Lynch Mob
Smoke This (Koch)
An interview with George Lynch
by Martin Popoff
Dokken’s George Lynch has delivered a surprising third Lynch Mob album called Smoke This out now on Koch. Expect large, dirty riffs providing a bed for what can only be described as rap metal, George and a whole new (younger!) krew angling toward that whole Korn, RATM, Slipknot, Coal Chamber zone. Like it or lump it (and reaction so far has careened between shocked and appalled), George implores his fans to see the band live, a medium where one can expect to see the new record spiced with older Lynch Mob tracks and a few Dokken chestnuts.
George explains the large, left turn of events. “I’d say the new sound is highly eclectic. We bring so many different things to the record with all our influences, so it’s really hard to nail down. But the prime thing is that we’re just a really heavy, groove-oriented, riff-oriented band. We just have a lot of different things on top of that. Everything from jazz to Latin to hip-hop to hardcore, blues rock, pop, boogie stuff. I’ve been into this stuff since I was about eight years old. This is kind of embarrassing, but the first record I ever bought was The Supremes. But anyway, I was heavily into the blues. Really, what has determined my playing since I started is just rhythms. I play rhythmically. That’s what my whole style is about. I think in terms of percussion, not so much intervals. I’m not as such a musical person. I’ve had these rhythms in my head all my life. If I wasn’t playing guitar, I’d be playing some other instrument with these exact same chops.”
And where can we see some of that old Lynch, er, “smoke”? “‘Playalistics’ is my favorite solo,” offers George. “But I really wasn’t trying to be the standard guitar hero on this record. I had a lot of other concerns as far as just getting the record done and getting the songs across and all the fundamentals like getting it recorded properly – logistics. Being a guitar hero and getting to the solos and making this record a vehicle for my guitar playing, or propping up the concept of me being some kind of a guitar guy, wasn’t my concern at all. When I had my ten days to do my solos, I just went in and banged them out. I tried to be a little self-indulgent, but I was preoccupied with other things. Not that I’m down on that, but this record, by any stretch of the imagination, is not about that.
“It’s an evolving concept to strive toward your ultimate dream band,” offers a pontificating George. “The dream band in the ’80s wouldn’t be the band that I have now, but it wouldn’t’ve been Dokken either. You know what? Being hip-hop wasn’t any sort of preconceived idea on my part at all. Kirk brings that in. Basically, Kirk gets on stage with us, and he does his thing, and it wasn’t just about hip-hop, it was about the energy of what he was doing, and the way it mated with the music was just perfect. I didn’t put out an ad and say, “Hey, I want a hip-hop singer.” I was just writing riffs and we were a rock band, and we have a great drummer and a great bass player, and there was this guy in this great local band in town that everybody loved, and they were the shit, and it was just the greatest intense energy you could imagine. It wasn’t that it was hip-hop. I mean, he does all kinds of things. And it’s all done in a rock context. But the point was having a band with guys that are first of all good people that respect each other. I’ve been in situations where some of them can be dicks; I won’t mention any names.
“The ultimate band would be one that was almost transparent, so the ideas just flow without any barriers or limitations in terms of ideas or abilities. You don’t even hear it on the record, but if you see this band live, it’s fucking insane. There’s nothing we can’t do (laughs). There’s more going on on this record than you can even imagine. It’s more about improvising and seeing where it can go. There’s a considerable amount of freedom. My idea of a perfect sound or a perfect song or a perfect band is always changing and evolving. It’s not like I have this static vision. I’m influenced by all the music that’s going on around me. I’m not in any sense a leader that has the future locked up or anything. In a way, I’m just playing off of what I hear around me.”
One’s got to wonder what he’s been hearing, about what’s been spinning in Lynch’s CD player lately. Not surprisingly, it turns out it’s been a pretty steady diet of the new, or “nu,” metal. “I really like Incubus and our bass player’s old band, Gooch. I wanted to write stuff that would adapt itself to that sound. Also Sevendust, Meshuggah, Puya, hed(pe), Deftones, the new Tool, plus I love the new Filter album right now.”
So will we, will you, allow Lynch to reinvent himself in this way? Doesn’t really matter. He’ll likely do what he wants and sod the reaction of his Dokken fans. As I say, from an insider/writer point of view, many have rejected this thing. You’ve now heard about it from Rapid Rondo himself. Inspect if you may.
