock And Key 1LP
Back For The Attack 2LP
4CD boxset includes:
Breaking The Chains 1CD
Tooth And Nail 1CD
Under Lock And Key 1CD
Back For The Attack 1CD
Hailing from Los Angeles, Dokken released a string of platinum albums throughout the 1980’s, and toured the globe with the biggest names in hard rock and heavy metal, including Van Halen, Aerosmith, Metallica, Scorpions, and Kiss.
The band had several hit singles on the Mainstream Rock and Billboard Hot 100 charts, and were all over MTV with their videos for “Breaking The Chains”, “Alone Again”, “Into The Fire”, “In My Dreams”, “It’s Not Love”, “Burning Like A Flame” and especially the Theme from Nightmare on Elm Street 3, “Dream Warriors’, where they starred alongside Freddy Krueger.
Dokken have sold more than 10 million albums worldwide, and their live album, Beast from the East was nominated for the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1989.
And now, fans will get to experience – and hear – all four classic albums in a way they had never been able to before.
Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon from The Metal Voicerecently interviewed Dokken, Lynch Mob guitarist George Lynch, who spoke about The End Machine‘s new album Phase 2 which was released April 9 2021 via Frontiers.
Lynch also spoke about Randy Rhoads and his time teaching at Musonia as well as an understanding they made.
Was the new The End Machine album supposed to sound similar to the Dokken sound? “We set out to recreate the chemistry and mentality of the writing process and the compositional chemistry that Jeff (Pilson) and I had. So that is what we tried to recreate, not necessarily tried to plagiarize Dokken’s songs or sound but just being in that frame of mind. I think we did a good job on that. We decided on this record to go back and place more importance on the fundamentals like having the biggest hook as possible and most memorable sing a long hooks, easy to digest, with easy digestible tempos and structures and a tried true western music formula. We kind of went back to that with some other elements in there. Really what it comes down to is giving the majority of the people what they want and in some sense we are selling a product and it becomes more challenging for us in later years to recreate that people know and love about what we do or have done in the past. We are constantly hearing complaints from people saying, ok you are reinventing yourself you do all these other things what about the core thing that you are known for how come you don’t do that anymore? So we had to address that and it has been challenging, it’s hard to do. The hardest thing for me to do and I can speak for Jeff (Pilson) as well is to recreate something we were 35 years ago. Very difficult to do that I have tried before and not have succeeded where i have had better success reinventing myself “
Is the new album Phase 2 infused with different influences? “Sure, it always has, Dokken wasn’t a pure thing either, Dokken was just a bunch of other influences. There was a whole lot of Judas Priest influence in Dokken and others you name it just about anything. Late 60’s music, 70’s and contemporary bands at the time that were influencing us. So we weren’t immune from the influences, Dokken is an amalgamation of all our influences and everything we create now is a continuation of that and Dokken is one of our influences, we have come full circle.”
Were you a student of Randy Rhoads or did you teach at Musoina (Rhoads music School) what was your connection to Randy Rhoads? “I taught at Musonia. We (randy Rhoads) played shows together frequently, we rehearsed in the same rehearsal facility and shared the same rooms. We had a lot of opportunities to hang out, share licks, talked occasionally, we weren’t like friends or anything but we were in the same business and ran in the same circles and ran into each other all the time. I know that he appreciated my playing and liked my playing. He would bring people to see me frequently including his mom. We were both up for Ozzy. I was up for Ozzy on three different occasions and one of the times was when Randy got it over me and then the understanding was that between whichever one of us got it the other one would teach at Musoina. Well i got the consolation prize. Randy told his mom if anything ever happened with him that he would want me to fill in if possible (teaching) if i would be willing to, so I did. “
he End Machine is a project created, overseen and directed by Serafino Perugino President and A&R director of Frontiers Records.
THE END MACHINE are back with their sophomore album, “Phase2,” which follows on the heels of their well-received and successful self-titled debut album released in 2018. The End Machine features former classic lineup Dokken members George Lynch and Jeff Pilson with the awesome singer Robert Mason (Warrant, Lynch Mob) on lead vocals. Classic Dokken drummer Mick Brown handled drums on the first album, but is now retired, so in his place behind the drum kit is none other than his brother Steve Brown.
The new record builds on the great bluesy hard rock music of the debut, but sees the band move more towards the classic Dokken sound and the result is a 2.0 reboot of a killer music machine!
