Maid fights and acid: Dokken guitarist George Lynch on how Phoenix shaped Lynch Mob

When the members of Dokken went their separate ways in 1989, guitarist George Lynch didn’t waste any time getting back on his feet, auditioning players for a new group he called Lynch Mob at the Scottsdale Airport business center that same year.

“That's kind of where we formed,” Lynch says.

“We had kind of a worldwide search for band members. My idea was to build the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the history of the universe. And we put together the initial band with Oni Logan, (Dokken drummer) Mick Brown and Anthony Esposito.”

Lynch was living in Cave Creek, Arizona, at the time, and most of Lynch Mob’s earliest performances were on the local bar scene under an assumed name.

“We wanted to go out and test the waters,” Lynch recalls. “So we played some local venues just to kind of put the band out there and get our legs under us.

"But we didn't want to announce our name yet. So we came up with a fake name. I don't know if you want to print this, but it was Gay Black Nazi Bikers for Christ.”

He laughs, then says, “I still have flyers to this day.”

Some people on the scene knew who they were and would show up to see the guitarist from Dokken.

Other people showed up and were disappointed, he says, with a laugh.

“Because, you know, that's kind of a lot to expect, right? We were raising expectations with that band name. But the club we played a lot to kind of get our bearings and our wings was the Mason Jar as sort of a test venue.”

What is George Lynch doing now?

Thirty-five years later, the latest edition of Lynch Mob will return to Arizona for a show on Thursday, May 16, presented by a longtime friend, Mike Gaube of Mike Gaube's Headbangers radio show, which airs on pickidaho.com, at another local bar, the Rhythm Room, as part of a farewell tour called the Final Ride.

Lynch is turning 70 this year and he’s been looking for an opportunity to “sunset the band" on a positive note.

“So I thought, OK, this last record we did, 'Babylon,' was worthy of an end cap to the story."

And this really is the end, he says.

“Unlike some other bands that go out and pretend to quit but then don't really quit, I wanted to let people know this is really a chance to see us one more time to say hello and say goodbye and experience a great version of the band.”

The current Lynch Mob lineup features drummer Jimmy D’Anda, bassist Jaron Gulino and lead singer Gabriel Colón.

“It's been sort of a revolving door over the past bunch of decades,” Lynch says. “But I'm very fortunate that this band is full of people that are very talented and very loving. We all love and respect each other and we have a blast. There’s nothing negative in this lineup. And I thought, well, this is a good way to go out.”

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Lynch Mob's final tour leans heavily on 'Wicked Sensation'

As proud as Lynch is of that new release, the setlist on the final tour finds them leaning on songs from the first album, “Wicked Sensation,” which hit the charts at No. 46 in 1990, sending “River of Love” to No. 19 on the mainstream rock charts.

“That first record far and away is the one that defines us,” Lynch says. “I mean, that was our seminal record. We've gone through different periods with this band where we really tried to stretch out and make it more of just a canvas for everything I've done.”

Along the way, they’ve figured out what works.

“We do play some Dokken and a few things from our other albums, but primarily, 75% of our set is 'Wicked Sensation' because it's just such a pristine wall-to-wall record,” he says.

“And they're the most recognized Lynch Mob songs, the ones that people know. So there's not gonna be a big question mark above their heads when we're playing. That's important. We want to give the people what they want.”

After all, he says, those people coming out to see him play have made it possible for him to do this for a living.

“You need to honor that,” he says. “It’s like having a store selling one thing and the next day, you're selling some strange, weird new objects that nobody wants.”

Why did George Lynch leave Dokken?

Lynch Mob disbanded after touring on their second album, a self-titled effort released in 1992, clearing the way for a Dokken reunion that took place in 1994.

Lynch was living in Cave Creek when he came home from a 1997 tour with Dokken to a fax informing him that he’d been fired.

“I got a one-sentence fax,” the guitarist recalls. “No reason given and no explanation ever forthcoming from anyone in the band.”

What really hurt is that because they were a partnership, all three bandmates had to get behind the firing, including Brown and bassist Jeff Pilson.

“That was very hurtful,” Lynch says. “We had all come up together and grown up together and conquered the rock world together, so to speak.”

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George Lynch still performs at Dokken concerts

Despite ongoing friction between the guitarist and Don Dokken, who often share unflattering remarks about each other in the music press while telling very different versions of events, Lynch still makes frequent guest appearances at Dokken shows, coming out at the end of the concert to play a few songs.

“I'm a water-under-the-bridge guy,” he says. “That's just the way I'm built. I have very few people in my life that I hold permanent grudges towards."

He doesn’t see a full Dokken reunion in the cards, though.

