The Brotherhood of Rock & Roll.... George Lynch Speaks Out.

Rising out of the ashes like a phoenix rising is Lynch Mob, the band out together by former Dokken guitar wizard George Lynch. George is one hell of a guitarist that has influenced so many bands such as Heaven Fire, Seventh Sign, just to name a few. Since leaving Dokken George has created Lynch Mob a band that have made some interesting albums and with their debut album 'Wicked Sensation' a fantastic debut and saw then opening up for Queensryche back in 91.

Since then George has been involved with so many projects ones that I knew nothing about until I recently interviewed him. I managed to catch up with him in Sheffield this November 2017 to ask him about Lynch Mob's new album 'The Brotherhood' and more about his up bringing and more. Here is what George had to say.

Well it's good to see you again George, hope you are well and the band. I'd like to ask you firstly what you remember of the 'Hair Metal Heaven' show in Hull UK this year.

"Hi Jason, it's good to see you again. That festival was really cool we had a lot of fun and the crowd love the show. It was also good that we had you to help us out, without you we would of not played, so thank you Jason. (Ed: It was my pleasure George.)

So looking back at the debut Lynch Mob album 'Wicked Sensation' which was a fantastic debut what good memories do you have of that album and how well did the album sell for the band?

"Well from what I remember of that record was the album we had unlimited resources available to us, so it was a dream experience to be able to create something that you can imagine and having the resources to do it with multiple studios and producers and we worked with Neil Kernon and Max Norman and also some other mixers were involved. The album sold really well and it took many months to record because of the way things were been done, this would include pre production."

From that album were there any songs that you really liked and why?

"To be fair I thought it was a wall to wall record, it was not a filler album and everything had a reason for it to exist on that record."

How successful was the 2nd album which was self titled release back in 92 compared to the debut for you?

"Well it sold half of that the 1st album did and it was a disappointment, we changed things and our style a little and instead of going dirtier and harder we went the opposite direction which was a massive mistake. We went for a cleaner production and cleaner singer and we ended up going towards the Dokken direction than rather moving on forward."

Growing up as a kid what guitarist inspired you?

"Well the 4 big for me were Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton and Page. I also liked Brian May, Michael Schenker, Billy Gibbons Joe Walsh and Jonny Winter and many more. (Ed: Can you remember you're very 1st guitar you had?) Well I was 10yrs old when I got my 1st guitar and it was a cheap nylon string guitar with a picture of a palm tree on it which my parents bought me and from there I went to Teko which is a Japanese guitar which I modified and then my 1st real decent guitar was 1960's Les Paul special and a Fender amp which my father found in the local paper and he paid like $80 for the 2."

What make of guitar do you play these days?

"I was with Krama for a short time which led me to ESP, and I have been with them for over 35 yrs. I have my own little company and I make them in my garage and there called Mr Scary guitars and there hand made, in which I make 10 a year. (Ed: Do you still have the skeleton guitar you use to play?) Yes I still have it and I play it the odd time here and there. I can't bring a lot of guitars with me as I fly a lot so I am limited to just 2 guitars."

When you played Hair Metal heaven, you brought your own guitar head, why was that?

"Well I also bring my own head with me, and we had step down transformers as it is a very important part for me when touring. I really can't play through rented gear as I spent all my life getting that perfect sound and with my own gear I can create that. With rented stuff you have to mess about and can't always get the sound you want. I am more passionate with amps than I am with guitars."

When you are not touring or recording do you just make guitars or do you also find time to teach people?

"I don't do teaching I don't have time and I have a lot of projects and I am involved with a lot of different bands. There are also lots of interviews like this that I have to do and there is the process of recording and writing songs too, tours and video shoots and a lot of work behind the scene which I am heavily involved. Lynch Mob is my main concern and we do about 100 shows a year.

I do a lot of clinics and make guitars for my own company 'Mr Scary guitars' which I make about 100 guitars a year to order. I have a big family so that keeps me busy too."

Does any of you're family play guitar or an instrument?

"Yes my older son Sean plays guitar and he was perusing it has his life and that really didn't work out so he is now a chemical engineer for Seaman's corporation and I am happy for him with his job."

You have influenced s many guitar players with your unique sound how did you create that sound and tone?

"Well I have been coping other guitarist all my life or should I say in the spirit of them growing up with Hendrix and Clapton Beck & Page and I think all guitar players do that to some point."

How many albums has Lynch Mob recorded for those who don't know?

"I think it's about 7 albums and we have the new album 'The Brotherhood' which has just come out on Rat Pak Records. We choose the title for the new album as other bands have been my family since my school days and that is almost more important to me than the musical part and I think it was important to portal of what we are now."

Tell a little bit about the new album, what's the songs called and how do they compare to that of previous albums?

