In a new Q&A at his official website, legendary bassist Jeff Pilson (Foreigner) talks about the anxiously-awaited Dokken reunion shows (with singer Don Dokken, guitarist George Lynch, drummer Mick Brown) set for this fall in Japan and the possibilities of new material!

Here are a few excerpts from the session:

Q: How did this reunion finally come together after all these years?

Pilson: “OK, full story. Tom Mayhue, (who in the 80’s was our crew chief but went on to GnR where he’s been ever since as Production Mgr) was contacted by Creative Man in Japan (the promoter). He was asked to contact us all to see about the possibility of a reunion.  Once everyone agreed to the premise and their offer (which is quite lucrative), they then asked for my Foreigner itinerary to book the dates so it could work for me. How do you say no to that???? The problem really has been scheduling in our last couple attempts at a reunion, so this solved that problem and we went forward.”

Q: Fans hold Beast From The East in high regard as a live recording release. As time has passed, more and more bands have disclosed their studio editing to their live albums. How “live” was that Dokken release?

Pilson: “Not as live as it probably could have been. Personally I think we may have gone a bit overboard in fixing it, but it did come out good. Funny thing is, I have the original live board tapes  which, though there are mistakes, etc., actually have a better energy to them. Oh well.”

Q: Would a 2016 setlist revisit that“classic setlist from BFTE, or can we expect a fresh mix of classics, deep cuts, and newer songs this time around?

Pilson: “Well of course there will be the classics, but we have talked about trying to bring out at least one deep cut, perhaps one we’ve never performed or haven’t in a very long time, but we’ll see. I’d sure like to have an acoustic section, maybe 4 songs. We all agree it has to be a helluva show.”

Q: Has anyone suggested you guys playing all of Under Lock & Key to celebrate 30 years of that release?

Pilson: “That hasn’t been brought up, although it’s not a horrible idea. I just don’t see us doing that right out of the gate to start a reunion.”

Q: Once you get to Japan, do you and George have any Scrotum Sound Studio sessions planned back at the hotel for any creative work?

Pilson: “Not really, but he did come over two days ago and we wrote the music to a new track that I sent to Don yesterday. The plan is, hopefully, to somehow record one song before the tour to include as part of the packaging. The song we wrote is awesome, I can’t wait to hear what Don does to it.”

Q: Now that’s what I’m talking about – a new song! You know fans and promoters around the world will be hoping for more, especially if the magic is back in Japan – is that something you are even considering personally?

Pilson: “Well again it comes down to, for me, scheduling. Foreigner has our big 40th anniversary tour next year, so that’s a factor. Plus Don is saying he’s really only interested in doing it in Japan, so guess that’s it. I’d certainly be open to doing more if it could work out, but if it’s just Japan, I’m fine with that too.”

Q: What about recording with Dokken? Could that be a creative outlet for you and George to continue making great music with Don and Mick without the pressure of touring together?

Pilson: “That’s something I would truly enjoy and know George thinks that as well. But let’s just take it one step (or song) at a time. I do hope this new song comes out as good as I imagine.”

Read more here.

Legendary drummer “Wild” Mick Brown of Dokken joined Mitch Lafon for episode 223 of One On One With Mitch Lafon back in May. He discussed the upcoming classic line-up Dokken reunion (singer Don Dokken, bassist Jeff Pilson and guitarist George Lynch) and the confirmed Japanese tour dates.

About Dokken reunion Brown said: “In spite of ourselves, we always seem to do well. You have to decide - I'm in or I'm out. Let it go and play ball... Somehow, it seems to work out. It's never very easy and I'm sure it's not going to be this time either."

In a new interview with The Classic Metal Show on June 25th, frontman Don Dokken offered some concrete details on the reunion and just how long it's going to last

Don: "Years and years ago, I made a comment offhandedly, like, 'You wanna do a reunion tour? I'll do it for this amount of money. It was like a one and a lot of zeros. And that was my price, and everybody said, 'You're crazy.' And I said, 'Well, that's my price, and I'm not gonna do it for anything less.' And now, 15 years later, somebody came up with that price. So I approached George and Jeff , and I said, 'You guys wanna make a shitload of money for about one week of work?' And I told them the price, and I told them how much I wanted and how much they'd make, and, basically, they could make more money in one week than they'd probably make in several years. And so everybody said, 'Okay.' So I said, 'Well, I'll do it on the condition that I don't wanna do it in America or Europe or anywhere else. Just six shows in Japan.' 'Cause we were very big in Japan, and it's just a… It's a reunion tour. So they agreed, and we're gonna do six shows in Japan. We're gonna be playing Loud Park, headlining with the Scorpions. The two headliners are us and Scorpions. We're playing the same night — back to back on two different stages. And then we're gonna buzz off and do five more shows. And it's very temporary."

"Doing a tour like this is not easy; there's a lot of logistics, money, accountants, taxes, overhead, equipment, video. It's a lot of logistics to put together, and it's taken a long, long time to put this Japanese tour together. But we did it, and we're gonna do six shows."

"Everybody was talking like it was a done deal, which is a very bad thing to do. You should never announce a tour before it's announced, because then the promoters think we're gonna do it no matter what, and it kind of hurts my negotiating skills. If we say we're gonna do this, and we're kind of bartering about how much money, and they feel we're gonna do it no matter what — if it's a half a million or million dollars — I said, 'Please don't say we're doing it, because it hurts my negotiating position. So I've said nothing until tonight."