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Dokken exploded
out of the boiling hard rock/heavy metal scene in Los Angeles in the
early 1980s. 1983's debut album “Breaking the Chains” with its
catchy title track, set the stage for Dokken becoming the most dominant
creative and commercial force in the world of Melodic Hard Rock for the
following years. Such classic albums as “Tooth and Nail”, “Under
Lock and Key” and “Back for the Attack” all became Multi-Platinum
selling smashes and the live “Beast from the East” went gold in
Europe and Japan. Songs like "Alone Again", "Just Got
Lucky", "Into the Fire", "In My Dreams",
"Unchain the Night", "Dream Warriors", "Burning
Like a Flame" and "Heaven Sent" are still nowadays
regarded among the genre’s finest.
Dokken shared the stage with AC/DC, Metallica, Aerosmith, Judas Priest,
Van Halen, Kiss, Scorpions, as well as Bon Jovi, just to name a few. The
band hit stadium status in 1988, playing in front of over a million fans
in just five weeks. It seemed Dokken was on the verge of superstardom.
But like so many other bands that have come before and after them, they
broke up in 1989.
In 1994 the legendary A&R man John Kalodner offered Dokken a
recording contract on the condition the group had to be original
members. The band released the appropriately titled “Dysfunctional”
in 1995, selling 250,000 copies which by the mid '90s was considered by
industry standards very respectable. Dokken was really happy and
excited, but just as they were on the verge of releasing a second
single, filming a video, starting a world tour and "taking it all
the way", as Don Dokken puts it, the baggage from their past reared
its ugly head, and again the group began to unravel. Soon after
guitarist George Lynch again left the group, replaced by Reb Beach
(Winger, Whitesnake).
They released “Erase the Slate” in 1999 and “Live from the Sun”
in 2000. In 2001, Beach was replaced by John Norum (Europe) and Barry
Sparks took Jeff Pilson place on bass. 2002 also saw the release of the
album “Long Way Home”. In 2004, John Norum left to join a reunited
Europe and was replaced by Jon Levin with the subsequent release of the
album “Hell to Pay”.
Dokken are now coming back with their tenth studio album. “Lightning
Strikes Again” is, already from its title, which echoes one of the
band’s classic songs off “Under Lock & Key”, a true and
definite return to the classic sound of the heydays.
From the first time since the reunion, Dokken is going back to the roots
of its sound and exposes with the power and the might of the new
Millennium the hot riffs and incredible melodies that built the band’s
success. “Lightning Strikes Again” rocks hard but still caresses
with velvet melodies, this is exactly what the fans have been asking for
more than a decade !
DOKKEN is now Don Dokken (vocals), Mick Brown (drums), Jon Levin
(guitar) and Barry Sparks (bass). The album was mixed by Wyn Davis
(Great White, Dio).
Dokken survived and kept their loyal fans in a time when people's tastes
change as fast as Britney Spears' wardrobe, but they have been also
embraced by a whole new generation of rock fans. They say a cat has nine
lives and it seems Dokken is enjoying more than a few as well! |
