Tag: Don Dokken
0 Michael Schenker announces new album “Bridge The Gap”
Award-winning, legendary guitarist Michael Schenker will release a brand new studio album entitled “Bridge The Gap” in the UK on Monday December 2nd. Released by in-akustik, the album features Schenker’s band Temple of Rock which consists of ex-Scorpions Herman Rarebell (drums) and Francis Buchholz (bass), plus ex-Rainbow’s Doogie White (vocals) and Wayne Findlay (guitar, keyboards).
Listen to the world premiere of new song “Where The Wild Winds Blow” – http://snd.sc/18Rlbs0
The new album features 13 hard-hitting, adrenalin fueled melodic rock’n’roll songs that showcase Schenker’s distinctive and explosive guitar playing, valiantly underpinned by the ferocious rhythm section of Rarebell and Buchholz, marking the first time Schenker, Rarebell and Buchholz appeared on the same album together since the Scorpions’ 1979 “Lovedrive”.
“I wanted to combine the old with the new,” says Schenker. “That’s why the album’s called Bridge The Gap. With Wayne playing 7 string guitar we created some low, heavy modern sounds. Since I play and experiment on a regular basis, I always have some new, fresh sparks to share when I record a new album. I am inspired from within. It’s infinite like a kaleidoscope.
Continues Schenker – “As former members of the Scorpions, Herman, Francis and I have been out of the loop of rock’n’roll for quite a while. Getting together for the first time since the Lovedrive album is an incredible jump. We’re connecting the past with the present. We’re bridging the gap.”
Watch the official trailer below.
“BRIDGE THE GAP” – TRACK LISTING
1. NEPTUNE RISING
2. WHERE THE WILD WINDS BLOW
3. HORIZONS
4. LORD OF THE LOST AND LONELY
5. ROCK’N’ROLL SYMPHONY
6. TO LIVE FOR THE KING
7. LAND OF THUNDER
8. TEMPLE OF THE HOLY
9. SHINE ON
10. BRIDGES WE HAVE BURNED
11. BECAUSE YOU LIED
12. BLACK MOON RISING
13. DANCE FOR THE PIPER
14. FAITH (VOCALS: DON DOKKEN) (BONUS TRACK)
All songs produced by:
Michael Schenker and Michael Voss
All songs are written by:
Music – Michael Schenker
Lyrics – Doogie White
Except: ‘Neptune Rising’ (Michael Schenker)
Bonus track “Faith” appears on the Special Edition,
featuring Don Dokken (vocals)
4 Dokken – Broken Bones (2012)
I have been listening to Dokken for over 30 years now, and I have to admit that I have some extremely strong opinions about the band. I chose not to review Broken Bones when it first came out, as I didn’t want to deter or sway those fans that would purchase Broken Bones. I didn’t like the band’s last album Lightning Strikes Again very much, and I didn’t expect Broken Bones to be much better. The video for “Empire” was released, and I have to admit that I had a glimpse of hope for the new album. Jon Levin’s guitar is shredding, “Wild” Mick Brown is sounding great on the skins, and Don Dokken surprisingly pushes his voice in this song. With that being said, I decided to spin Broken Bones, and give the band another chance.
Broken Bones starts off strong enough. The first three songs, “Empire”, “Broken Bones” and “Best of Me” have that classic Dokken feel. It certainly isn’t Back For The Attack era stuff, but it is solid enough to keep me interested.
At this point the album shifts into a bunch of mid tempo songs that honestly work a lot better with Don Dokken’s voice. Don’s voice hasn’t aged well, but the songs were smartly crafted to take advantage of his diminished range. Some of the songs have a more modern approach, but Jon Levin keeps it very Dokken like with his Lynch style noodling.
One song that I typically won’t expect to like at all, “Victim of the Crime” has grown on me the most. The song has a little middle eastern flair, mixed with a little Sabbath like heaviness. Levin throws in a little Dokken style flash to keep the song honest. I think this might be the most creative song on Broken Bones.
The album closes out in good fashion with a flashy rocker “Tonight” that is more in the classic Dokken style. I thought this song helped to bring the whole album together. It is a very smartly mixed album in my opinion. Heavy rockers up front, mid tempo stuff in the middle, and a classic Dokken style rocker to close it out.
Overall, I didn’t expect to like Broken Bones at all, and after giving it a few spins, I have really enjoyed this album. I think it is Dokken’s strongest album since 1999’s Erase The Slate. If you go in expecting Under Lock and Key, or Back For The Attack you may be disappointed. If you listen with an open mind, you might be greatly surprised.
Give Broken Bones a chance! I they can win over this Dokken critic, they can certainly win you over too!
Rating: Out of 10
Track Listing:
01. Empire
02. Broken Bones
03. Best of Me
04. Blind
05. Waterfall
06. Victim Of The Crime
07. Burning Tears
08. Today
09. For The Last Time
10. Fade Away
11. Tonight
DOKKEN is:
Don Dokken – vocals
Mick Brown – drums
Jon Levin – guitar
Sean McNabb – bass
0 No Dokken Reunion in The Future
You may have missed the entertaining trade off between Don Dokken, and former Dokken guitarist George Lynch in the press this week. If so, please visit Bravewords.com at this link.
