Speaking with Ultimate Guitar, guitarist George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob) talks about being fired from Ozzy Osbourne's band without ever having played a show with him. Following is an excerpt from the discussion.

UG: You auditioned for Ozzy before Randy Rhoads joined the band back in the late '70s. You also auditioned after Randy's passing. Can you tell me a little bit about these auditions for Ozzy? Did you ever play any live shows with him or did you just go on the road with him?

Lynch: "Everything you said was accurate. And as far as the shows - no, I never played a show. I played soundchecks (laughs). So, I would travel with the band to kind of see how everything worked and they would get to know me and that kind of thing, but I never went on stage during the show. But I would be in the wings at soundcheck and Brad Gillis, who was a guitar player at the time, would come over and hand me his guitar and I would play a song or two. And then we went into rehearsals. I rehearsed with them, I brought in the bass player Don Costa, who was his bass player for a little while. 

We rehearsed in Texas for a while. The touring was in Scotland and England and Ireland. And then we moved everything over to Los Angeles and that's where I was told that they wouldn't be needing my services in the 11th hour after I've been working with them for a couple of months. But... oh well (laughs)."

UG: According to Jake E. Lee, he came in to audition for Ozzy - he kind of wasn't satisfied with that whole audition - you were there, you met him there, and apparently when Ozzy asked him if he wants to take the gig, he said yes, and according to what Jake said, you were fired on the spot. In front of Jake. Is that story true?

Lynch: "Yes. I was very devastated. My wife was with me, I had quit my job. We had two little kids, we lived in an apartment. We didn't really have much money, so it was a great opportunity for me. I was a delivery driver for a liquor company and I would kind of deliver booze into the not-so-good areas. Nobody else wanted to drive into those areas so I took that job. It was a good union job so I made enough money to support us. And I had to quit that job to go do the Ozzy thing. 

And when they fired me like that... And they didn't pay me, and they didn't give me any compensation, they didn't ask me if I was okay or anything. They just didn't care, they just said... It was literally like... It took, like, a minute. Ozzy just said, 'Hey, it's not gonna be working out. Thanks a lot for your time. See ya later. Bye.' Yeah, my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it. My heart just dropped and... Yeah, I think I cried on the way home. (Laughs) It was very devastating."

Read the complete interview here.

Hard rock titans collide for The End Machine, a brand-new project that features classic-era Dokken members George Lynch, Jeff Pilson, and Mick Brown as well as current Warrant singer Robert Mason. The band will be releasing their self-titled debut on March 22nd via Frontiers Music Srl.

Today, the band has released their second single, "Burn The Truth", in the form of a lyric video, which can be found below.

Pre-order The End Machine's self-titled album on CD/LP/Digital here. A limited amount of signed CDs & LPs, merch bundles, VIP Packages & more are available here.

Surely, some fans may be wondering to themselves, isn't this just Dokken without Don Dokken? "Musically, of course there's bound to be moments that will be reminiscent of Dokken. That's only logical," says bassist Jeff Pilson. "But, my guess is there will be less of that than people would expect. Some people who've heard it say they think it's closer to Lynch Mob than Dokken, but really it is pretty much its own thing. We allowed ourselves to get a little deeper than either of those projects really have, while still staying extremely melodic and not being afraid of good old-fashioned guitar rock. Maybe Lynch Mob, a bit of Dokken, but then some 70's guitar rock added in. George [Lynch] is playing fantastic on this... very inspired. Everyone is really, but George covers some new territory here and it's very cool. Plus, the songs as compositions took on their own life, especially adding Robert [Mason] to the writing. That's what I'm most proud of, is the way this stands on its own. It doesn't step on our legacy together one bit, but it has it's own personality and I think that's important."

"This is decidedly not me 'stapled' onto a Dokken record," adds Mason. "I wouldn't have been involved if that was the intent. Fans will hear bits of our styles in this collection of songs, and while reminiscent signatures are undeniable, The End machine was purposely built to stand apart and on its own merit."

Tracklisting:

"Leap Of Faith"
"Hold Me Down"
"No Game"
"Bulletproof"
"Ride It"
"Burn The Truth"
"Hard Road"
"Alive Today"
"Line Of Division"
"Sleeping Voices"
"Life Is Love Is Music"

"Burn The Truth" lyric video:

"Alive Today" video:

Catch The End Machine on tour on the US West Coast this April. Dates listed below.

April
4 - Los Angeles, CA - Whisky A Go Go
5 - Las Vegas, NV - Vamp'd
6 - Tucson, AZ - Club XS

Limited amount of VIP Packages available here.

Lineup:

Robert Mason - Vocals
Mick Brown - Drums
Jeff Pilson - Bass
George Lynch - Guitars