George Lynch | |
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![]() Lynch in 2009 | |
Background information | |
Born | September 28, 1954 Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Guitar |
Years active | 1977–present |
Member of | Dokken, Lynch Mob, The End Machine |
Website | georgelynch |
George Lynch (born September 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the hard rock/heavy metal band Dokken and his post-Dokken solo band Lynch Mob. He is considered one of the most famous and influential 1980s metal guitarists and is known for his unique playing style and sound.
He is ranked No. 47 on "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" by Guitar World magazine [1] and No. 10 on "Top 10 Metal Guitarists of All Time" by Gibson. [2]
Lynch was born in Spokane, Washington, and made the small town of Auburn, California his home base between 1971 and 1975. [3]
Twice Lynch auditioned for the position of Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitarist — once in 1979, losing to Randy Rhoads. Lynch said, "I won the consolation prize. Randy got to tour with Ozzy...and I got to teach at his mom's school." He auditioned again in 1982 to replace Brad Gillis. According to Lynch, he was hired for three days before Osbourne changed his mind and decided to go with Jake E. Lee. Lee noted that Lynch "got the gig, but only went on the road for two weeks to watch the show and never actually played with Ozzy." Lynch stated in an interview that he played soundchecks at the side of the stage on a European tour with Osbourne and Brad Gillis as part of an extensive audition. He also rehearsed with the band in Texas, but was let go by Osbourne as the band moved operations to Los Angeles. Jake E. Lee auditioned on the day of Lynch's dismissal, and while Lee admittedly didn't play well the day of the audition, he looked the part and was offered the gig. Osbourne fired Lynch on the spot in front of Lee, whom Lynch had just met. Lynch was devastated and was struggling financially in those years. He had been working as a delivery man for a liquor store and was required by his employer to have short hair. Sharon Osbourne fancied Lee's "look" over Lynch's playing, and her influence likely finalized Osbourne's decision to hire Lee.
Lynch played in a late 1970s band called The Boyz, working the Sunset Strip clubs in Hollywood alongside Van Halen and Quiet Riot. The Boyz also featured future Dokken drummer Mick Brown, bassist Monte Zufelt, and vocalists Lisa Furspanker and Greg Sanford. [4] Their sound and Lynch's playing were so similar to Van Halen that one of their demos was circulated as a "pre-Roth Van Halen recording". [5] The Boyz were set to play a showcase for Gene Simmons and his startup label, but Van Halen opened the show, and Simmons opted not to stay and see The Boyz. Lynch subsequently formed Xciter before joining Dokken.
Dokken had a string of successful platinum albums that prominently featured Lynch's inventive lead guitar work. The instrumental track "Mr. Scary" on Back for the Attack contributed to his popularity among guitar players. The band earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1990.
The group parted ways in March 1989 due to internal tensions with lead vocalist Don Dokken. Lynch formed his own hard rock band Lynch Mob, which differed from Dokken in lyrical and guitar complexity, subject matter, song structure, and tuning. Lynch took time off when his wife Christy Lynch had a baby girl, Mariah Lynch.
Lynch released his first solo album Sacred Groove in 1993.
After Don Dokken, Jeff Pilson and Mick Brown reunited in 1994 they decided to bring Lynch back as well for a true reunion of Dokken. The reunited version of Dokken was signed to the Columbia/Sony label and after extensive writing released Dysfunctional . The album did not do as well as expected and the band was dropped from the label. Dokken then signed on with CMC International and released an "unplugged" show performed in late 1994 titled One Live Night .
The band entered the studio in 1996 with producer Kelly Gray who wanted to take Dokken in a new direction. To the dismay of vocalist and founder Don Dokken the resulting Shadowlife was a complete switch from melodic rock to a more alternative sound.
Tensions again flared between Don Dokken and Lynch in 1997, leading to Lynch being replaced by former Europe guitarist John Norum. This prompted Lynch to reunite Lynch Mob which entered the studio and demoed three songs later released as an EP titled Syzygy. Band member Logan decided to pursue other projects before a full album could be completed. Mick Brown decided to stay with Dokken. Lynch organized a short 13 show U.S. tour for Lynch Mob in 1998 with Artension frontman John West, Anthony Esposito and others.
