George Lynch joined DOKKEN on stage on Saturday, August 22 at Ferg's Sports Bar & Grill in St. Petersburg, Florida, playing the last three songs of the set: "In My Dreams", "Unchain The Night" and "Heaven Comes Down". Fan-filmed footage of the appearance has since circulated online.
These walk-ons have become a routine of sorts. Lynch described the arrangement earlier this year on The SDR Show: "I still do shows somewhat frequently with DOKKEN, and what that means is either LYNCH MOB will be the opening act and then I hang around and come out and do an encore, extended encore, with them, or I'll fly out, if it makes sense, and I'll just do a walk-on for three songs, three or four songs, at the end of the night, which is fun and I love doing it. And it works for everybody. It's a cool thing, and it keeps the relationship open."
Geography helps. "Don lives about two hours away from me. So we're in the same state and we stay in touch."
What has not happened is the classic-lineup reunion EP that Don Dokken floated publicly. Lynch said the idea had never reached him directly, and he attached a condition to it. "Don, if you're listening, really there's no point in doing an EP unless you're gonna tour on it. Touring is where the work is and the money is, and that would make it worthwhile. You could tour on the EP, but you have to have a commitment to tour to justify doing the EP."
The two men have spent four decades trading public accusations, and Lynch has never softened his account of how DOKKEN came together or how the money was divided. Asked about Don's remark that splitting royalties four ways had been a "stupid thing to do" given how little drummer Mick Brown wrote, Lynch declined the fight.
"You can divvy it up any way you want. Why are we re-litigating stuff from 35, 40 years ago? I don't know. Who cares? I mean, we've all done okay. We're all fine. We're still alive, we're still breathing, we're still making music. I'm good with everything, the way everything worked out. Was it fair? No. Life's not fair. But so what?"
He then defended equal splits as a creative safeguard rather than a favour. "I was the proponent of the quarter splits for the band because I feel that that was really healthy because it kept the less capable writers out of the mix from forcing their bad ideas on us… So, it's the best thing for the record, I think, is to just pay everybody equally."
Lynch confirmed in May that LYNCH MOB are working on a new studio album.
Source: blabbermouth.net