“No Answer” is the second single to be taken from DOKKEN’s new record The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 (out 28th August, Silver Lining Music), an album which is a treasure trove of unheard tracks from the early years of one of the most celebrated bands in the history of Metal.
The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 show the crackle and craft of a hungry young Don Dokken as he embarked upon a journey which started in Southern California and Northern Germany. It is a trek which is testimony to the sheer endeavor and perseverance Don Dokken showed in those few years between 1978 and 1981, starting from when he spent time at a guitar store called Drake’s Music, owned by Drake Levin in Manhattan Beach, California.
Don Dokken comments:
“Drake was a guitar player in Paul Revere and the Raiders and I used to go over there in my early 20’s just to play his beautiful guitars. He thought I was a really good guitar player because my chops were up at the time, and he asked if I’d ever made a record. I told him I hadn’t, and he said he knew a studio called Media Art Studios (in Redondo Beach, CA) where we could go on ‘down time’, which means after midnight, for free. So we did it.”
When Don went into the studio, he didn’t have a band, so Drake hired Rustee Allen (bass) and Bill Lordan (drums) from the Robin Trower band. Only 500 copies of that first recording were pressed, and when Levin introduced Dokken to a friend visiting LA from Hamburg, Germany, Michael Boyens (who owned the biggest venue Hamburg, The Sounds Club) Don decided it was time to head to Europe.
Don remembers:
“Michael said I should go to Germany because rock was still happening over there during a time in L.A. when the new wave scene was booming, bands like Judas Priest and Saxon were nobody in America. I saw them both at the Whiskey, but they were big in Europe. The rock scene was way ahead of the curve in Germany, and besides, I was a fan of all those European bands, so it made sense to go there and give it a shot.”
On arriving in Hamburg Don would meet a young engineer called Michael Wagener, who would end up producing and mixing some of the biggest rock albums of the ‘80s: Motley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Accept and of course Dokken. Like Don, Michael came from humble, hard-working beginnings.
Says Don:
“Michael Wagener worked in a recording studio called Tennessee Ton Studio which was about 100 yards away from a club and Michael said, ‘Why don’t I run 150 ft of cable into the Sounds Club and record the gig?’ And you gotta remember, the actual gig was four floors up from the ground. Oddly enough, Michael’s studio was also four floors up. Plus the club’s elevator was broken, so he had to climb five flights of stairs just to get to the club. There was cable running across the parking lot between the two buildings. It was hilarious.”
Those early times with Wagener were the forging of a deep friendship. Don affirms:
“He ended up coming to LA and basically slept on my couch, then I got my deal with Elektra and we became best friends for years. I mean come on, he did “Breaking the Chains”, “Under Lock and Key”, “Tooth and Nail” and he lived in my house. Those are the things that bond your soul, when you’re starving and you have no money. Michael and I became best friends because we both came up the ladder at the same time.”
Indeed, the writing and creation of The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 are further tribute to enduring early days of struggle in both Germany and LA., Don would return to LA for a spell after those brief European gigs, and he worked with Juan Croucier on material, including perhaps the truest view of Dokken’s then-future “Hit and Run”. From the sunbaked SoCal hook of “Step Into The Light” to the furious, fledgling, late-Sunset Strip sound of “Back In The Streets,” The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 shows Don in his unfettered early days of balls-out attitude, qualities doubtless forged in the sheer nature of the adventures undertaken in writing, recording and deciding Europe was the place to keep cutting his teeth.
Dokken returned to Germany in early 1981, with Croucier, Mick Brown on drums and George Lynch on guitar. Thanks to demos recorded at Scorpions’ producer Dieter Dierks’ studios, which Accept’s manager Gaby Hauke took to Carrere Records, Don landed his first record deal. It is some of those demos which Don discovered nearly four decades later in 2019, and decided to revive with guitarist Jon Levin and drummer BJ Zampa for The Lost Songs: 1978-1981.
Don recounts:
“Carrere found us a church with holes in the roof from the war, and told us we had ten days to come up with ten songs. We were staying at this little place called the Trost hotel, and the lady running it said she had a cellar underneath, like a bomb shelter, that we could use. So we left the church, took all our equipment down there, practiced and wrote songs. The problem was that we were rehearsing in this cold, damp ‘bomb shelter’, and all of a sudden, I started losing my voice. I couldn’t figure out why my voice was all fucked up. Then Mick got sick and George got sick, and we couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then one day after about a week, Mick broke his drum-head, and when he took it off to replace it, he found that his kick drum was lined with mold. There was mold in all his drums! Even the amps had some mold in them!”
