Foreigner and classic Dokken line-up bassist Jeff Pilson was recently interviewed by The Metal Voice‘s Jimmy Kay and shared his thoughts on what led to the break up of Dokken.
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In terms of how much truth there was to the bickering and hatred of Don Dokken and George Lynch, Pilson opined (as transcribed by The Metal Voice with slight edits):
“It was a drastically over hyped version that something that is essentially true. The two of them get along pretty good now but there was a time in the early days they didn’t get along great. What really blew it all up is when we were doing publicity for the Tooth And Nail record we had a publicist who wanted to come up with a publicity angle that would really help sell the band. So what they centered in after talking with everybody was ‘Wow, Don and George don’t like each other” and that just exploded and it became the media hook that got stuck with the band and then it became a self fulfilling prophecy and then it became our worst enemy. Did George like the fact that the band was called Dokken, of course he didn’t like that he just wanted to have a regular band name.”
In regard to how the whole band fell apart after the Back For The Attack album, which was released in 1987, Pilson stated: “It was our personalities exaggerated by drugs.”
With respect to whether he was an equal partner in Dokken when he joined the band, Pilson advised:
“It was equal right from the beginning and that was the brain child of our managers Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch and they new about the personalities of the band and the name so right from the start it was an equal split except for Breaking The Chains album cause I wasn’t on it but they gave me a little piece of it. Don and George also encouraged me to write and to be a participant right from the beginning. “
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On whether there will be a new studio album and a US tour by the classic Dokken line-up, Pilson opined:
“The reunited Dokken gets offers all the time and we talk about most of them, we are all on speaking terms and we get along fine. It’s down to opportunity. I think all of us have somewhere in us where we would like to do perhaps one final studio record together. So I see that as a distinct possibility somewhere down the line but as a whole US tour the problem is kind of obvious it’s our scheduling. Maybe someday some limited shows, its not impossible and I think a recording is possible but it’s kind of first things first. The last time we talked about a recording, Don was starting to work on his Dokken album. Fair enough, there is no hurry. Maybe someday but nothing in the books right now.”
You can listen to the interview with Jeff Pilson by The Metal Voice below: