Archive for the ‘dokken’ Category
Lynch Mob Concert Review, Austin, TX, June 12, 2016
I love Dokken. Tooth and Nail, Under Lock and Key and Back for the Attack are great albums. Breaking the Chains is just OK. Lots of folks slag that band but whatever, I’m a fan.
Lynch Mob headlined an early show last night with Roc Holiday and Snake Skin Prison. I missed SSP but caught Roc Holiday’s set. Paul Lidel (Dangerous Toys/Dirty Looks), lead guitarist and backing vocals for Roc Holiday, is simply a badass. He made their set for me.
It was a pretty packed crowd for this venue, Texas Mist. I hung out towards the back for Lynch Mob’s set with a good pal that I hadn’t seen in quite some time. To be honest, I never cared for anything Lynch did after Dokken. Too bluesy. BUT…his band is full of people who are listed in The Book. So going to a show that’s less than 10 minutes from my house was worth the effort.
Lynch’s band sounded absolutely great. Oni Logan’s vocals were stellar to be honest. I had heard that the drummer, Jimmy D’Anda, was not feeling well, but you wouldn’t have known it by his playing. Bassist Sean McNabb held the bottom down perfectly as well. And then there’s George. His performance was not so stellar. He fumbled around his pedal board quite a bit. His solos, especially during the Dokken songs, were awful except for that break in Tooth and Nail, he did that perfectly. He pretty much seemed like he didn’t care to be there at all. It was a bit disappointing, to be honest. Three times as they were counting a song in, everyone started except for George and they had to restart each time. I could speculate on the reason but anyone that was there, especially those of us who met him after the show could pretty much tell what was up. I’ll leave it at that.
After the show George and Sean came out to sign stuff. I got a minute with him and he signed The Book and my Tooth and Nail CD. He saw Pilson’s signature and asked when I got it. I mentioned that I got it during the “Foreigner tribute band” show. He laughed and said, “Well all original Dokken members are doing a Japanese tour. We’re getting paid so much money, it’s the only reason I’m doing it. I’ve got kids and grandkids to support.” He was very nice and so was McNabb who told me he was coming back to Texas later this year playing bass for Joe Lynn Turner(!!!!). He also stated that Oni Logan typically doesn’t come out to sign stuff and that D’Anda was pretty sick so he wasn’t coming out.
I went to the back stage curtain and one of their road crew was walking back there. I stopped and asked if he could get Oni and Jimmy to sign and I showed him where the pages were marked. Understand that this book has only left my sight a few times to get signed. I was able to see them each sign it through the curtain, though. The crew guy brought it back and said that Oni laughed that he was listed in there with Ferrari.
It wasn’t a great show by any means, but still enjoyable to hear some Dokken classics. Oni Logan’s voice was great on those.
Click fotos to enlarge.
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- Jimmy D’Anda
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- George Lynch (in gold)
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- Oni Logan
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- Sean McNabb
Foreigner Concert Review, Austin, TX, April 21, 2016
Let’s briefly go back in time…
I guess it was on the “4” tour for Foreigner that my oldest brother, Mark, went to the show (Norfolk Scope 1981?). He was a pretty big fan of the band and I think most people probably liked some of their stuff. In the late 70s and early-to-mid-80s you couldn’t get away from them. I liked them enough. Urgent is a great song. Beyond I Want To Know What Love Is, I pretty much like all of their hits. And for many of us musicians, Jukebox Hero has a lot of meaning.
Flash forward to today. Foreigner still tours…a lot. But wait. Who’s in the band? Lou Gramm is long gone. But Mick Jones is still on guitar, right? Nope. Who’s left from the original lineup? No one. NO ONE. Mick has had some major health problems in recent years and can’t tour. He did an acoustic TV appearance with the band a couple of months ago and looked pretty frail on that. So what we had last night was the most solid Foreigner cover band you could ever see and I was aware of that fact when I bought the VIP/meet and greet pass.
I’ve got a few friends that call me crazy for doing that with bands, but there’s usually a mission behind it and that’s to get certain musicians in The Book. With Foreigner, two of the guys were in 80s metal bands that I liked and actually have a little personal history with one of them.
Typically on these things it’s just a small group of folks but last night they had nearly 100 people buy the VIP. It’s also usually known up front if personal autographs would be allowed. Nothing noted during the purchase about that. This was not a cheap purchase by any means. We’re not talking KISS prices by any stretch of the imagination, but not chump change either. I was there on a mission. This one didn’t state either way so I went for it. As they’re explaining the process, the girl mentioned “no personal autographs”. Everything puckered up quickly. She walked through the line to see if folks had questions and when she got to me, she got an earful. Respectfully of course. I showed her The Book and explained to her blah blah blah. She leaned in to me and said, “I’ll do my best to make it happen. Just hang tight and maybe drop back in line a little.” OK.
So we’re going through the backstage area of the awesome Moody Theater and I’m noticing that only 2-3 other people had something extra with them. It was almost my turn to meet the band and she comes up to me and says, “It’s happening. Do the picture then just hang out over there with Bill (another manager) until everyone goes through.” I hugged her.
As I got up to the band to shake their hands, Jeff Pilson (Dokken et als) was first. I mentioned I was a huge early Dokken fan and said, “Me too!” When I spoke to Kelley Hansen (Hurricane), I mentioned our history. “What did I do?” I mentioned him contacting me around 2001 when I was selling a promo only Hurricane picture disc that he apparently had never seen and didn’t own. We had worked out a trade. “That was you?! I still have that thing and still haven’t seen another!” A couple of quick photos and I was shuffled off to Bill who says, “Leave the book here and I’ll bring it to you after they sign it.” ummm…What? No, sir. Sorry, that book doesn’t leave my sight. Allison heard our exchange and said, “He’s fine, Bill.”
