Don Dokken recently sat down with The Metal Voice for a chat, where he revealed how George Lynch’s hurtful remark led to the breaking point for Dokken while discussing the making of the band’s ‘Shadowlife.’
When one of the hosts said he loved everything from Dokken’s ‘Erase the Slate’ to ‘Broken Bones,’ the frontman stepped in and said:
“That was the breaking point again on ‘Shadowlife,’ and that’s why, historically, you always have the Dokken logo, which I own. I said, ‘I’m not putting my logo on ‘Shadowlife’ because this isn’t Dokken. This is you guys trying to experiment.”
Recalling his conversation with producer Kelly Gray, he continued:
“You can’t even tell it’s me because the first day I met the producer Kelly Gray, who played in Queensrÿche for a few years. Personally, he meets me and says, ‘Well, I just want to say I was talking to your boys, and I don’t like your voice.’ I said, ‘Excuse me. You don’t like my voice, and you’re going to produce our record. You need to get the f*ck out of here.'”
Dokken then remembered how Lynch reacted to his vocals in ‘Shadowlife’:
“So, on that record, he put things on my voice: filters and those things, starting like this [mimicking his own voice]. It’s like all these effects that [Marilyn] Manson used to do on his voice. And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s crazy.’ I remember George [Lynch]. He looked so excited and said, ‘Finally, we’re gonna not make Don sound like Don because I hate his voice.’ I said, ‘Well George, my voice made you famous, so shut up.'”
In an interview with Metal Dreams, the singer gave more details on Lynch’s attitude during the making of ‘Shadowlife,’ explaining:
“‘Shadowlife’ speaks for itself. I was not involved in that record at all. I was kicked out of the record, literally. I didn’t write any songs on that album. George said, ‘Look, if you want me to do one more record, I want my shot. I’m tired of the ‘Don singles.””
So, Don left the control to the guitarist in that record. He also said in the same interview that he hated ‘Shadowlife’ and also being in the band at the time. It marked Lynch’s last studio album with Dokken, as he left and reformed Lynch Mob.
You can watch the rest of the conversation below.