Sounds like there will NOT be a Dokken reunion anytime in the near future.
1 Rock Stars Unite for New Year’s Eve Cancer Benefit Concert In Benefit For Bassist PHIL KENNEMORE Of Y&T
NEW YEAR’S EVE @ THE AVALON in SANTA CLARA, CA
GEOFF TATE, DON DOKKEN, CHUCK BILLY, JIMMY DEGRASSO, RON KEEL AND MANY MORE!
A parade of Rockstars are coming together to support beloved bassist, Phil Kennemore, founding member of Northern California’s legendary rockers Y&T,
Kennemore was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer while on tour this last summer. Having recorded and toured the world relentlessly since 1974, Kennemore has dedicated his life to making millions of people happy with his music. Now, he needs your help.
Due to the overwhelming medical bills, Y&T’s lead singer and best mate, Dave Meniketti, started the “Phil Kennemore Fund” to help Phil with his bills. This New Year’s concert is the ultimate fund-raiser for a friend who has made such a positive impact on the music scene.
This concert is an allstar line up of many of Kennemore’s friends from bands such as Queensryche, Dokken, RATT, Black Sabbath, DIO, Alice Cooper, Testament, and Y&T all donating their time to perform on New Year’s Eve. This is a must-see concert and is going to rock!
The lineup for the all star extravaganza is as follows:
- · Geoff Tate (Queensryche)
- · Don Dokken (Dokken)
- · Bobby Blotzer (RATT)
- · Vinny Appice (DIO, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell)
- · Sean McNabb (Dokken, Montrose)
- · Loren Gold (Roger Daltrey)
- · Chuck Billy (Testament)
- · Paul Bostaph (Testament, Slayer)
- · Jimmy DeGrasso (Alice Cooper)
- · Joey Alves
- · Leonard Haze
- · Ron Keel
- · Greg Kihn
- · …and more (see www.YandTRocks.com for updates)
The show will take place at the Avalon (777 Lawrence Expressway. Santa Clara, CA), a 1000+ capacity venue which Y&T has performed at several times on New Year’s Eve over the past five years. The club, like the performers, has generously volunteered to donate 100% of the ticket proceeds directly to Phil.
The doors open at 8:00PM. Tickets are $75. For further information, call the Avalon at 408.241.0777 or visit www.YandTRocks.com.
0 Video – Don Dokken – Stay
2 Video – Dokken – Breaking The Chains
Last Week, VH1 ran their top 100 Hard Rock Songs of all time. They had a Dokken video in the top 100, although I don’t recall which one. I had to go looking to see what other videos were out there. I couldn’t get over George Lynch’s hair in these old videos.
Dokken’s “Breaking The Chains” Video is from
3 Live, Raw and Uncut Tour – Dokken
I must admit that I really wasn’t looking very forward to seeing Dokken. I wasn’t very impressed by their new CD, and with Don Dokken being the only member of the original band left, this is more like the Don Dokken solo band.
Dokken guitarist Jon Levin, without question can play any guitar lick that George Lynch recorded before him, and does it quite well. That was the highlight for me, when it came to Dokken’s set. Chris McCarvill from House of Lords played bass (covering for Barry Sparks who did not tour) and BJ Zampa (also from House of Lords) played drums, covering for Mick Brown who was on tour with Ted Nugent. I never had the chance to see House of Lords play live, so it was to cool to at lease see a couple of the guys performing in Dokken’s band.
I don’t know if Don was trying to squeeze some high notes out of his crotch, but he wore a pair of jeans that both my wife and I thought was far too tight for a man of his age and size. As you can see in the video below, Don was skipping the higher vocals in Kiss of Death. Amazingly, his newer song, “Standing On the Outside” sounds better than his Lynch era material.
The set list has the following songs:
“Intro (Without Warning)”, “Tooth and Nail”, “Into the Fire”
“Standing On the Outside”, “Dream Warriors”, “Just Got Lucky”, “Kiss of Death”, “Alone Again”, “Breaking The Chains” and “In My Dreams”
As much as I love the Lynch and Pilson era of Dokken, I think Don Dokken needs to find another bass player that can sing the higher parts that he can no longer reach. Pilson’s vocals are still great missed in this band. Aside from Don’s diminished range in his vocals, Jon Levin‘s playing was excellent all night, and for the band having some fill in musicians, the songs sounded better than expected.
Check out the live clips from the show below.
Kiss of Death
Standing on the Outside/ Dream Warriors
0 Win an Autographed Dokken Poster
Dokken’s tenth studio album, Lightning Strikes Again, brings the group’s sound full circle. Taking its title from a track on the band’s 1985 classic Under Lock & Key, the 12 new songs ( including the breakout tracks “Standing On The Outside,” “Oasis,” and “Heart To Stone”) capture the signature mix of barbed-wire riffs and razor-sharp melodies that made Dokken one of the most dominant creative and commercial forces of melodic hard rock in the 1980s.
