Guitarist George Lynch (LYNCH MOB, KXM, THE END: MACHINE) recently spoke with Front Row Joe of "That Just Happened". The full conversation can be seen below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On performing with vocalist Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE): George: "LYNCH MOB is a little bit of a revolving door. We have a number of different guys that kind of rotate in and out of the band on the singing spot — sometimes it's Robert Mason; sometimes it's Nathan Utz; and then sometimes Andrew Freeman will sub for us. It's a revolving door. We're very consistent with our inconsistency." On how he approaches recording nowadays: George: "We never go into a record project with a very conceived idea of what we want, which is probably not a good idea. In other words, we never have a plan. I mean, we have a plan logistically, of how we're going to get it recorded, but as far as what kind of record we're going to write, we don't know until we write it. There's a lot of variables making albums, but I've found that trying to account for them and plan for them is really... it comes out the way it's going to come out no matter what. You're going to write what you write. We bounce off each other; there's a certain chemistry with a certain four guys, and [we] capture a certain moment in time. There's no way around that. [If] you're spending three weeks creating a record versus six months, you're going to have a different kind of record, of course, but all the records I tend to do these days are done pretty quickly. We're capturing a moment in time, and there's some flaws and there's some things we could have done better, but we also captured some magic, so I make no excuses for it." On his numerous projects: George: "I'm fortunate enough to be a semi-known entity to where I can work with other people, so I do. I love to write and I love to work in the studio. I love to create something from nothing, and I'd do it all day long if I could, every day of the week. I honestly love being in the studio and writing. I like being in the studio writing a song a day. Sometimes, I'll just do that anyways, so why not put 10 or 12 of those songs together, call it an album [and] get paid? Another side of this whole thing — the practical side — is this is my job, and I've got mortgages and kids in college and a big family, and this is my job. There's the creative side and then there's the practical side, so I've got to consider both and weigh them both. I like to stay busy and I also need to stay busy. I run into a problem doing a lot of recording projects because I get so many projects on my plate, I can't really release them all, so I get this glut, and it starts to back up. I'm going to have to slow down, actually. I think I am slowing down now, as of the next couple projects I do. After the next two or three, that's it — I'm slowing down. I've got another couple [in the works]. I just finished up with this project that really doesn't have a name that I could talk about right now. It's a European vocalist — he's a singer from TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA [Croatian singer Dino Jelusic, also of ANIMAL DRIVE], and him and I did a record, and we just are finishing that up. I wrote all the songs and finished all the guitar. We're finishing the vocals. I've got Will Hunt [EVANESCENCE] on drums. It was a really super-fun record to make, so that will be coming out at some point next year. I'm doing another LYNCH MOB record next year. We've got a third KXM record coming out late spring of next year or early summer. I've got THE END: MACHINE, which is DOKKEN with the singer from WARRANT, which is the singer from the second LYNCH MOB record, Robert Mason. That's all done, in the can. Basically, as far as I'm concerned, I like just putting out every three [or] four months. Record companies don't like that; fans don't like that; but fuck 'em. I like making music. They'll sort it out when I'm gone. Hopefully somebody will give a shit. I'm just putting it out there in the atmosphere, and hopefully somebody picks up on it. That's all I can do, because for me, it's cathartic to just write and play and create little musical babies." On whether he thinks that being able to collaborate with others is a "silver lining" of the modern music industry: George: "I think maybe less than a silver lining, I would categorize it as a necessity. When I talk to younger kids at clinics where I get together with people and talk about my career and the state of the music business, invariably young kids will ask me for some advice. One of my suggestions is that you've really got to learn to find every little pocket and niche that you can and explore those areas rather than just your one thing. Be open to that. Not everybody's built that way, but using myself as an example, I endorse a lot of products, which is very interesting and fun for me, because I get involved with the product development, the marketing and so forth. I'll go out and do tours where I demonstrate products that I helped design, and that's pretty gratifying. It's still the music business, and I'm still playing guitar. I build guitars [too]. I have my own guitar company, Mr. Scary Guitars, and I build 10 guitars a year, essentially in my backyard. I write songs for other people. I have a recording studio. I produce outside projects. That's some of the things I've done to diversify — anything I can think of. I know younger people are more adaptable, so they can get into social media; they can do their own videos; they can do their own web sites and find ways to make money on YouTube. People always find a way. Nature finds a way, and we're part of the natural world, so as organisms, we find a way to continue to survive and exist and proliferate. Things are aligned against us right now because records are not selling for obvious reasons that we all know about. You're not going to get paid much on clicks and streams, but there's something there — songwriting, touring. Touring is a part of my mix. I've got to keep touring. I love to play live, but it's only a piece of the puzzle for me. 'Be diversified,' I think, would be the message that I would send out to other people." On why he continues to make music in an era with fewer financial rewards: George: "If you're not creating, does it matter if you exist? That's the thing — that's what defines me, the music that I hear in my head that I try to get out. I haven't been really successful in doing that, so I keep trying. I keep chasing that dragon, whether I was getting paid or not. But I do make money making records, and that's because I learned to do records very economically and be very economic with my time. For instance, the record I just finished with Dino, I did that record in 11 days. I wrote the songs, got all the drums, bass and guitars done. Not the vocals, not the mix... I did everything I needed to do in 11 days. That way, I can actually make money. In the old days, you'd get half a million dollars or $250,000 for a record, and you'd spend six months doing it — or, in the case of 'Wicked Sensation', a year, spending $500,000. I can make a record for a lot less that that now — a tiny fraction of that — but good records, and deep records. No, I don't have the luxury of being PINK FLOYD and going in and experimenting. I don't have the time to do that. That's the one thing I miss and I regret about doing records the way I have to do them now — I don't have the luxury of sitting in the studio and just playing with things and experimenting and searching for sounds and ideas. I do miss that." Lynch's 2018 releases included "Original Human Music", the debut album by ULTRAPHONIX (a group also featuring LIVING COLOUR vocalist Corey Glover) and DOKKEN's "Return To The East Live (2016)". His next release will be the debut album by THE END: MACHINE, which features DOKKEN drummer "Wild" Mick Brown, bassist Jeff Pilson (DOKKEN, FOREIGNER, LYNCH/PILSON) and vocalist Robert Mason (LYNCH MOB, WARRANT).
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