Defying the challenging conditions, those writing sessions saw Dokken’s debut Breaking The Chains created as well as several songs which did not make the final album. The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 shows two of those early songs featuring Lynch, “No Answer” and “Step Into the Light”.
Don comments:
“It was clear early on that even though George and I did not get along from the start, there was undeniable chemistry. He was just one of the best guitarists I’d ever seen, and so the music always had to come first, whatever happened.”
From these early days, Dokken would return to Southern California, where they would secure a US record deal with Elektra via A&R man Tom Zutaut and score major management in the form of the world-renowned Cliff Burnstein & Peter Mensch at Q Prime.
The story from this point on is one of sharp ascent, sales and successes reaching multiple platinum status by 1988. But the importance and relevance of those early days in both Southern California and Germany cannot be underestimated, and it is why Don Dokken has been so eager to revisit those early, halcyon days.
“Looking back, so much from that time is hilarious and crazy, from running cables across a parking lot to a club to record a gig, to the holes in that church roof to the mold in the equipment, but there is also a lot of raw magic in what we did back then and it is time to share that with the fans.”
The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 not only shares that magic with the fans, it gives them the final, vital and undeniably missing (until now) early album in the Dokken collection.
Musicians who appear on The Lost Songs: 1978-1981:
Don Dokken – vocals, guitar
Jon Levin – guitar
BJ Zampa – drums
Juan Croucier – bass
Greg Leon – guitar
Gary Holland – drums
Mick Brown – drums
George Lynch -guitar
Rustee Allen – bass
Bill Lordan – drums
Greg Pecka- Drums
The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 track-listing:
1. Step Into The Light
2. We’re Going Wrong
3. Day After Day
4. Rainbows
5. Felony
6. No Answer
7. Back In The Streets
8. Hit And Run
9. Broken Heart
10. Liar
11. Prisoner
The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 is available to pre-order on CD, Vinyl, digital formats and special D2C bundles at this location
It wasn’t always multi-platinum sales and stadium gigs for DOKKEN. There was a first-phase and there were early days, and it is those bold first steps to stardom which are celebrated comprehensively on Dokken’s The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 album, out on August 28th 2020 through Silver Lining Music.
Featuring spectacular sleeve art by renowned US artist Tokyo Hiro (Motörhead, Motley Crüe), The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 show the crackle and craft of a hungry young Don Dokken as he embarked upon a journey which started in Southern California and Northern Germany. It is a trek which is testimony to the sheer endeavour and perseverance Don Dokken showed in those few years between 1978 and 1981, starting from when he spent time at a guitar store called Drake’s Music, owned by Drake Levin in Manhattan Beach, California.
A fair selection of the treasure on The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 are from these early European days. “Felony” carries a thuggish fuzz-coated riff -think early Van Halen in really greasy embroidered denims- while “Day After Day” showed that Don could pen a radio-slaying ballad.
The writing and creation of The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 are further tribute to enduring early days of struggle in both Germany and LA, Don would return to LA for a spell after those brief European gigs, and he worked with Croucier on material, including perhaps the truest view of Dokken’s then-future “Hit And Run”, which incredibly did not end up on the eventual Breaking The Chains release. From the sunbaked SoCal hook of “Step Into The Light” to the furious, fledgling, late-Sunset Strip sound of “Back In The Streets,” The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 shows Don in his unfettered early days of balls-out attitude, qualities doubtless forged in the sheer nature of the adventures undertaken in writing, recording and deciding Europe was the place to keep cutting his teeth.
The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 not only shares that magic with the fans, it gives them the final, vital and undeniably missing (until now) early album in the Dokken collection.
Musicians who appear on The Lost Songs: 1978-1981
Don Dokken – vocals, guitar
Jon Levin – guitar
BJ Zampa – drums
Juan Croucier – bass
Greg Leon – guitar
Gary Holland – drums
Mick Brown – drums
George Lynch -guitar
Rustee Allen – bass
Bill Lordan – drums
Greg Pecka- Drums
The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 track-listing:
1. Step Into The Light
2. We’re Going Wrong
3. Day After Day
4. Rainbows
5. Felony
6. No Answer
7. Back In The Streets
8. Hit And Run
9. Broken Heart
10. Liar
11. Prisoner
The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 is available to pre-order on CD, Vinyl, digital formats and special D2C bundles at this location
He’s the voice behind multi-platinum selling albums and heavy metal classics such as “Breaking The Chains,” “In My Dreams,” “Dream Warriors” and many more! But for the aptly named album Solitary, Dokken vocalist DON DOKKEN strips away the metal trappings and takes center stage as a singular creative force on this acoustic album that includes both original songs and imaginative reworkings of other’s songs. Dokken’s powerful singing truly shines throughout these recordings, bringing both fiery passion and gentle emotion.
