John Norum interview from "The Scene Monthly" magazine by Paul Autry.



TWENTY YEARS OF ROCKIN' WITH DOKKEN

It's hard to believe that Dokken has been around for twenty years. But, it's true. Thanks to Jack's absolutely perfect directions, I made my way up to Allentown's Crocodile Rock with my wonderful wife, Theresa, to catch the show and to interview the band.
Actually, my interview was supposed to be with Don Dokken. But, he wasn't available and tour manager David Steele brought out former Europe guitarist John Norum to speak with me for a few minutes. Since I was expecting to speak with Don, I was thrown for a bit of a loop. But, I came up with a few questions for John, who was one hell of a nice guy, and we had a nice little conversation.
But, wait, that's not all. I recently interviewed former Baton Rouge vocalist Kelly Keeling and during the course of that interview, he mentioned working with Dokken. On top of that, he was also the vocalist on two of John's solo albums. So, with that in mind, I sent him a few questions to get his input as well. See what I do for you people? You should check some of his stuff out, especially the Heaven & Earth album. Anyway, before I get into the interview, gotta comment on the live show. Three opening bands, all of which you'll be hearing about in future issues...Impulse, Indecent Exposure and Squash. Very entertaining, looking forward to seeing these bands again. As for Dokken, well, they put on an amazing show. Mick kept yelling "Happy New Year" between songs and besides being a great drummer, I think he's a few years ahead of the rest of us. He's a cool guy too. He gave me his beer and, yes, I drank it. The set list was pretty much the same as the "Live From The Sun" album, with the exception of a song or two from the upcoming album. The only disappointment was they didn't do their Nightmare On Elm Street tune, "Dream Warriors," even though the crowd, including myself, kept yelling for it. Highlights of the show included "In My Dreams," "Breaking The Chains" and "Maddest Hatter," which is one of the coolest songs Dokken has ever done.
Made some new friends at this show too...John and Jen...told you I'd mention you. They'll be reading this issue up there in Allentown. So, I hope you like it. Now, let's get into the interview.

Paul Autry: Well, I guess I should start off by asking...how did you hook up with Dokken?

John Norum: This time around or from the begining?

Paul Autry: I guess we can go back to the begining.

John Norum: Well, I did a solo album after I quit Europe in 1987. Don got a copy of that album and he really liked it. So, he called me up and asked if I would be interested in working with him. So, I went out to L.A. and did the "Up From The Ashes" album with him, which was his solo record. I was with him for about three years. I did some more solo albums after that.

Paul Autry: Kelly Keeling worked on some of those with you, right?

John Norum: Two, yeah. Anyway, I've been in Sweden pretty much the whole time and in 1997/1998, they called me again because they fired George Lynch in the middle of the tour because they were fighting again, as usual. So, I finished that tour, it was about fifteen shows. Then I went back to Sweden again and did another solo album. When Reb Beach quit, about five months ago, well, I'm back in the band again.

Paul Autry: So, why did Reb Beach quit...I didn't see anything on that.

John Norum: He couldn't stand Don, I guess. No...Don's very hard to work with in the studio as a producer. That's what Reb said anyway. He just didn't want to do it anymore. So, Don called me again and here I am. We've been in the studio the last few months, working on the new album. It's almost done...I'd say it's about 90% done.

Paul Autry: There's a few songs I heard about that I wanted to ask you about. One being "You," which, if I'm not mistaken, has an orchestra and, from what I was told, it's one of the most, how shall I say it, un-Dokken songs there is?

John Norum: Well, I don't think it is, really. It kind of has a little bit of the old Dokken stuff in there. It's quite heavy...the album's quite heavy. It has a couple of ballads too. But, it's probably the heaviest Dokken album so far...finally!

Paul Autry: Is "Little Girl" one of the ballads?

John Norum: It's kind of half a ballad. It's not a ballad, really, it's more on the poppy side.

Paul Autry: So, what's it like working in the studio with Dokken?

John Norum: It's good, I like it a lot. It's great. This album is gonna be very good. As soon as this tour is over, we're gonna go back in the studio to finish it off. So, look forward to it. It's gonna be out in, I think, the begining of March.

Paul Autry: Since this is the 20th Anniversary for the band, is there anything special planned?

David Steele: Yeah, I think they're gonna do two bonus tracks in Japan for this record and this tour is basically a 20th Anniversary tour and this is just twenty years of rockin' with Dokken.

Paul Autry: Is this a warm up show or is this actually part of the tour?

David Steele: All the clubs that we're doing right now are warm up shows for the European tour. We'll be doing festivals. We'll be back in the summer, in the States, with, possibly Whitesnake. These shows are basically a warm up for the fans...they can get intimate with them, in the club situation.

John Norum: And we'll be playing a few of the songs from the upcoming album as well.

Paul Autry: Cool. Now, you've played with Don on his solo record. But, how would you describe this line up of Dokken?

John Norum: Well, they're the best musicians I ever played with. They're really, really good. Barry Sparks on bass, he's just incredible. Mick Brown, of course, he's just the greatest drummer of all time, that's just what I think. It's just amazing. It's a real strong band.