Beginning in July, Dokken heads out on the road for a 40-city U.S. tour with fellow headbangers Poison and Sebastian Bach. But before the “Live, Raw & Uncut Summer Tour 2008” visits your neck of the woods, Don Dokken and bandmate Jon Levin paid a visit to the Rhino offices to autograph some posters -which you can win in Rhino’s latest sweepstakes.
Measuring 12” x 18”, this promotional-only poster for Lightning Strikes Again features the CD’s “striking” cover art and has been boldly signed by both Don and his guitarist. We’ve got five of these to give away to lucky Dokken fans, enter by June 27 and one of them could be yours!
18 Dokken – Lightning Strikes Again (Release Year – 2008)
Many of the artists who were highly successful in the 80’s have tried reigniting their careers with sounds that take listeners back to their heyday. Whitesnake, Def Leppard and House of Lords have all released discs that their fans should be pleased with. Dokken tries to recapture the lightning, or sound that once made them famous as well.
George Lynch and Jeff Pilson have long been absent from the band. In fact, the current lineup of Dokken, Brown, Sparks and Levin, is one of the longest running for Dokken, since the bands’ most successful discs from the mid to late 80’s. It is ironic that this lineup, tries to emulate the sound of the Lynch/Pilson era. Jon Levin does a damn good George Lynch imitation, and he really cuts loose on this record. Don Dokken recruited none other than Jeff Scott Soto to sing back up vocals on this record, and it really does make a difference. That unfortunately is where the good ends and the bad begins.
In 2008, Don Dokken has very limited range with his vocals. He doesn’t take the chances that he used to in the 80’s, and that is what made their music interesting, and exciting. I am assuming that Don can’t hit the high notes anymore, as he doesn’t bother to try on Lightning Strikes Again. He stays within his own comfort zone, and as a result, the songs on this disc lack the fire of the band’s earlier material. On certain songs, Don sounds like he strains to hit the notes that he use to hit with ease.
As much as I wanted to enjoy this record, I found the songs limp and uninspiring. There are three or four songs on this disc that are above average, but the majority of the material is sub par in my opinion. The music sounds close to their original stuff from the 80’s, but without the powerful vocals that these songs deserve, they come out sounding somewhat below average. After three lackluster albums since the year 2000, I believe it is time for the band Dokken to hang it up. Lightning did not strike again for this listener.
Rating:Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Standing On The Outside
2. Give Me A Reason
3. Heart To Stone
4. Disease
5. How I Miss Your Smile
6. Oasis
7. Point Of No Return
8. I Remember
9. Judgment Day
10. It Means
11. Release Me
12. This Fire
Dokken is:
Don Dokken – vocals
Mick Brown – drums
Jon Levin – guitar
Barry Sparks – bass
0 New Don Dokken Album Available for Download.
DOKKEN frontman Don Dokken’s new solo album, Solitary, is now available for download at his official online store. Go to this location to purchase.
The tracklist is as follows: ‘In The Meadow’, ‘I’ll Never Forget’, ‘Where The Grass Is Green’, ‘Ship Of Fools’, ‘You Are Everything’, ‘Venice’, ‘Sarah’, ‘The Tragedy’, ‘Someday’.
Up until now Solitary has only been available at Don Dokken’s acoustic shows supporting QUEENSRŸCHE.
His tour schedule is as follows:
February
10 – House of Blues – Myrtle Beach, SC
12 – Tampa Theater – Tampa, FL
13 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL
14 – House of Blues – New Orleans, LA
15 – Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
16 – Palladium – Dallas, TX
19 – The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT
21 – House of Blues – San Diego, CA
22 – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA
23 – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA
24 – House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
28 – Newmark – Portland, OR
29 – Big Easy – Spokane, WA
March
1 – Paramount – Seattle, WA
2 Don Dokken to open for Queensryche
DON DOKKEN will be opening all presently announced QUEENSRYCHE 2008 dates and will be playing the acoustic hits of Dokken alone. Confirmed dates are as follows:
January
2 – Belly Up – Aspen, CO
23 – Fillmore – Denver, CO
25 – Harrah’s – Kansas City, MO
26 – Myth – St. Paul, MN
27 – Northern Lights – Walker, MN
29 – Potawatomi – Milwaukee, WI
30 – Potawatomi – Milwaukee, WI
31 – Potawatomi – Milwaukee, WI
February
1 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
2 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
5 – Turning Stone – Verona, NY
6 – The Roxy – Boston, MA
7 – Starland – Sayreville, NJ
8 – Nokia – New York, NY
9 – Tropicana – Atlantic City, NJ
10 – House of Blues – Myrtle Beach, SC
12 – Tampa Theater – Tampa, FL
13 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL
14 – House of Blues – New Orleans, LA
15 – Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
16 – Palladium – Dallas, TX
19 – The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT
24 – House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
28 – Newmark – Portland, OR
29 – Big Easy – Spokane, WA
March
1 – Paramount – Seattle, WA