DOKKEN mainman Don Dokken spoke to BraveWords.com correspondent Deb Rao recently about the band's upcoming release of Broken Bones, slated for a North American street date of September 25th via Frontiers Records.

BraveWords.com: As the producer, what were you looking for with the final studio product?

Dokken: "I just wanted it to be loud and aggressive without losing hi-fidelity. It's a hard call to get both."

BraveWords.com: Broken Bones picks up where Lightning Strikes Again left off. Catchy melodies but the band never loses track of the signature sound that launched them in the spotlight. Do you agree?

Dokken: "I don't know if its our signature sound, I know where our bread is buttered but since this is our last CD I did what I wanted to. Jon and I wrote what we felt without the worry if it's a classic sounding Dokken arrangement. There is a lot of ZEPPELIN influence on the drum arrangements and a bit of '60's vibe on the harmonies."

BraveWords.com: Tell us about the making of the first single 'Empire.' Will the band be making a video for this song?

Dokken: We're filming a video this week and since the song has apocalyptic over tones the video will have a post-apocalyptic feel. I usually don't write songs about the insanity of our world but it finally got to me. Albert Einstein made a sage statement when asked about the infinity of the universe in the 40’s; He said the only thing more infinite than the universe was the stupidity of mankind. I agree 100%. It's the year 2012 and it seems mankind has still learned nothing except new ways to kill. As part of this human race I'm embarrassed at our ignorance."

BraveWords.com: Also the CD will be released with a special DVD on the making of the CD. Tell us about this.

Dokken: "It's just a few comments about how we did the CD, we tracked the drums at (MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer) Tommy Lee's Studio Atrium. It's really an awesome studio, and since he always gets great drum sounds I figured we couldn't go wrong tracking there. I owned my own studio for ten years and he did what I tried to do with mine. Make it

comfortable with nice vibes and great equipment. He did it great. After that we did most of the rest in my guesthouse we call the cottage. And a lot of the guitar tracks in Jon's bedroom, Marshalls blazing! Sorry neighbours!"

BraveWords.com: How many Broken Bones songs will be added to your setlist?

Dokken: "Yes, to be honest after 30 years I get tired of just playing the hits. I understand a lot of our fans come these days for the nostalgia but were going to play a lot of new songs and some from our last few records, I’m not interested in living on our past achievements. We've written some great songs on our last few CD's, and I want to play them for our fans. They'll get it. I have faith in them."

BraveWords.com: You mentioned in the press release that Dokken has never had a number one song but has toured and won over the fans one by one. Your thoughts on how the music scene has changed since the heyday of metal.

Dokken: "Yes the world has changed. MTV broke us into the main stream, we were at the right place at the right time, our first video 'Breaking The Chains' was played about every 45 minutes. It helped us a lot. Now they don't play any music, it's all reality TV, very boring. But people apparently like it. It's very sad that people would rather watch Jersey Shore than a cool rock video, when we play in Europe it seems the rock fans aren't as influenced by pabulum hype, They stay true to there favorite bands, we just played in Bulgaria, it was great, there we were in a far away country and the day before we played I was walking in a park near by and I came upon a bronze statue of Ronnie James Dio, there he was rising out of stones, his hand out stretched microphone in hand in this beautiful place. It said a lot about European fans. The ultimate homage to a great musician and kind soul. You will never find something like that in America. As well there were huge paintings of famous singers on the city's walls, such as Klaus Mein (SCORPIONS), David Coverdale (WHITESNAKE), and Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST, it was really inspiring. It said a lot about hard-core fans to me. They are the ones we play for and hopefully some new ones as well, its now all about playing live and giving it your best every show."

BraveWords.com: As a band that has survived 30 years in the business. How has your goal in the music business changed since the early days of Dokken?

Dokken: "I have no goal! We made our mark, now it's just about making music we like, I still put the bar high for every record, many guitarist that have played in Dokken say I’m too intense as a producer and to that I say...Guilty! Reb Beach said he loved playing in Dokken but in the studio it was hell. Yep I pushed him and I think his playing was awesome on Erase The Slate in the end I think he walked away from that CD a better player. John Norum made the same comment about my pushing him to go the distance on UFTA. Some players get comfortable with there past efforts, I push myself to be better and I expect the same from my band members, you can always better yourself, complacency can kill a recording. As an artist that’s the fun part. Trying to outdo your past efforts, it's a great sometimes painful challenge."

Broken Bones will be released in two configurations: standard CD and limited edition CD in digipak with a bonus DVD, which features a comprehensive Making Of The Album documentary. Broken Bones is produced by Dokken frontman and namesake, Don Dokken, and is mixed Bob St. John (EXTREME, DURAN DURAN, COLLECTIVE SOUL) and Wyn Davis (BLACK SABBATH, DIO, WHITESNAKE) and mastered by famed engineer Maor Appelbaum (HALFORD, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, SEPULTURA).

Broken Bones tracklisting:

'Empire'

'Broken Bones'

'Best Of Me'

'Blind'

'Waterfall'

'Victim Of The Crime'

'Burning Tears'

'Today'

'For The Last Time'

'Fade Away'

'Tonight'

The first single from the album is 'Empire', a sample of the track is streaming below:

'Empire'

For more on Dokken including their upcoming tour schedule visit Dokkencentral.com.