In a new interview with Greg Prato for Songfacts, Don Dokken discusses the upcoming release The Lost Songs: 1978-1981, socially distanced shows, and the breakup and the dynamic tension between him and Dokken's guitar god, George Lynch. An excerpt follows:

Songfacts: Do you ever wonder what would have happened if Dokken didn't break up at that point (in 1989) and continued on?

Dokken: "I already know what would have happened. We would have been a huge band playing sold-out arenas. We were totally prepped. Our manager said, "Look, you've done Monsters of Rock. You've played stadiums. The next record, you're going to do a world tour headlining - no more supporting. Give me one hit, and it's going to be over. You're going to be on."

"And... we broke up. Our management started shifting all their attention to their other band, which was Metallica, and then they did The Black Album. We probably would have had a Black Album if we would have stayed together and put our heads together. We were right there on the precipice. We were already playing arenas and selling out 10,000 seaters, and then we were playing stadiums. We were right on the precipice of next album, world tour, done deal.

"And we didn't make it because I couldn't take it anymore. The drug abuse was so rampant. I'm not putting the finger on them, but I never did coke - it wasn't my thing. And those guys were coked-up out of their minds, as was everybody - you can't just say Dokken. Dokken was known for infighting because they publicized it. I can name you five bands that have the same problem. I don't know why they publicized the feud between George and I so much, but there's a lot of bands out there that have the same problem with the singer and the guitar player. It's always the "Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth" kind of thing. Van Halen had the same problem.

"If we would have survived the Monsters of Rock tour, I think we probably would have been a huge headliner, but it was bad timing. When we did Monsters of Rock, we had already been on the road for over a year. Van Halen hadn't toured in two years, Metallica hadn't toured, the Scorpions hadn't toured - they were all fresh. We had just finished a world tour with like, five other bands, playing all over the world twice. We were pretty burned out.

"They said, "Hey! You've got the Monsters of Rock tour!" And I said, "You've got to be kidding me, man. I need a break." We were tired. And hence, because we were tired, the drugs got worse, and people were doing coke to keep going. And I was drinking my wine.

"We were pretty burned out, so when you're irritable and the tensions are high, we just were fighting every day and it wasn't fun. I was like, "Hey, my dream came true. I fought and fought for this, and here we are, playing stadiums." A million people in six weeks.

"I was so happy to have gotten that far. We were on the bill above Metallica. I thought, "This is it, boys. One more great record and we're home free." But the band was unraveling. I was happy to be out there on that stadium tour, but I was totally depressed. I was just miserable. To see your guitar player on stage in front of 100,000 people walk behind his amplifier in the middle of the solo and snort coke, I mean, fuck, man. It drove me crazy. So, that just broke us up. That's the way it goes. Shit happens.

"And then of course, my name is Dokken. It's not made up like "Mick Mars" or "Nikki Sixx." It's my real name. And when they took my name away from me and said I couldn't use my name anymore, I was absolutely dumbfounded. The judge said, "You can't use the name Dokken anymore." I said, "But I've been Dokken since 1977." And he goes, "You can't use it anymore. You can call your album Don Dokken." I said, "That's not the same."

"The Stones are "The Stones." Mick Jagger puts out a solo record, you can't give it away. People don't buy solo records. Bon Jovi is "Bon Jovi," not "Jon Bon Jovi." Van Halen is "Van Halen," not "Eddie Van Halen." There is something about putting your surname in a band name. So, I told the judge, "If you take my name away from me, you're going to kill my career." And he did.

"But it was a great record [Don's 1990 solo album Up From The Ashes]. I love my Don Dokken album on Geffen. I had these amazing musicians: Mikkey Dee on drums, Peter Baltes from Accept, John Norum from Europe. It was an all-star band. It was a great record, but people just don't gravitate as much to the perceived "solo albums." It was a band album, but I couldn't call it Dokken. It sold half a million, maybe 600,000. But I guarantee you, if it was called Dokken, it would have gone Platinum. But I got fucked.

"And that's when I retired. After that, I broke the band up and I just kicked back for a couple of years. I had two young kids. I was working on my house, riding my Harley, and just chilling out. Then Mick called me and said he wanted a gig after Lynch Mob, and then Jeff called me, and then George called me. They were all kind of like, "We're broke. We want to get back in the band." Because they spent all their money on the typical rock star thing - divorces, child support, alimony - it's just the old story.

"So, I said, "If you guys want to come back, I want my name back." That was the deal: "If you guys want to play with me again, I want my fucking name back."

"Because we were a corporation, everybody had an equal 25% ownership of my name. That's why I couldn't use my name. So, we got back together and we did a really cool album, Dysfunctional, on Columbia [in 1995]. We moved forward after that, and then of course, things unraveled again. It's kind of like getting divorced from your wife that you don't get along with, and then five years later, you try to get back together. It's just not possible.