"Wow there are a bunch of song titles on this record, and when you do a record you never remember saying that you don't like that record. You always love it because it is something new that you have created. It is a very personal album when you make a new one and the problem with a lot of musicians is that if the album is not accepted very well by the fans and media you can get you're feelings hurt very quickly. I love the record and we all do and we worked very hard on the record and it took a couple of years.

As for comparing it to the previous albums, I would say it is a good follow up to 'Rebel' and it is a good evolution and it was done in a completely different way. The album 'Rebel' with Oni and I an engineer and we wrote everything in the studio. As for the new album 'The Brotherhood' was done as a band thing were we would play in the same room live with lots of ideas. Some of the songs were wrote on the road and we would sound check and I would through out a riff and jam in there or Jimmy would throw a beat down and I would follow him and I could record it on the phone and one day it would turn into a song."

Was the title for the new album the only title you had for the new record?

"I don't think I had any other titles for this new album, we just left that the title was a great one. Sometimes it is easier to record and write an album and then do the album title last, but this time we got lucky with this record."

So how long did it take to record this album if it was a lengthy period of time?

"Off and on about 2 yrs, it was not a seamless amount of time it was done in 2 phases , the 1st one ended up been very disappointed as we listened too it on tour and we were very unhappy with the end results. So we had to go back in and re-record the album in which we did. It was a self produced album."

Have you or will you do any promo videos for this new album?

"Well we have done 3 videos so far. They were for 'Dr Jackal & Mr Hyde', 'Miles Away', 'Main Offender'.

How long is the deal with Rat Pakk Records?

"It's a one off deal with options and we try to remain free agents and when it comes to sales you can never be too happy with the downloads that people do these days."]

Moving on I just received the new 'Sweet Lynch' album from Frontiers Records, could you tell me a little bit about this record? How did you get together with Michael in the 1st place and also how do you compare this record to that of the debut album?

"Well I don't remember how we got together to be honest. I think the new album is very similar to that of the debut album, the formula is the same and I was hired to do that record and I am in the band of course and my ideas for the band were write the music and I would feed that to Michael and he would start working on the lyrics and melodies we would then bring out Brian Tichy and James Lomenzo and they all get in the studio in Boston and would record the album. 

I am not there and when they have finished recording the record I then finish up my guitar parts and edit the parts that I need to do. I then send it back to them and Mike finishes up his vocals and they mix it. It is then sent back to me for approval and then we do a video and photo shoot."

Will this band ever tour?

"Well you never know, there could be some touring for this project but I am not sure yet. There was talk about an acoustic set with just Mike and myself. There was also talk of Stryper and Lynch Mob doing a tour together which is pretty serious talk right now, so it could happen."

Do you think there could be a 3rd album with Michael?

"Yes there could be, I love recording and I love writing."

Have you done many projects?

"Yes I have, I have one called 'The Banishment' with Tommy Victor from Prong, it's an industrial project. I also have a project called 'Ultra Phonics' which is the 2nd project with invodelica and instead of  Angelo Moore from Fishbone we replaced the singer with Corey Glover from Living Colour. We are heavy funk with 70's art rock and there is a song on the record that sounds like George Harrison and a song that sounds like Tom Petty and there is a lof of different stuff on it. It is going to be a fun record and nothing like Lynch Mob.

We also have a new Dokken album coming out, it is a live record from the last live tour we did last year with one new studio track 'Another Day' and Jeff & I wrote. There are also 2 songs that are semi acoustic songs of older Dokken songs which are 'Will the sun Rise' and 'Heaven Sent'. 

I also have another project called 'Super Stroke' with members of Dokken with Don, with the singer from Warrent instead Robert Mason and the music is all finished we just need to do the vocal and mixing. I have some guitar solos to finish and Robert needs to work on some of the vocals. 

I am also doing new 'KXM' record with Doug Pinnick from Kings X and Ray Luzier from Korn which will be released in March 2018 and those records are done very quickly as we don't do any pre-productions and we don't write any songs before hand we just book a studio for 10 days and we just get our won sounds and then we start jamming and writing and we have to write and record a song every day. We have done 2 records so far."

Moving on how well is the tour with Lynch Mob going so far and how well is the tour going so far?

"We have been on tour for 3 wks now and we played the States, Canada and Europe and then we go to Texas for 2 shows and some days in California and that is it for this year."

Will you be releasing a live DVD?

"Well we did one but we were not happy with it so we didn't release it."

Well thanks for the interview George, best of luck for the future, I hope we can work together again soon. Do you have anything to say before we finish the interview?

"Yes thank you to our fans for their support and we hope you like the new record. Good to see you again Jason."

Thanx to George for the interview, also Gary & Red Sands and Mutley @ Corporation.