As I’m waiting for the last 20 or so folks to do their thing with the band, I see Joey Kramer from Aerosmith walk in with a small entourage. HOLY SHIT. Joey Kramer. He lives locally and is out and about often but this was my first encounter. He walks by me and I just say, “Hey Joey, how’s it going. Got a moment to sign something?” “Sure, man. Whatcha got?” I flip The Book open to the Aerosmith page, he asked my name and signed it. I mentioned how much his playing blew me away the 3 or 4 times I had seen them since the 80s. “Best American rock drum shuffle ever”, I said. “Thanks, Sean. Nice to meet you.” To be honest, I got a little star struck. I’ve met a lot of bands over the years, but for whatever reason, maybe the surprise of seeing him, got me all worked up for a moment. That made the price of admission completely worth it.
After the crowd got through the line, Kelley came over and signed the book, shook my hand and moved on. Pilson came over and we chatted for a few minutes. Told him I saw Dokken/Aerosmith in 89. He asked who was better and I said, “We were mainly there to see Dokken.” He seems like a pretty laid back guy.
I ran my stuff back to my truck quickly and went back in. I was front row, just off center. The show started at 815PM and they were slated to only play 13 songs. Just the hits and nothing more. I’ll say this, they were fantastic. Everyone in that band is a solid professional, it’s just unfortunate that no original members are still playing in the band. I heard a lot of complaints around me about Jones not being there. It was a sold out show, too. As stated earlier, I knew what to expect going it, but it was all worth it. That said, I’ll never go see them again, even if Jones was able to come back.
I do want to give a hand to Kelley Hansen’s vocals and performance. That guy’s voice was perfect. He does, however, look a lot like Steven Tyler these days and is copping his moves pretty hard. Some of his between song banter was annoying but he was also playing to the older crowd that was there. At 46, I was one of the youngest in attendance. As he was introducing the band, he stated that Jeff Pilson was a founding member of Dokken. Part of me wanted to yell, “What about Juan Croucier?!” haha. He also mentioned that one of the guitarists had been assaulted the night before in downtown Austin. The drummer was a beast, but I could have done without the drum solo. They were slated to do Long, Long Way From Home in the encore but it got nixed for a little love fest tribute to Prince. They had a local high school choir doing backing vocals in I Want to Know What Love Is and ended it with Hot Blooded.
Overall an enjoyable night.
Billy White Concert Review, Austin TX 111011
Last night I was able to see a small and rare performance of Billy “Blanco” White. You may remember Billy from such bands as Watchtower, Don Dokken and the Billy White Trio. The guy is such a great guitar player. He’s been spending much of his time in Mexico in recent years and primarily does flamenco style music now, although he said last night he’s been doing some guest spots on other people’s albums recently.
I first saw Billy play in 1991 and you can read about that here.
Last night performance was pretty cool, albeit a tad uncomfortable. He played in a small room that was about 20’x40’. Everyone sat on the floor and we had to remove our shoes prior to entering the building. Even sitting on a pillow, my back and knees were killing me but it didn’t matter, I was sitting a few feet away from a great musician. Only about 40 people showed up and it was a great experience. His playing was awesome. A mix of flamenco with a tad of fusion thrown in. He had a violinist and a tabla player sit in for a few songs as well. It was all pretty cool.
Afterwards I got to speak to him for a few minutes. He graciously signed The Book and some CDs for me. It was a fun evening, very relaxing.
Billy White
Billy White Trio – sistershootingstar
This is one of Billy’s solo albums after the Watchtower/Dokken days. It’s long out of print so I thought I’d share it with you.
More bloggen on Dokken!
On my way back from Louisiana this past weekend I was flipping through my iPod to find some stuff to listen to. I had recently added a ton of 
albums to it and had gone though most of the new additions on my way there (7.5 hours). As I was scrolling through I saw the Dokken. Woot! Haven’t listened to them in a while.
I first spun Under Lock and Key then Back for the Attack.
If you’ve been paying attention, you know how much I love Tooth and Nail. The album is perfect in my eyes/ears. But I was truly blown away by these 2 albums. Even though the songs got a little more radio friendly, Lynch’s playing on them was over the top in the best of ways. George had a reputation in L.A. long before Dokken became a household name. In talking to people from that early 80s Hollywood scene, they’ve all said the same thing…George was better than everyone around there.
Listening to his solos on these 2 albums I really can hear it. It’s not too often that I get over excited about music these days, but hearing this stuff, remembering the hits (some of which we attempted to play in bands back then) and listening to the deeper cuts that I had long forgotten, I really felt that Dokken probably should have been a lot bigger, if anything based on George’s guitar work alone. He did get a lot of press in the metal and guitar mags back then and deservedly so.
It was too bad they broke up in 1988. I think they could have squeezed out one more decent album. By the time Dysfunctional came out in 1995, who cared? I certainly didn’t. What I remember hearing from it sounded very “90s”. Pass. 
I got to see George a few months ago in Austin with his solo band. Dude can still hang.
If you’ve ever liked Dokken and haven’t listened to them in a while, I highly recommend popping in these 2 albums again. You won’t be disappointed.
The Metal Files 
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