When that lineup dissolved, Lynch decided to take Lynch Mob in a totally new direction. The Lynch Mob's radical new look, new lineup and musical approach attracted a younger audience. They released the album Smoke This in 1999. After the supporting tour Lynch decided to put Lynch Mob on hold for a couple years, but not before he toured with Lynch Mob's original singer Oni Logan, L.A. Guns' bassist Chuck Garric, and BulletBoys' drummer Jimmy D'Anda in late 2001.
Lynch began working with producer/engineer Sean Fodor on the ill-fated Microdot project which featured then-unknown vocalist London LeGrand in early 2002 Only a few songs from that project have been released: "Bulldog Tyranny" on The Lost Anthology and three other songs Lynch later released as The Lynch That Stole Riffness with Robert Mason taking the helm on vocals.
Lynch reformed Lynch Mob in late 2002 with original bassist Anthony Esposito as well as Robert Mason. Lynch Mob recorded an album of re-recorded classic Lynch songs from Dokken and Lynch Mob, updated to a more contemporary (post-2000) approach and sound.
Lynch formed a project with former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson, releasing the Wicked Underground album in 2003 under the name Lynch/Pilson. [6] That same year, Lynch put together The George Lynch Group with which he has continued to record and regularly tour. The George Lynch Group performed a marathon 26 shows in 30 days including a much talked about feature on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This line-up featured Lynch, vocalist Andrew Freeman, drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio), and Mårten Andersson (Lizzy Borden, Starwood, Legacy). The 2005 Furious George album is a cover album, including classic rock tunes from ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin.
Let the Truth Be Known was released under the band name Souls of We in 2008 and features the line-up of: London LeGrand (vocals), Johnny Chow (bass), and Yael (drums) and a myriad of guest contributions. [7]
Lynch embarked on a tour in the early fall of 2008 with a reformed Lynch Mob featuring original singer Oni Logan, bassist Marco Mendoza and drummer Scot Coogan. A new Lynch Mob album, titled Smoke and Mirrors, was released in October 2009 with Logan handling lead vocals.
Lynch recorded lead and rhythm guitar tracks in 2009 for seven songs that appear on the debut album of rock singer Raven Quinn. The self-published album was released March 4, 2010.
Lynch toured the spring of 2010 with Souls of We and spent the summer and winter touring with Lynch Mob. In the summer of 2010 Souls of We changed their line-up and were forced to discontinue with the name.
Lynch appeared on a tribute album Siam Shade Tribute, for Japanese rock band Siam Shade in 2010. [8]
Lynch currently lives near Los Angeles where he created an instructional guitar website The Guitar Dojo. [9]
Lynch produces his own custom hand-built art guitars, marketed under the Mr. Scary Guitars brand, which he makes himself at the ESP Guitars USA custom shop facility. [10]
George Lynch and Jeff Pilson joined Mick Brown and Don Dokken for two songs during an encore at a Dokken show at The House of Blues in Anaheim on November 29, 2009. Lynch subsequently announced a reunion of Dokken's "glory days" line-up but the announcement was retracted on February 24. Lynch released a statement on his website claiming that Don did not want the reunion to occur. [11]
T&N was formed from 3/4 of the classic Dokken line-up: Lynch, Jeff Pilson, and Mick Brown. They announced plans for a studio album to be released in 2012. [12] The trio's original name was Tooth & Nail but Tooth & Nail was shortened to T&N in March 2012. The band released the album Slave to the Empire on October 31, 2012.
Lynch announced plans for a documentary movie: Shadowtrain: Under A Crooked Sky about the destruction of the Native American community in the fall of 2011. [13] A crowd-funding campaign was launched in March 2013 to complete the project. [14] The movie was still a work in progress as of late 2014 . [15]
Lynch put together Shadowtrain featuring documentary filmmaker and drummer Vincent Nicastro, Pueblo Native American vocalist Gregg Analla (Tribe of Gypsies, Slaviour, Seventhsign), ex-Lynch Mob bassist Gabe Rosales, and keyboardist Donnie Dickman.
Lynch's all-star project with vocalist/bassist Doug Pinnick and drummer Ray Luzier known as KXM released its debut in 2014.
