name | Dokken |
---|---|
background | group_or_band |
genre | Heavy metal, hard rock |
origin | Los Angeles, California, US |
years active | 1978–1989, 1993–present |
label | Elektra, CMC |
associated acts | Lynch Mob, Winger, Ratt |
website | |
current members | Don DokkenMick BrownJon LevinSean McNabb |
past members | See past members section }} |
Dokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band that was formed in 1978. They split up in 1989, but decided to reform four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. The band was nominated for a Grammy in 1989.
Dokken was composed of founder Don Dokken on vocals, George Lynch on lead guitars, Juan Croucier on bass, and "Wild" Mick Brown on drums. In 1983 Croucier left Dokken in order to join Ratt and was replaced by Jeff Pilson. Currently, Dokken and Brown remain from the original line-up. After several personnel changes on guitar, Dokken's attorney Jon Levin stepped in to fill the role in 2004. In 2001, Barry Sparks replaced Jeff Pilson on the bass guitar. In 2009, Sean McNabb replaced Barry Sparks on bass guitar.
While the band was very popular in Europe during this time, they had not yet made it onto the charts in the United States. Magazines such as Kerrang! blazed the trail for Dokken in the UK.
Following a successful tour with Scorpions, Dokken returned to the studio in December 1986 to record "Dream Warriors", a song for the movie A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. The track brought the band to the attention of many UK hard rock fans. The song was released as a single (Dream Warriors / Back for the Attack) on February 10, 1987. After this release, the band took nearly half a year off before returning to the studio to record the album Back for the Attack. The album was released on November 27, 1987. It spawned the singles "Burning Like a Flame" (#20), "Heaven Sent" and "Kiss of Death" to become the band's most successful release, reaching #13 on U.S. charts. It also included a remixed version of the single "Dream Warriors" (#22), and the accompanying music video, which featured band members interacting with the film's characters, became popular on MTV. Back for the Attack became Dokken's third record to reach platinum status. Sculptor Steve Fiorilla's customized writhing skeleton guitar was the highlight of their video for "Burning Like A Flame".
After releasing Back for the Attack, the band toured as part of the Monsters of Rock Tour 1988 festival in the summer of 1988, along with Van Halen, Scorpions, Metallica, and Kingdom Come. Recordings from their April 1988 tour in Japan led to the release of the live album Beast from the East on November 16, 1988, which went Gold in the United States and charted at #33. The album scored one studio single, titled "Walk Away". A music video was also made for it.
During the tour supporting Dysfunctional, however, old tensions between George and Don had resurfaced and the band once again began to split apart. During a Columbia promotion for the new album in which the band was scheduled to play live on 120 radio stations, Lynch unexpectedly left the studio and refused to re-enter. The record company was forced to air the rehearsal tape that had been recorded earlier, and four days later the label dropped Dokken, presumably because of this and other similar incidents involving Lynch's behavior. One Live Night, a live acoustic album was released in 1996 by a new label, CMC, and was followed with Shadowlife in 1997. Don Dokken was dissatisfied with Shadowlife, an album in which George Lynch took total control and even went as far as to replace the original Dokken logo on the album. Don alleges that George intended to destroy the band with this album, reciting the following quote from Lynch in an interview: "This is the perfect record. This is gonna be the end of Dokken, and that is what I wanted to accomplish."
In late 1997, Lynch left the band. Needing a guitarist to fill in on the scheduled dates, Don Dokken looked to Europe guitarist John Norum, who had previously played on his 1990 solo album and was familiar with the band's catalog, to help him finish the tour. Lynch tried to re-join the group just days before the tour began, but was told that he was "out" by the rest of the group. A lawsuit followed in which Lynch sued the band for $1 million, but the band prevailed in the verdict. After the European tour, guitarist John Norum was unable to continue with the band as he had previously committed to another solo record. The band then hired former Winger guitarist Reb Beach for the job, and recorded an album with this line-up in 1999 aptly titled Erase the Slate to signify a new beginning for the band. Dokken released another live album titled Live from the Sun in 2000 before the departure of guitarist Beach.
Beach, who wanted to work on some other projects and could not commit to Dokken in the long term, was replaced by John Norum, who was now in between projects and able to participate in the band's touring schedule. Bassist Jeff Pilson also left the band and was replaced by Barry Sparks. In a 2004 interview, Don Dokken stated that Jeff left because "he wanted to do something different and didn't want to keep playing these songs over and over again." Of the original members, only Dokken and Mick Brown remained. This line-up released the album Long Way Home, but Norum suffered a hand injury during the band's 2002 spring tour of Europe in support of the album, and had to be replaced by Alex De Rosso, previously of the Italian metal band Dark Lord. That year, Dokken was featured in the Metal Edge Rock Fest tour along with Ratt, FireHouse, and other similar acts. In the spring of 2003, Dokken embarked on an extensive tour of the United States opening for Scorpions and Whitesnake. After the tour, however, guitarist Alex De Rosso lost his visa and had to return to Italy, at which point Don Dokken called Jon Levin who formerly played guitar on Doro's Force Majeure, and also had previously met with the band and played a single show in 1998. Levin joined the band, and the line-up of Dokken, Brown, Levin, and Sparks would remain through 2008. Dokken released the album Hell to Pay in 2004, which was seen by critics as a modern approach to the band's style. The band continued extensive touring in 2005 and 2006. 2007 saw the release of both a live CD and a compilation DVD. The CD, titled From Conception: Live 1981, is a previously unreleased live recording from the band's early years which Don discovered in their master vault. The DVD release, titled Unchain the Night, was first released on VHS in 1986 and is a compilation of the band's music videos along with interviews and other footage. The band also performed at the glam metal festival Rocklahoma in both 2007 and 2008.