To help bring this project to life, Don reached out to several high-profile musicians including The Firm/Whitesnake bassist Tony Franklin plus renowned drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (Frank Zappa / Sting).
Solitary will be released January 31 on Deadline Music, a division of Cleopatra Records, Inc, on all digital platforms plus CD and on a very special limited edition RED vinyl pressing!
Track List:
1. In The Meadow
2. I’ll Never Forget
3. Where The Grass Is Green
4. Jealous
5. Ship Of Fools
6. You Are Everything
7. Venice
8. Sarah
9. My Heart Will Go On
10. The Tragedy
11. Someday
12. All That Love Can Be
Alan Dixon from The Metal Voice spoke to Foreigner and Classic Dokken Bassist Jeff Pilson as he was performing with Foreigner in Montreal Quebec Canada on March 13 2019.
Watch the interview here:
Pilson spoke about the latest The Last in Line album, Foreigner’s current tour, Dio Disciples upcoming studio album and his new project The End Machine with Classic Dokken lineup.
When asked about the new Last in Line album called II that he produced
“I am very proud of that record, it’s an amazing record, I love working with that band. The guys in the band, Vivian Campbell, Phil Soussan and Vinny Appice have been friends for 30 plus years. And of course Andrew Freeman is an amazing singer. It’s great to hear Vivian Campbell shredding again as he did on the first record. The songs on this record are so strong and the band really has their own identity now. ”
When asked about Foreigners current Canadian Tour
“This tour has been amazing, we love Canada, Canada is a very good market for us and we are going to come back to Canada a lot. I have done more shows with Foreigner than Dokken but I have been a member of Dokken for a longer time. Foreigner has always been a positive influence on me from the minute Foreigner came out I was a fan. ”
When asked about his participation in writing for the upcoming Dio Disciples album
“I have written a couple of songs for them, I probably won’t actually be recording the record because I don’t think there is a way to fit it into my busy schedule, I would love it if I could. I know they are interested in a couple of songs I wrote for the band. Also I love working with Craig Goldby the guitarist of the band, he and I have collaborated over the years. Hopefully there will be more work with the Dio Disciples but at this point it is just limited to just writing songs but I am hoping I can do some recording with them. ”
When asked about the new album with his new band The End Machine
“I am really excited about this album, we will also be playing shows with The End Machine. We got Robert Mason in as the vocalist who is incredible. I am really pleased with the songs, the songwriting and musical chemistry. I knew that the chemistry would be there with, George, Mick and I, but it was so great to hear what Robert brought to the album and how he really rounded it off. There are some Dokken and Lynch Mob influences there of course but it stands on it’s own musically. Also George Lynch is the greatest rock guitarist player on the planet, there is no question in my mind. The thing with George if you give him a sound he likes 99% of the time something brilliant is going to come out of him. There is a lot of depth to the record, there is straight ahead stuff and there is moments when we really let ourselves go which was really fun to do and gratifying. ”
Last in Line “II” was released on February 22 via Frontiers Music Srl. DIO DISCIPLES is made up of former members of DIO, along with a rotating lineup of vocalists, including Owens and Logan and Wendy Dio revealed in an interview this past spring that DIO DISCIPLES’ debut album will be released via BMG. THE END MACHINE’s debut album, will be released on March 22 via Frontiers Music Srl. The End Machine featuring three members of the classic DOKKEN lineup — George Lynch (guitar), Jeff Pilson(bass) and Mick Brown (drums) — along with former LYNCH MOB and current WARRANT singer Robert Mason
THE END MACHINE will play its first set of shows in April. Brown will be unable to make the dates and will be temporarily replaced by EVANESCENCE’s Will Hunt.
The details are as follows:
April 04 – Whisky A Go Go – Los Angeles, CA
April 05 – Count’s Vamp’d – Las Vegas, NV
April 06 – Encore – Tucson, AZ
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 