“I would only come back if it was an equal split,” he says. “We all worked equally hard. We all contributed equally. We’ve had plenty of offers, on the touring and recording level. And they've been pretty decent, substantial offers. But it always falls apart because one person in particular wants the lion's share. And that's not that's not acceptable. So it probably will never happen.”

What is George Lynch doing next?

Lynch says he plans to keep working with Pilson in the End Machine, a band that also features Mick Brown’s brother, Steve.

Mick Brown is retired and lives in Arizona.

“And his brother is his clone,” Lynch says. “It's unbelievable. I mean, everything from the way he plays to the way he talks, his sense of humor, his facial expressions, his body language, it's surreal.”

They’ve released three albums as the End Machine and plan to keep that going in what Lynch calls a limited way.

“I mean, we're not gonna get in a van and tour the country the hard way,” he says. “But if it makes sense? That's the big question. It has to make sense.”

George Lynch's 'young and dumb' adventures in Phoenix

Lynch hasn’t lived in Cave Creek since the ‘90s.

“I loved it,” he says. “But as I got older, I couldn't handle the summers any longer. It broke my heart to move away because I really love the high Sonoran Desert. Once it gets under your skin, you're addicted.”

He looks back fondly on the years he lived in Arizona.

“We had a lot of interesting rock band adventures,” he says, with a laugh. “Just crazy stuff guys do when you're in a rock band and you're young and dumb.”

Such as?

“Well, we all took acid and went on a vision quest, so to speak, of our own making,” he says, with a laugh.

“I thought that would expand our creative abilities or something, give us insights or whatever. And that didn't go well. I ended up in the hospital and all our vehicles ended up ankle-deep in the desert somewhere. It was a pretty outrageous night.”

On another occasion, the members of Lynch Mob were having drinks with their girlfriends and wives at a bar connected to a big hotel resort near the Scottsdale airport when a fight broke out involving some off-duty maids.

“I guess they were there to blow off some steam,” Lynch recalls.

“They all had their maid outfits on. I guess some of them confronted one of our girlfriends or wives in the women's bathroom. And that turned into a fight, which turned into the maids beating the (expletive) out of us.”

Lynch laughs at the memory.

“So we got our (expletives) kicked by a bunch of maids,” he says. “Our drummer ended up getting swung around by his hair and thrown into a pot with a big palm tree or something in it. It looked like a Marx Brothers movie."

George Lynch looks back (with regret) on his days as a bodybuilder

It was while living in Cave Creek that he became obsessed with bodybuilding.

“I was going through a very difficult divorce,” he says.

“And I was in the gym anyways so I just started to get deeper and deeper into the cult of the bodybuilding world through friends that I was working out with. One thing led to another and I eventually got into steroid use and was competing.”

It did help him through his divorce.

“It propped me up to where I could get through some very, very difficult things,” he says.

But physically? It took its toll.

“The consequences of doing those drugs are bad and long-term,” Lynch says. “So you pay the price for that.”

It even affected his playing.

“That’s one of the reasons I stopped,” he says.

“It's not the only reason but I started having static cramps in my forearms and hands, where I'd be playing live and all of a sudden, my muscles would cramp up on my left forearm and I couldn't even articulate my fingers,” he says.

“And it's like what's the point of doing this if it's impeding the thing that you do that defines who you are. I mean, that was ridiculous. So it obviously was not a good idea.”

There were other downsides.

“There were times when I'd be at a bodybuilding show in some little frickin’ Speedo and some guy would be making fun of me, reciting Dokken lyrics while I'm up there posing in a frickin' T-back,” he says. “I mean, come on! Talk about a cringe memory. Oh my God. What the hell was I thinking?”

George Lynch says he'll miss the camaraderie of Lynch Mob

As the Final Ride Tour makes its way to the land of Lynch Mob’s birth, the guitarist says it's going to be hard to walk away.

“My bands have always been my friends,” he says. “And even more than friends, it's like a band of brothers.

"I mean, we're not going off to war and killing people. But we're overcoming obstacles and living with each other and sharing our humor and our lives. And we know everything about each other. It's just a beautiful thing. And that's really been the case since I was in my mid-teens.

"All my band members have always been my best friends. So that's gonna be the hardest thing, to lose that camaraderie and all that comes with that. It's the greatest job in the world. I'll miss that.”

George Lynch concert: Lynch Mob Final Ride Tour in Phoenix

When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 16.

Where: Rhythm Room, 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix.

Admission: $40; $35 in advance.

Details: 602-265-4842, rhythmroom.com.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @EdMasley and facebook.com/ed.masley

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dokken guitarist George Lynch reveals why he's ending Lynch Mob