Lynch announced another project: The Infidels, with Pancho Tomaselli, Sal Rodriguez, and rapper Sen Dog. [16]
Lynch completed an album with Stryper frontman Michael Sweet, Only to Rise, released on January 27, 2015, on Frontiers Records under the name Sweet & Lynch. The recording- line-up features James Lomenzo and Brian Tichy on bass and drums. [17] The duo released a second album Unified , on November 10, 2017. [18]
Lynch teamed up with Living Colour vocalist Corey Glover to form the side project Ultraphonix, releasing the album Original Human Music in 2018. [19]
In 2019, Lynch reunited with former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson in the band The End Machine. The band released their self-titled debut in 2019 and released their second album, The End Machine:Phase 2 in 2021. According to a 2021 interview with Pariah Burke, the band is an intentional return to Lynch's classic sound. [20] In 2020 the Dirty Shirley album was released with two singles preceding.
In 2023, Lynch released a side project called The Banishment, a collaboration between George Lynch, programmer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Haze, and vocalist Devix Szell. [21] [22] On March 10, the Banishment released a debut Album called 'Machine And Boneformed.' [23] The album features a duet "Max Pain" with Szell and Richard Patrick of FILTER, "The Dread" by Jason Charles Miller, and the song "Terror" by Tommy Victor from PRONG. [24] To promote the project, the Banishment recorded an official music video for one of the tracks called "Got What You Wanted." The project was directed by Devix Szell and produced by Sabrina Oertle. [22]
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Lynch used Charvel and Kramer guitars prior to 1986, most notably their tiger stripe guitars. Lynch has endorsed ESP Guitars since then His unique "Skull and Bones" guitar (affectionately named "Mom") was designed and hand-crafted by artist John 'J. Frog' Garcia. [25] [ promotional source? ] Since George was contracted by ESP at the time, an ESP decal was applied to the headstock. Several George Lynch signature guitars have been produced by ESP Japan:
Lynch briefly endorsed PRS Guitars in the early 1990s. He can be seen using two different colored Custom 24 models. He also endorsed the hand-crafted Yamaha L-Series Acoustic Guitars and used these on the Asian 'Unplugged' Clinic tour May/June 2006.
Lynch is presently signed with ESP Guitars, which has resulted in ESP's creation of the Lynch Jumbo acoustic, featuring graphics designed by Stephen Jensen.
Lynch's use of Marshall, Soldano, Bogner & Diezel amps and effects units to achieve his famous tone is well documented in rock guitar circles. His rig changes with each successive tour. Lynch used the Randall Dragon (non-master volume) tube head for the majority of his sound while on tour in 2005. The design was similar to the older Marshall Plexi heads he used early in the Dokken era.
Lynch is a long-time endorser of Randall Amplification and participated in the design of the George Lynch Box for Randall's modular amp system.
Seymour Duncan created the Screamin' Demon guitar pickup (SH-12 and TB-12) for Lynch, which is featured on all the ESP Lynch signature guitars. Seymour Duncan also recently designed the new Super V pickup to be featured in the Super V model.
Lynch also uses a Morley A/B box called the Tripler and a limited edition Robert Keeley GL Time Machine boost.
Zoom released the G2g George Lynch Pedal in 2008.
Lynch designed a new high-nickel content-string through the Dean Markley company with his name on the packaging. [26] [ promotional source? ] He later switched over to D'Addario strings.
Lynch cited Jimi Hendrix, Randy Rhoads, Jeff Beck and Michael Schenker, along with Eddie Van Halen, Allan Holdsworth, Jan Akkerman, Christopher Parkening, Al Di Meola, Roy Buchanan, Albert King, Frank Marino, Muddy Waters, Gary Moore and Yngwie Malmsteen as his musical influences. [27]
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Dokken is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band has had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as "Alone Again", "In My Dreams", and "Burning Like a Flame", and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. The live album Beast from the East was nominated for the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1989.
Jake E. Lee is an American musician best known as lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne between 1982 and 1987 and later as a member of the heavy metal band Badlands with Ray Gillen. He formed the band Red Dragon Cartel in 2013, and their debut album released in January 2014 entered the Billboard Album Chart at number 69. He has also recorded solo works under his own name—examples being the instrumental album A Fine Pink Mist (1996) and cover album Retraced (2005).