On May 13, 2008, Dokken released their first studio album in four years titled Lightning Strikes Again, which was met with increased commercial success and became the band's highest charting album in 13 years when it debuted at #133 in the United States. The album has been referred to as a return to the band's signature sound, and reviewers have said that the songs follow the classic Dokken formula. Don Dokken told interviewers that Jon Levin was the bandmate who wanted the band to make an album with the classic sound in mind, and remarked that the process was difficult, saying: "I had to get back in that mindset. This is what the fans wanted, and if I stay focused on that I would give them a straight-ahead Dokken record." During the spring and summer of 2008 in order to promote the new Dokken album, Don Dokken and Jon Levin participated in dozens of interviews including Rockline, KNAC, The Classic Metal Show, as well as a series of podcasts available on the band's website.
During the summer of 2008, the band performed on tour in support of the Lightning Strikes Again album with Sebastian Bach and Poison. Sparks and Brown were not part of the summer 2008 touring line-up. Brown signed on to play with Ted Nugent for the summer before Dokken was offered the slot on Poison tour, making him unable to tour in support of Lightning Strikes Again. Sparks was in Asia performing with a stadium act and was unable to tour with Dokken until he was able to get his wife, a resident of Italy, a visa. Chris McCarvill from House of Lords played bass. Jeff Martin of Racer X and Badlands fame played drums for the 2008 tour until he was fired by Don Dokken. Chris McCarvill's House of Lords bandmate B.J. Zampa filled in as drummer for the remainder of the tour.
Since then, Dokken has continued to tour extensively with Mick Brown back on drums with BJ Zampa filling in on drums when Mick is busy touring with Ted Nugent and Sean McNabb of Quiet Riot and Great White fame on bass, along with Levin on guitar and Dokken on vocals. This summer of 2010, the band will open for the legendary rock band Scorpions (band) on select dates of their U.S. tour. On March 1, 2010, Dokken digitally released Greatest Hits, a collection of re-recorded songs from their '80's albums along with two new tracks, to iTunes and Amazon.com. The physical album with additional tracks was released on King Records (Japan) on April 21, 2010 and is available in the United States through Cleopatra Records.
On November 29, 2009, during an encore at a Dokken show at The House Of Blues in Anaheim, George Lynch and Jeff Pilson joined Mick Brown and Don Dokken for two songs, the first time they were on stage together in 12 years.
In early 2010, Lynch announced a reunion of Dokken's glory days line-up. The announcement was followed by a retraction on February 24. In May 2010, George Lynch and Don Dokken appeared together as guests on Season 5, Episode 7 of television show That Metal Show. Don Dokken and Lynch Mob finished touring through the summer and fall of 2010, which could mean reunion reports soon.
On December 8, 2010, George Lynch announced on his website and in interviews earlier that Dokken reunion will not be happening. Lynch stated:
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In the mid-80s Don Dokken sang lead vocals on the hit single for ex-Scorpions drummer Herman Rarebell's solo project "Herman Ze German and Friends". The song is a power ballad titled "I'll Say Goodbye". Don also sang lead vocals on the song "Hard Sensation".
Dokken were the (obvious) inspiration for the phrase "We're rockin' like Dokken".
In 2009, Dokken appeared in a series of commercials for Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2010. The advertisements imagine a computer as a chicken and Dokken as a malicious computer virus. Each ad features a different outcome, based on whether or not the "Dokken Virus" was allowed into the system.
In the episode of the sketch comedy series, Wonder Showzen titled "Space" a baby is seen with acne in the shape of the Dokken band logo. In an episode the animated MTV show Celebrity Deathmatch, the band was mentioned by James Hetfield of Metallica when he fought against Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, saying that he would prefer fighting one of Slayer's or Dokken's members instead of Durst. Dokken's song "Dream Warriors" appeared in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
In June 2010, both Don Dokken and George Lynch appeared together in an episode of That Metal Show. In the episode, they claimed that the main cause of their rift was a publicity stunt that they both eventually started to believe. George also stated that Don also wanted to "take all the money and all the credit" did not help, with Don nodding during the statement. They both also mentioned that they would love to have a reunion with Don, George, Jeff, and Mick, but that they are all too busy with other projects in 2010 (between Dokken's current lineup, Lynch Mob, Jeff's involvement with Foreigner, etc.). They did not rule out a 2011 reunion.
;Studio albums
Category:American hard rock musical groups Category:Heavy metal musical groups from California Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles, California Category:Musical groups established in 1978 Category:Musical quartets
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