Paul Autry: As far as the set list, what can the fans expect to hear?

John Norum: Well, they're gonna hear all the old classics, of course. All the hit songs.

Paul Autry: Any Europe songs?

John Norum: No, we're not doing any Europe songs. And, like I said, we're doing a few new songs, we're trying them out now. See what kind of response we'll get. So far, it's been great.

Paul Autry: How hard has it been for you to learn all the material that you'll be playing live with the band?

John Norum: It's was very easy because I did the tour with Don and, a lot of these songs, I've played them all before. So, it's nothing really new to me. Plus, I knew them even before I knew Don. I used to play to these songs at home and stuff because George Lynch was one of my favorite guitar players.

Paul Autry: How do you approach his guitar playing? In the "Live From The Sun" DVD when Don was talking about Reb joining the band, he said that every guitar player that auditioned came in and said "I can play George" and Don didn't want 'em and then Reb came in and said "I don't do George." Did you go about that the same way?

John Norum: Yeah. I put my own stuff in there, you know. Not too much though. I just play whatever fits the song the best. Obviously, a lot of the melody lines and a lot of the licks really...I should copy what George did on the album because they're part of the song and people tend to get disappointed if they're not hearing certain things a certain way. So, I pick the best pieces out that I like from what George and Reb did and I try to add my own thing into it...I mix it all up.

Paul Autry: So, how did you become a guitar player?

John Norum: Actually, my whole family are guitar players. My mom, my dad, sisters...they all play guitar. I used to study with my mom. She had an old acoustic guitar at home and I just picked it up and started playing. We'd play to old Elvis songs.

Paul Autry: Going back to the "Live From The Sun" DVD, Don mentioned on there that he would like to make a Sgt. Pepper's meets Metallica's black album, the ultimate Dokken record. Do you think this album will be the one?

John Norum: I think so, I think this is the one. I don't think it's gonna get any better than this. You never know, but, there's no filler on this album. There's no bad songs, you know, they're all very strong songs. Like I said before, it's much heavier and, finally, Dokken has a heavy sound to them. It's heavy and good sounding.

Paul Autry: You've seen music change over the years, people come and go. Yet Dokken, much like Def Leppard, has managed to survive all the trends. What do you think is the key to Dokken's success and where do you think they fit in the music world today?

John Norum: Well, Mick Brown could probably answer that question better than anyone else. You know, he's been in the band for twenty years. But, I think it's just that they stick with it. They've never followed the trends. They were always better than all the other bands from the 80's. The songs are much more stronger. But, more important, they're all good musicians. A lot of the bands from the 80's weren't good musicians, but, Dokken were always great players. So, that has a lot to do with it for sure. A lot of the songs have stood the test of time. I mean, really, you could listen to "Under Lock And Key" today, which was made in 1985, and it still sounds great. But, if you put on something else from 1985, you might go, oh, damn, how could I listen to this...this is horrible.

Paul Autry: Final comments?

John Norum: Well, I really hope they like the new album. It's gonna be released when we're all happy with it, we want everybody to be satisfied. So, I hope they like it and I hope they come out to the shows to see the band and have a good time. Keep on rockin' with Dokken...always!

Paul Autry: How did you become involved with Dokken and the upcoming album?

Kelly Keeling: Don and I were working on songs for his solo album, what will become anyway, which ended up later involving the new Dokken album. I've known Don since the first Norum album I worked on, "Another Destination." We had used Don's studio.

Paul Autry: How much were you involved on the new release?

Kelly Keeling: So far most of the songs. I'm not sure what will be released. But, so far, it's not done and I have more ideas I'd like to share. I really enjoy working with Don. It's a bit crazy, but, that is most familiar to me. We push each other a bit too far sometimes. I think the album will be good because of it though.

Paul Autry: What's it like working in the studio with Dokken?

Kelly Keeling: Long hours, days, nights, weeks, sunrises, sundowns. It gets pretty intense. I enjoy the outcome though. I'm glad Michael Wagener is involved because he will be able to mix the best of the best. There's a lot of great tracks and he'll narrow 'em down.

Paul Autry: What are your thoughts/opinions on the current line up of Dokken?

Kelly Keeling: I suggested John. I think he's one of the best guitarists in the world. I had missed him and so had Don. He was in Sweden for years. So, that was good timing. We got his solo album and Don was convinced. I was gonna play bass and do backups. But, I couldn't hang with the endless schedule and do my band and my life as well. So, we got Barry who I had played with during the MSG tour. He's great. Mick has this old school Bonzo/Appice thing going on, which I'm partial to. This line up is the best one.

Paul Autry: Before we go, tell us what you've been up to these days.

Kelly Keeling: I just got a three album deal. Great management, many friends, producers and bands to choose from that want to help. It will be a very wide spectrum. Also, Heaven & Earth are doing another album that I'm involved in. Carmine Appice and I will release three albums in America that have previously been unavailable here. We have released "Guitar Zeus Korea," which will feature many Korean guitar players. I have to produce two bands by years end and my own tours, shows here and there...gonna be busy!

Dokken.net
JohnNorum.com
KellyKeeling.com