Vincent Samson Appice is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother of drummer Carmine Appice.
Tooth and Nail is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Dokken, released on September 14, 1984 through Elektra Records.
Jeffrey Steven Pilson is an American musician best known for being the bass player in the glam metal band Dokken and currently classic rock band Foreigner. He has also had an extended stint with Dio in the 1990s.
Lizzy Borden is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. To date, the band has charted on the Billboard 200 four times. Lizzy Borden is eponymous of the band's lead vocalist.
Thomas "Craig" Goldy is an American musician, best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Dio and Giuffria.
Frédéric Alexandre "Fred" Leclercq is a French musician and producer, who is known as the former longtime bassist for British power metal band DragonForce. He is currently the guitarist and main songwriter in the death metal supergroup Sinsaenum, the guitarist and vocalist in Maladaptive, the bassist and a guitarist in Amahiru, and the bassist of German thrash metal group Kreator and French death metal band Loudblast. He is a session musician for various other bands, including George Lynch's Souls of We. He is also a former member of power metal band Heavenly and played several shows with Carnival in Coal and Sabaton.
Marten Andersson is a Swedish American bass guitarist and a member of the hard rock and heavy metal groups Lita Ford, Steelheart, Lizzy Borden, George Lynch's Lynch Mob, Dario Lorina.
Lynch Mob is an American hard rock band, formed in 1989 by former Dokken guitarist George Lynch, who is the band's only permanent member.
Marco Mendoza is an American bass guitarist who has worked in diverse genres. He became a professional rock musician in 1989 and debuted on Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward's solo album Along the Way. He has performed on a number of notable releases throughout his career, including Live... in the Still of the Night by Whitesnake, One Night Only by Thin Lizzy and Live in Concert at Lollapalooza by Journey.
Bonham was a British/Canadian hard rock and heavy metal band founded in 1988 by drummer Jason Bonham, the son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. The band's most successful line-up was also its initial one which included late singer Daniel MacMaster, bassist/keyboardist John Smithson, and guitarist Ian Hatton. The band had released four studio albums between 1989 and 1997.
Benedictum is an American heavy metal band formed in 2005 in San Diego, California that now resides in Phoenix, Arizona. Their current lineup consists of vocalist Veronica Freeman, guitarist Pete Wells, bassist Aric Avina, and drummer Rikard Stjernquist. Since their formation the band released four studio albums, debuting with Uncreation in 2006, followed by Seasons of Tragedy in 2008, both through Spain-based label Locomotive Music, before signing with Italian label Frontiers Records for their third album, Dominion, issued in 2011. Their fourth and most recent album, Obey, was released on Frontiers Records in 2013.
Leonardo Gustavo Gimenez, better known by his stage name Oni Logan, is an Argentine American singer, best known as the original lead vocalist of the rock band Lynch Mob. He joined the band in 1990, only to leave after the release of the first album. He rejoined in the late 2000s, then subsequently left and rejoined several times, with his final stint in the band lasting until their 2020 retirement.
Andrew Freeman is an American rock singer and guitarist who has played for a number of bands, including hard rock guitarist George Lynch's Lynch Mob. Freeman is currently the frontman for the hard rock supergroup Last in Line, composed of former members of Dio.
Souls of We is an American hard rock supergroup from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007. The lineup consists of London LeGrand (vocals), George Lynch (guitar) and Johny Chow (bass). Since 2009, Jordan Mancino has been the band's drummer, replacing Yael.
KXM is an American hard rock supergroup formed in 2013, consisting of Korn drummer Ray Luzier, King's X bassist/vocalist dUg Pinnick and Lynch Mob/ex-Dokken guitarist George Lynch. Signed to Rat Pak Records, they have released a self-titled album in 2014, Scatterbrain in 2017 and Circle of Dolls in 2019, the latter through Frontiers Records.
The End Machine is an American supergroup originally consisting of guitar player George Lynch, bass player Jeff Pilson, drummer Mick Brown and singer Robert Mason. According to a 2021 interview with guitarist George Lynch, the band is an intentional return to the classic Dokken sound.
George, a native of Los Angeles, lived with his family in Auburn intermittently between 1971 and 1975.