GEORGE LYNCH Recalls How Grunge Affected His Career - "Being Proficient At Soloing Was Something To Be Ashamed Of"
October 18, 2024, 2 months ago
Greg Prato, reporting for Ultimate-Guitar.com:
As rock music changes, its sub-genres could become sort of an antithesis to one another. While, today, we can freely enjoy any combination of bands and sub-genres in our personal daily playlists, grunge and the more guitar-virtuoso-friendly hard rock and heavy metal of the 1980s were two completely opposed sides. Famously, it affected many of the artists, including the likes of George Lynch, who made his name known as one of the most skilled and proficient guitar players of all time.
As George is promoting his new project Casandra's Crossing, we sat down for a chat to discuss his work and career. Among the things we touched upon was also the matter of the emergence of grunge in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as well as its infamous impact on already established rock and metal artists.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: What was it like to be a guitar shredder during the rise of grunge, and did it affect your career?
George Lynch: "I learned one very valuable lesson, and that was for me personally, anyways, the importance of diversifying what I did. In other words, when guitar solos became out of favor, and being a shredder was sort of an embarrassing thing to admit you were… Not that I was a shredder, but you know, being proficient at soloing, or whatever, was something you should be ashamed of, and you played down guitar solos on all the songs."
Find out what else George had to say, at Ultimate-Guitar.com.
Casandra's Crossing, the new musical alliance featuring George Lynch and powerhouse singer Casandra Carson, will release their new album, Garden Of Earthly Delights, on October 25 via Frontiers Music Srl.
The musical chemistry between these two talented artists has created a magnificent modern hard rock album that showcases Lynch's trademark riffage driven by the outstanding voice of Casandra Carson, who is set to be the next rock singing sensation.
About Garden Of Earthly Delights, Casandra says: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever meet, let alone collaborate with such a legend as George Lynch. It was an absolute honor and pleasure to work with him on this record. George’s tracks were so cool and inspiring, it was probably some of the most fun I’ve ever had writing lyrics and melodies. I truly couldn’t be more proud of this album, and I’m so excited to finally share it with the rest of the world.”
Pre-order Garden Of Earthly Delights here.
Tracklisting:
"Stranger"
"Impatient"
"Closer To Heaven"
"Ring Me Around"
"Devastatiing Times"
"Waltzing Nites"
"Just Business"
"Mind Eraser"
"Run For Your Life"
"Wicked Woman"
"Kneel Before You"
"Closer To Heaven" visualizer:
"Impatient" visualizer:
"Stranger" visualizer:
George Lynch emerged from the '80s hard rock scene with the L.A.-based group Dokken and went on to become a world-renowned guitarist. Aside from Dokken, he has also enjoyed great success with Lynch Mob, the group he founded after leaving Dokken.
Lynch has gone on to become a prolific music creator, continuing with Lynch Mob, releasing solo albums, and a wealth of collaborative efforts over the decades. Those include but are not limited to, KXM with Doug Pinnick (King's X) and Ray Luzier (Korn), The End Machine with Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, ex-Dokken), Mick Brown (ex-Dokken), and Girish Pradhan (Girish & The Chronicles), Sweet & Lynch with Michael Sweet (Stryper), Ultraphonix with Corey Glover (Living Colour), and The Banishment with Joe Haze.
Casandra Carson is best known for her work fronting the Midwestern hard rock band Paralandra. Founded in 2013 with a strong DIY ethic, Paralandra found themselves on radio charts and festival stages in no time and by 2018 had a record deal, national tours supporting the likes of Saliva, Tantric, and Dokken, and even found themselves performing aboard the KISS Kruise. The band remains active and their most recent studio album, produced by the legendary Michael "Elvis" Beskette, came out in April of this year.