"Jon Levin has been in the band as my guitar player for 20 years. We get along great. All the guys in my band have been in there a long, long time now, and we have fun on the road. We hang out, we go to dinner, we barbeque, we bowl - we hang out as a band. Dokken was never like that. They were in the back of the bus doing coke, and I was in the front of the bus.

"I'm very grateful to be where I am now. I have these two shows coming up with George - it should be fun. George will open up as Lynch Mob, then he's going to come on stage for the last four songs and do the encores, and I've got one of my old Dokken guitar players doing the shows: Reb Beach, from Winger and Whitesnake. Reb is coming to fill in because Jon can't go on the road right now - he doesn't feel comfortable with the COVID because his father is 90 years old and he's the primary caregiver. He said, "Man, if I get COVID and give it to my dad, he'll die." And I said, "I get it, Jon. I respect you and your father."

"So, I got Reb coming in to fill in for these two shows, and I just told Jon, "Let's hope for the best. Let's hope the COVID thing gets better and they come out with a vaccine. Until then, if you don't feel comfortable getting on a plane, then don't."

"I talked to Mikkey Dee from the Scorpions the other night, and he and his wife got COVID in Australia. They were in the middle of nowhere and got it. He called me up and he said, "I'll tell you Don, you don't want to get it. I was on the floor." He lost 35 pounds. He was sick as a dog - he was in a hospital. He was really in bad shape. He said, "I don't know how I got it." Because they had social distancing big-time in Australia.

"So, I'm taking a risk doing these shows. I know that. But what are you going to do? My girlfriend makes me put the gloves on, the mask on, the spray - we constantly spray our hands. I try not to wipe my mouth. I'll go to Home Depot and buy supplies for the house, but mostly I'm just staying home. So, she's not happy about me going on a plane. I have five or six plane flights in two days, so that's pretty high chances.

"My son is a pilot, and I talked to him - he flies for JetBlue. My son flies an A300. He's young to be a captain - he's only 33. I said, "What's going on with the flying?" And he said, "They're just going to try and space people out." But it's kind of a joke, because he told me all the air in an airplane is just recirculated. They just send it to the scrubbers - to the engine filters - and they send it right back to the cockpit. So, all this "20 feet away, 10 feet away," it's all kind of bullshit.

"But I've got to go out and work. I want to play. We're right in the middle of making a new record - that's what my focus is. The Lost Tapes was kind of a Band-Aid to hold us over because of the COVID so we could take our time with the new record.

"We wrote the record via the internet, which is a pain in the ass. And the worst thing is I can't play the guitar anymore, so I can't write songs on it, because my right arm is paralyzed."

Read the complete interview at Songfacts.com.

It wasn’t always multi-platinum sales and stadium gigs for Dokken. There was a first-phase and there were early days, and it is those bold first steps to stardom which are celebrated comprehensively on Dokken’s The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 album, out on August 28 via Silver Lining Music.

Featuring spectacular sleeve art by renowned US artist Tokyo Hiro (Motörhead, Motley Crüe), The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 show the crackle and craft of a hungry young Don Dokken as he embarked upon a journey which started in Southern California and Northern Germany. It is a trek which is testimony to the sheer endeavour and perseverance Don Dokken showed in those few years between 1978 and 1981, starting from when he spent time at a guitar store called Drake’s Music, owned by Drake Levin in Manhattan Beach, California.

A fair selection of the treasure on The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 are from these early European days. “Felony” carries a thuggish fuzz-coated riff -think early Van Halen in really greasy embroidered denims- while “Day After Day” showed that Don could pen a radio-slaying ballad.

The writing and creation of The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 are further tribute to enduring early days of struggle in both Germany and LA, Don would return to LA for a spell after those brief European gigs, and he worked with Croucier on material, including perhaps the truest view of Dokken’s then-future “Hit And Run”, which incredibly did not end up on the eventual Breaking The Chains release. From the sunbaked SoCal hook of “Step Into The Light” to the furious, fledgling, late-Sunset Strip sound of “Back In The Streets,” The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 shows Don in his unfettered early days of balls-out attitude, qualities doubtless forged in the sheer nature of the adventures undertaken in writing, recording and deciding Europe was the place to keep cutting his teeth.

The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 not only shares that magic with the fans, it gives them the final, vital and undeniably missing (until now) early album in the Dokken collection.

The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 is available for pre-order here on CD, Vinyl, digital formats and special D2C bundles.

The Lost Songs: 1978-1981 tracklisting:

"Step Into The Light"
"We’re Going Wrong"
"Day After Day"
"Rainbows"
"Felony"
"No Answer"
"Back In The Streets"
"Hit And Run"
"Broken Heart"
"Liar"
"Prisoner"

"Step Into The Light" video:

Musicians who appear on The Lost Songs: 1978-1981:

Don Dokken - vocals, guitar
Jon Levin - guitar
BJ Zampa - drums
Juan Croucier - bass
Greg Leon - guitar
Gary Holland - drums
Mick Brown - drums
George Lynch -guitar
Rustee Allen - bass
Bill Lordan - drums
Greg Pecka - drums